I feel a sense of personal urgency about how many people don’t get professional help when they might really need it. Especially in a performance and results oriented business like the music industry. In the last few years I felt I might have more to offer the music industry than just being on stage, mainly because of my openness for my colleagues’ personal experiences in crafting a music career. I’ve felt a lot of support around me to start putting things on paper. At some point in 2020 I read a book about Zen and Musicianship (‘Walking up the mountain track’) by Eric Schoones and reached out to him. We had a wonderful conversation. I was stunned to learn he was the editor in chief of the international magazine PIANIST, which ended up publishing most of my work.

Especially for young musicians who consume so much content on a daily basis, I think it’s paramount to have a complete image of someone’s career they admire. To me this means also including the less-glamourous side into our posts, for example dealing with exponential stress, anxiety or burn-out. They are all factors that seem to be a part of any 21st century career, regardless of whether they’re influencers or athletes. In my opinion this ‘other’ side needs to be recognised an essential part of our professional vocabulary.
As a person who’s still working on not comparing herself to others, I find social media such an interesting space. I want to encourage people to share more of their personal experiences – I only see joyful posts of seasoned professionals performing in glorious halls. But I rarely get to see the raw, unedited version of them. The version that is crucial to them becoming the elite performers and artists they are now.