Why am I posting this?

I am changing my career to music, and that might seem crazy. Nonetheless, today this fact is becoming more relevant than ever. Today, a relative of mine was found dead on his bed in the morning. He was 38. He was fine, he had a girlfriend and they were building a house. Yesterday he went to bed as any other day, assuming it was going to be a tomorrow. But tomorrow never happened for him.

When these things happen they always make me think of myself in the same situation. I wonder about how would I feel about myself in those last moments if they happened today. How would I see who have I become? Would I be proud of my life? Which things would I regret? So this afternoon I thought I was OK, but I couldn’t focus at all. So I started writing about my life and I have decided to post it here. I hope some of you, who do not know me, find it of interest and motivation.

Where do I come from?

I used to watch shiny neurons under the microscope and study how mice could remember which objects they’ve seen before. I also worked with viruses and radioactivity, and analyzed amazing crystals made of proteins, under the synchrotron X-Rays.

It wasn’t a bad life, and it made me feel I was living in a sci-fi book. It helped me to see how exciting and challenging our present is. I learnt how to ask questions and how to design ways to find the correct answers. I traveled the world and I got to meet really interesting people.

Between studies and job, I spent 15 years of my life living in that way. After about a decade, I was so focused in my little leaf that I totally lost the forest. On the way I almost lost myself. I realized I was “wasting” my life working in projects that wouldn’t directly help anybody in any way. This was also making me fade away.

Why are music and artists so important to me?

Some days I would return from a 15h workday in the lab, almost crying because I got a negative result after 3 months of research effort. I would wonder about what all my life was about or if anything had any sense at all. In those moments (there were a few) I would turn on the music, one of my favorite songs would start playing, and I would magically feel better… even smile.

This led me to think: “Let’s do something for the music, since it has saved me so many times!”. I think this was when the seed of this idea of changing my career to music began.

So I started writing lyrics (the only thing I thought I could do!). Then I started singing them. And then I wanted to put music to them, but I didn’t know how… and thus I found the artists. That made me think: “Dang, THESE are the guys that saved me, after all”. And felt extremely grateful for them just to be who they are and work in their passion.

I started to get involved with these artists, first for making music together. And later trying to help them in any way I could. It was then when I realized that there’s so much talent that it is not heard. I was impressed about that and I started wondering why. Soon I started to realize that it was because the Music Industry is complex, highly competitive, and artists don’t know how (or highly dislike) to do the business / marketing side. I started to wonder how would I be able to become the person able to help them. First, I started just to share their music over the social media, and then I started working with my friend Colifused, first just as a sort of indie artist promotion team, and later as an official member of RadioTFSC.

And I went crazy and jumped

By this time, I was so burned out of the lab work, that I decided to go crazy and try changing my career to music. I joined Berklee to study Artist Management. As soon as I started, I felt I was going in the right direction, I felt happy, motivated and full of energy again, something I hadn’t been feeling for so long. I decided to go further with it, so I quit my job in Tokyo and I took a sabbatical year to keep studying, and to make a big push towards that career change. I complemented more and more my music business studies, and, I started a master degree in Digital Marketing and Web Development.

My parents were highly disappointed with me. Almost nobody trusted in my decision, they just thought I was totally messing up my life. They didn’t know about those days returning from the lab in tears, exhausted and willing to disappear from Earth, and how bad it feels to have absolutely no motivation for the future.

Where is all this “madness” taking me?

Now, 6 months after quitting my science job, I have grown and learnt so much. I met so many artists, some of them I can call friends. I have also met amazing people in the industry doing really great things to help them. People that share the same passions, and fully understand and support the decisions I took. I have also learnt how to move on the digital realm. Now I know how to help others to get closer to their goals and that brighten up their beautiful projects.

I am working with people all around the world to develop different musical projects. I am applying for European funding to create a more sustainable music industry. And industry that allows creators to live from their work. Finally, I got a job in a small, but lovely production company with like-minded people. There we work so hard for building up something helpful for the music scene, a project we truly believe in. Apart from this I have the work here in the Radio with Oli (aka Colifused). RadioTFSC is another amazing and highly rewarding project I am so happy to be part of.

I am living a life that I feel happy about. If I died today, I wouldn’t regret where I am now and what I am working for.

Some people say that following your passion as a career is a great mistake. But I don´t think I will ever be able to live otherwise. That’s the reason why I am now changing my career to music.

Life goes by in a heartbeat. Don’t use it in something that makes you unhappy. Think about where you would like to be.

We all have so exciting things to do, dreams we forgot about. Relevant projects to cherish and build up. I am thrilled some of you are with me in this journey. Some of you have actually been there since almost the beginning!

Thank you so much. Never stop being amazing :_)