Today we’d like to introduce you to Haley Marie
Hi Haley, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My mom tells this story about when I was in preschool. During recess, while all the normal kids would be playing and running around, I liked to stand at the top of the slide and serenade everyone in this unrestrained, operatic style. I didn’t ever care who watched, but my mom says the teachers would always stand around, happily listening to me. All that to say, my love for music is as old as me. My dad played a significant role my pursuit of music: from gifting me a pink ‘Daisy Rock’ guitar for one of my earliest Christmases, to teaching me the basics of Pro Tools, the production software I now use on a daily basis. One thing I am the most thankful for is that he never pushed music on me, and instead allowed me to build my own relationship with it. I’ve written songs since I was ten years old as a way to turn the difficult parts of my life into something I could admire and understand. I’ve played guitar since I was twelve, and I started learning music production when I was eighteen (after years of therapeutically making synth-driven, reverb-drowned GarageBand demos on my iPad). I hid my music from almost everyone until I got to college, where my peers at Savannah College of Art and Design inspired me to be brave and finally let people see that side of me. Because of their encouragement, I’m now a Dallas-based artist working with one of my best friends on music I’ve always dreamed of making, surrounded by the most incredible creative community who all know me first and foremost as a musician. It’s definitely been a journey coaxing out the desire to purely express myself through music (like preschool me), but in the past seven years, I’ve gone from carefully hiding that part of me to expressing it as my main identity.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I have this pattern in my life where I am seemingly overcome by struggle as I pursue the things that intuitively feel right. Two weeks after I graduated from college, I lost the hearing in my left ear, and was sent down a frustrating and unsettling road in search of answers. Thankfully my hearing returned, but it affected other areas of my health that I’m still addressing today. Losing my hearing has always been one of my top two fears; the other is swimming in the open ocean and I’m getting shivers just thinking about it. That experience really shook me, and it didn’t help that many of my friends were moving to big cities with impressive jobs while I laid in bed enduring the side effects of the medication meant to bring my hearing back. Although it was one of the most difficult periods of my life, it set a strong tone of gratitude and self care that has been essential to my progression. I am extremely grateful for every challenge I’ve met, as it’s all led me to the life I get to live right now.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a singer-songwriter, music producer, and content creator. Songwriting has always been my main tool to understand the world and make something beautiful out of difficult experiences. After my hearing returned, I heavily focused on building a community on social media around my music and creative process; it’s been incredible to connect with so many supportive and passionate people around the world who resonate with things I create and/or go through. Currently I’m working with my friend and producer Jonathan McNary at The Creatives Factory on a bunch of new songs that I absolutely cannot wait to share with everyone. Right now, I’m most proud of the time I’ve spent behind the scenes honing my craft, including playing guitar, vocal technique, and songwriting. I think the biggest thing that sets me apart from others is that I am an artist who also loves the business side of it. To me, building organizational systems and executing plans is just as creative as writing and performing, and all of it feeds into my long term vision. When I was younger, you couldn’t pay me to open up a spreadsheet. Yet, in 2020, this obsession with planning and tracking progress (especially with fun colors) appeared after I began devouring podcasts on business and entrepreneurship.
How do you define success?
To me, success is a measure of satisfaction in your life. There are many goals I have and work towards every day, yet my life has everything I could ask for already. I am blessed to be surrounded by loving people who understand and support me. I get to wake up and work towards my biggest dreams on a regular basis, learning things that prepare me for each next step. I’ve learned not to put value in what my life looks like to everyone else because the focus then moves away from how you actually feel about it and what you do with it. My intention is, no matter what my life looks like in the future, I will still foundationally feel much the way I do today: very grateful and very hungry to create and grow.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://haleymariemusic.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/haleymariemusic/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@haleymariemusic
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@haleymariemusic
Image Credits
Kaarthik Tharmiya
