Today we’d like to introduce you to Alicia Pyle

Hi Alicia , we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?

It started with my great-grandfather, Frank Pyle Sr. He was a brilliant man, and one of the top engineers in the country. He owned the company Utah Radio before founding the international family business that he started with my grandpa Frank Pyle Jr,………..Pyle Industries. My family was at the very forefront of the loudspeaker industry, and developed one of the most prolific car stereo lines in history: The Pyle Driver. The story is vast, but that’s basically where it all began.

We traveled the country with my Dad as I was growing up, and I was homeschooled. This gave me the time to absorb, learn, and create. I’m so grateful for this as it’s been invaluable both artistically and with business. Your brain develops different when you’re allowed the opportunity to forge your own path creatively. As an adult, this gives me an advantage about 85% of the time, and presents a challenge the other 15% haha!!

Musically speaking, I think by age 4 I was picking out the Notre Dame Fight song on a toy keyboard and my mom was like, “we should probably get her some lessons”. That worked out pretty well, and I was playing advanced classical material by age 11, with the local collegiate and professional orchestras by high-school, and onto jazz & contemporary genres in my early-20s during and after my formal music education at Indiana University Purdue University Fort Wayne. I started a band, a couple small businesses in education & booking/contracting, and went on to teach at my alma mater………helping them early on in the formation of their programs in popular music & music-industry. I’ve composed music for conference openers and other commercial applications. I really enjoy working on both of my businesses, enriching my local community with live-music, and pushing my growing music students out into the scene as soon as they are on two legs!

I can work 7 days a week if I want, and it’s just amazing to work for myself and see things grow as slowly or as rapidly as I decide to invest. Watching the seeds you’ve planted everywhere start to grow, and then harvesting them is amazing………and I’m grateful to God to get this opportunity in my lifetime. It’s a gift every day that I’m thankful for and I don’t take it for granted.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?

I struggled with perspective in my 20’s, and seeing things from the viewpoints of others. This is that 15% I was talking about earlier! Sometimes highly creative & entrepreneurial minds don’t vibe the way everyone else does, so it can be difficult to relate. I work very hard now in my late-30’s to look at things through other’s eyes and ears. It’s not just my life-experiences that matter. They are valuable and I’m learning from them………..but there’s so much out there, and I haven’t done it all. This is why we all need eachother. Greatly! We can push eachother, and achieve more together when we open up our perspectives and consider the paths that others have walked, their experiences, and the multitude of destinations available. It’s never a one-size fits all in business or the arts.

Privilege was another thing I struggled with, and the funniest thing about it………is you don’t realize it’s a struggle or a stumbling block until you first have the awareness that you ARE. What a beautiful life I’ve led, and what a great start my family offered to me. They cared, they shared their expertise, they stayed on my case so I’d stay the course, and they pick me up when I fall. How beautiful of a gift is this? How can we not understand that everyone doesn’t have this experience? The day this hits is a big one, and one that I pray for all my friends & family reading. I’ve worked very hard, but first my family (figuratively and literally speaking) put the shoes on my feet and the keys in my hands. Thank you Mom and Dad for what you made easy, and for what life experiences you intentionally allowed to challenge me! I love you.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?

I have a passion for community building & serving Northeast Indiana with live-music. I specialize in performance, education, marketing, event management, and locating creative ways to showcase my peers who want to invest & enrich our rapidly growing local environment with the arts. I love growing young musicians, and finding new talent…….our city is the garden!!

I own and operate PyleStyle Academy, a private arts studio that mentors over 80 kids a week with piano, voice, ukulele, song-writing, and composition/arranging………..all with various styles/genres. My students go onto pursue their personal and professional goals with music in multiple domains including sales, licensing, education, performance, composition, recording, and production. Many also choose to pursue other noble professionals outside of the arts. I love feeding into their lives, and following their journeys. I have big plans for this business that I’ve intentionally kept small, and I look forward to its organic growth in the years to come.

I also own and operate PyleStyle Events, and we work with the huge amount of growing local talent (musicians and bands) to provide live-music for events in the Northeast Indiana region. From weddings, to private/corporate events, fundraisers, festivals, and local venues just trying to keep their doors open. We love the joy that music brings, watching how music brings people together across the divide, and how it makes for memorable events that people don’t forget.

Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.

I’m a self-starter when it comes to my entrepreneurial efforts, so risking what I’ve built by hand is not something I personally enjoy. Now sharing it with others on the other hand……..I don’t have a problem with that. But I think of risk like the spider building a web in my back door………its just not something I want to walk into. I’m “all-in” once I make a decision, so it takes me quite awhile to arrive at them. I’m a slow and steady wins the race girl. I can wait, and I will work harder and longer than everyone else to get there hands down. Things that grow organically grow well, and they take time. I’m all about the process. I love it. It might not be sexy, but mine doesn’t involve a lot of risk……..because to me, that just feels foolish.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.Pylestyleevents.com
• Instagram: @aliciapyle
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/aliciapyle

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