Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarah Komnick
Hi Sarah, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I have had a creative spirit ever since I was young. I’m pretty sure it started on my dads side with my great grandmother being a singer on the radio and her daughter (my grandmother) being an artist. I have always been intrigued by anything that had to do with art or music. I started drawing and playing music around the age of 8 and kept up with it ever since. I took art classes throughout middle school and highschool. My favorite medium to use was plain charcoal. I really enjoyed drawing the body a lot. I particularly like drawing the back muscles of a person or someone’s eyes. Capturing every detail of someone’s features is very fascinating, whether they are younger or older. By the time I got a knack for it some of my friends started asking me to draw certain pictures/portraits for them to hang in their homes. In college I started getting interested in photography, and again people and their emotions were my muse. I love the way you can keep a certain emotion someone is feeling at a certain time in just one picture. I also really love the editorial photography you see in magazines, like Vogue. I love all the unique poses the models do and in some cases the contortions they put their bodies in to get the perfect shot. As far as the music dynamic of my life; I started with flute when I was in 5th grade and played in the school band. In middle school I switched from playing instruments to participating in drama classes and was in multiple musical plays throughout the years from 6th-8th grade, this is when I fell in love with performing/singing. In highschool and college I kind of got out of the musical side of my life and put a little more focus on my drawing. Once covid hit I was home a lot and made the decision to purchase a used guitar and began giving myself lessons. I became really intrigued by this and decided I wanted to learn another instrument as well. That’s when I contacted my dad’s friend who collected keyboards and asked if I could borrow one from him. He fortunately let me have one of his old keyboards and I began teaching myself how to play piano. I became really fascinated with the world of music and wanted to learn even more about it; so I signed up to take online classes at Berklee College of Music. I took multiple classes in Music Theory and Digital Recording, as well as even taking classes in early music culture and taking classes that focused on Beethoven’s multiple symphonies. All these studies brought me to getting little jobs in the world of music, such as; Sound Engineering at different venues, and helping run a music blog where we would go through hundreds of submissions from artists and feature the ones that best fit the style of the blog on our social media pages. Because I had acquired so much musical experience I was able to land my current job at BPM Music as their new Studio Manager and I couldn’t be more excited to see where this opportunity takes me in my musical and professional career.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has definitely not been a smooth road for me. I struggled a lot in the beginning since most of the jobs I took were just little part time jobs, which did not pay enough to make the money I needed to afford rent or a livable lifestyle. Throughout this time I had to pick up a job as a server which was not ideal but I did what I needed to do. During one point in my life I was working two part time jobs and one full time job all while trying to still practice my music and continue to improve my skills as both a musician and an artist. This definitely brought me to a very low point in my life because of all the stress I was dealing with trying to figure out my financial situation, I started to neglect my hobbies.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I currently work for BPM Music as their Studio Manager. BPM Music is a digital platform for DJs, Producers, and other artists to download and create playlists and mixes for their DJ sets or to mix in their own music projects. As the Studio Manager I am in charge of maintaining the day to day for the office space. This includes; making sure the office space is fully stocked with everything needed for a comfortable work environment, making sure the maintenance of the office space is kept up with (so anything that needs fixed I am in charge of reaching out to the right people to fix it), greeting and signing in and booking meetings with any artists or guests we have visiting our space, any issues or questions our team members have, and maintaining the overall vibe of the office. I am also in charge of taking care of the venue details for any events that take place at our office. We will sometimes have DJ meetups or artist events and I am in charge of making sure the set up for the venue is ready for these events. As well as ensure we have the correct staffing for these events; aka bartenders, catering, bussers, and clean up crew. I am most proud of how far I have come in my career. From working with small companies that aren’t too well known to progressing and now working for a company that is pretty huge and very well known throughout the music industry. I guess what would set me apart from others is my ability to keep pushing even when I’m down on my luck. Before I landed this job I had been laid off from my previous role in audio/visual work and at first was really beating myself up over it. But I was able to push myself out of that mindset and stay thinking positively and I feel from doing that plus not giving up is what landed me in my current role at BPM Music, and I am truly grateful for that and try to remember that mindset for any other times I may be feeling down.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
I think most people who know me don’t really know how easy it can be for me to bounce out of a bad mood. Sometimes when my life feels like it’s falling apart I think it can be easy for me to stray down that path of thinking and feeling a certain way. However, I usually only stay in that mindset for a little bit and one morning I’ll wake up and tell myself I’m sick of feeling like this and I’ll completely bounce out of it and give out a completely different energy. Sometimes I will have to force myself to get out of that certain mindset and sometimes it can be very difficult to do and it can be hard to explain at times, but I just sort of force myself out of that mindset. Whether that be to clean my apartment or do my dishes or as simple as just taking a shower. But over the years it has become easier and easier for me to be able to quickly get out of that “woe is me” mindset and get back on track.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.sarahkomnick.com
- Instagram: @sarahlynnekomnick
- Other: sarah.l.komnick@gmail.com
