Today we’d like to introduce you to Melissa Miller.
Melissa, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I first noticed my love for words when I was about nine years old. I kept a journal that has a kitten on the cover, where I would document and date my every moment of every day. In middle school, my AOL Instant Messenger away message was always a quote of some kind. When I was 14, I got my first guitar as a gift and began to dabble in songwriting. I would rewrite lyrics to already-known songs – most frequently Mandy Moore songs. (She was my favorite at 14.) I was extremely shy about sharing anything I’d written with anybody at all. My mom would walk into a room where I was writing and playing guitar – and I would instantly freeze up. Throughout high school, I filled diary after diary. And entering college at 18, I opted to major in Advertising & Marketing, where my favorite classes were copywriting and creative writing focused.
My college years are the ones where I finally became brave enough to showcase my work to the world. I went to intern abroad for a summer, and I remember sitting on a hill overlooking the city of Sydney, Australia, writing songs in a diary that had a koala bear on the cover. At that moment, I knew when I got back to the states, I would let people hear my voice. In 2009, while still at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, I created www.melissamillermusic.com and started to post songs I recorded on my own. I began to flirt with the idea of moving to Music City Nashville to see if I could give life to the picturesque vision I saw in my mind – a vision of me standing on a stage, performing my songs to a crowd.
I did it. I made the move in 2012. Now, almost seven years later, it’s enchanting to reminisce.
I’ve performed on a countless amount of stages, domestically and internationally. I’ve co-written and solo-written hundreds of songs. I’ve recorded music in more than a dozen studios. I’ve had songs from my catalog signed to a California-based Music Supervision company called Imaginary Friends Music Partners. I’ve had a handful of my songs placed on the soap opera “The Young & The Restless.” I was invited to perform in Burbank, CA at the Radio Disney studios. I performed at a charity event in Milwaukee, WI where I got to wear a dress designed by Lorena Sarbu. (I later found out that Carrie Underwood once wore the same design to the Grammys and Sophia Bush to the Emmys.)
Along with creating music, I greatly enjoy expanding my knowledge in other industries: I am a contracted writer at an insurance company and also a web development company. To quench my thirst for my love of travel, I have a part-time job at an airline. It’s led me to my 2019 project – a novel I started writing in January called “Sky High.”
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
My road has not been smooth. Not even a little bit. I look at it like this.
Being from the north, I’m used to the snow. When there’s freshly fallen snow, the entire ground is a white, footprint-less blanket. It looks beautiful and glittery – but when you venture off to take the first step before anybody else, it can be a cold mess. That’s the best way to describe the path I’ve created for myself. Any path you create for yourself is one that nobody else has made footprints on. It’s YOURS. So it’s going to be messy because there aren’t any guided directions on where to walk or which direction to take.
A huge struggle I’ve faced is with money. Like in any business, it takes money to make money. And I wasn’t even one of those people who could say, “I ventured to X,Y,Z with only $10 in my pocket.” I ventured to Nashville with student loans in my pocket! So, I had to have a side hustle in order to financially sustain myself. I chose the cliche, waiting tables route. It was (and still is) the job that makes the most sense for those pursuing entrepreneurship of some kind. It’s instant money and allows for the flexibility to clock out with a handful of cash and drive away to go work on building the real dream. For me, this temporary side hustle omitted the word “temporary” when I woke up one day and realized it was years later, and I was still employed there. I largely define my success in what I do in order to feed myself. And having to feed other people [at the restaurant] to feed myself just did not equal success for me. It made me tremendously heavy-hearted and down on myself. I felt paralyzed with a self-consciousness that I still hadn’t pulled in enough income from my dream after so many years.
My greatest piece of advice for anybody starting a journey in the pursuit of doing what you love in order to feed yourself — Do NOT get a side hustle you don’t enjoy. If you have to have a second job (like me!) while creating your very own path, make sure it’s something that enriches your soul and is more than just a paycheck.
Please tell us more about what you do, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
I specialize in writing. I am a business writer and a creative writer. I adore intertwining creative flare with professionalism. Being big into stories, I am most proud of the unique story I’ve written for myself through my aforementioned life experiences. As a creative person, I am able to take any part of life and give it purpose by turning it into productivity. For example, I took what I learned from my side-hustle, non-glamorous restaurant job and channeled that knowledge into developing a character in my novel.
I am also proud of my unstoppable drive, perseverance, and bravery through any setbacks I’ve encountered along my path. I like to perceive setbacks as a slingshot pulling me backwards in order to catapult me forward to the next level.
When I perform as a Pop Singer-Songwriter, I am frequently told I have my own voice. Staying loyal and true to my very own character is extraordinarily important to me.
Do you feel like there was something about the experiences you had growing up that played an outsized role in setting you up for success later in life?
I grew up with very supportive parents. They let me paint the picture of my life with the colors of my choosing and at a pace of my choosing. However, they did (and still do) remind me to slow down sometimes. I have a tendency to run full-force at every goal, and when I reach that goal, my mind is already making plans to run at the next idea.
Growing up, I tried almost every sport, I took guitar lessons, I played the flute for a week, and so on. My parents supported me experimenting with different ideas and interests. Some ideas are temporary passions, but some are forever ones. The only way to discover my true loves are through trial and error. My forever passions (though I am sure I am still unaware of some) are writing, creating music, and traveling to hidden gems of the world – Krabi, Thailand; Banos, Ecuador; and Nairobi, Kenya to name a few of the remarkable places I’ve made footprints in.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.melissamillermusic.com
- Email: millermm05@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melissamillermusic/
Getting in touch: SDVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
