Today we’d like to introduce you to Laura Rose.
Hi Laura, 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.
I never wanted to be an entrepreneur. In fact, I’ve attempted to jump ship and get a “real job” many times throughout the 12 years I’ve been in business. The universe kept pulling me back into the chaotic freedom and exhilarating ride of being an entrepreneur.
I started my part-time career as a music therapist, working in the San Diego Unified School District with Coast Music Therapy. On the side, I was performing, offering workshops for people to discover music as a form of wellness and self-awareness.
In 2012, I voyaged to India, bought my first harmonium, and awakened to the powerful practice of mantra and chanting. This set me on a different path.
Yoga and devotional music shifted to the forefront of my focus. I wanted to chant and sing every day. My heart smiled when I sang for my own enjoyment. And I discovered other people wanted to taste this kind of joy, too.
In the last few years, I have compiled my experience as a music therapist, yoga teacher, and embodiment facilitator into The Vocal Sanctuary. Under this umbrella, my amazing team and I run 3 online programs a year with a sprinkle of in-person events, workshops, and retreats. Each one of these programs has a different focus. Voice of the Creatrix is specifically for women to embody their natural voice. Voice of the Muse is a 4-month container to record your album. This program I run with my husband, musician, songwriter, and sound engineer, TJ Moss. The last program is a 9-month facilitator training to learn to teach and facilitate healing through the voice.
When I look back at the version of me who wanted to quit in 2018, I am so grateful she kept going. There’s nothing quite as humbling and rewarding than expressing my dharma through business.
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?
I’ve already shared how I wanted to quit many times. I often daydream about having a 9-5 job where income is steady, predictable, and clear. When I zoom out and think about my life and the lessons I’ve learned by being an entrepreneur, constantly showing up and putting my Soul out there for other people to see, I am so proud of what I have created. Entrepreneurship calls me into my aliveness. It’s my playground to bring my Divine gifts and spirituality into this physical reality. My business is my art and much like the creative process, it reflects the full range of emotion.
There have been times where I’ve invested thousands of dollars for a program to “fail.” There have been times where I’ve put my personal resources into my business, and at the end of the month, not knowing how I was going to buy food that month. The unpredictability and faith starting a business requires, for me, has been a spiritual initiation of trust. Like I said, I never set out to be an entrepreneur. I lacked the business skills. I love teaching, but it took me years to understand how to make this a business that thrives and can sustain itself and me.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?
Music is the thread. Vibration and freedom are two other words that summarize my work. I am an intuitive and energy-sensitive being who can read the language of the body. When people come to me wanting to “unleash their voice.” I can see where the energy is stuck and how to apply therapeutic practices to transform their voice. I am also a creative. I study the creative process in myself and in others. I adore holding space for creative energy to flow through and bring an idea into a tangible product. In The Vocal Sanctuary, this happens through songwriting and expressing pain, grief, heartbreak, loss aka. The human experience and transmuting this into art.
I have been called a musical midwife – a skillful guide for adventuring into the process of the creative unknown.
I am most proud when I listen to a client’s album for the first time.
I am the most proud when I put my music out there into the world, knowing I have overcome the fear of perfectionism and the insecurity of my voice being “enough.”
I am most proud when I listen and trust in my intuition in the decisions I make both in business and in the creative realms.
Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
I’d say tenacity. Being determined to follow through and see my visions come to life has been the number one motivating factor. I am in service of beauty and contributing to the pleasures of Earth. When I feel clear about who I am and what I’m here to offer, the rest falls away. When I feel out of alignment, I turn to my spiritual rituals to support me in feeling connected to Spirit.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thevocalsanctuary.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the.vocal.sanctuary/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sitarosemusic
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/SitaRose
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/75IYI9htirDUtty8Mqw1zC?si=bRiQOeZjRBKBpmXDgSNxXQ
Image Credits
John Hancock
Darci Fontenot
