What was your recent concert?

• Well, it was the Fifth Star Awards, it was an awards ceremony that honors the five artists and art institutions that most contribute to the arts in the city of Chicago. I had the opportunity to play with the Ravinia Festival president and CEO, Welz Kauffman to do a tribute to one of the honorees; pianist and composer, Ramsey Lewis. There were really important people like the Mayor, president of the Musicians Union Chicago and other great Chicago luminaries.

How and why were you chosen to play?

• Kauffman and I are pretty cool; I’ve worked with him before playing duet pieces that were commissioned by his friend. We actually played “You and Me” this morning. He just had his friend commission this tribute to Ramsey Lewis because they’re both close. So he invited me to help him do this tribute piece.

How did it make you feel?

• Playing there was cool; I’ve never played in front of so many important people before. At first, during the sound check and rehearsal, I was completely scared out of my mind because Grammy award winning singer, Kurt Elling was there and I realized I was playing the same song as him. But I relaxed after I realized he did a completely “reharmonized” version of it.

Is this the kind of gig you normally play?

• Hahaha really? No. The fact that I got a chance to perform in an event that really motivates me to practice really hard so that those things are regular events for me. I do play at jazz festivals and at random private events that whoever needs me for.

When did you start playing?

• I started playing when I was ten years old. I did classical for two years and stopped that then went to Jazz. I tried to do classical a few years later but then realized that Jazz was my niche.

What interested you the most about music?

• The first thing that got me to play the piano was I went to this jazz workshop thing held by trumpet player Wynton Marsalis. I was probably seven years old at the time.

What’s the difference between jazz and other types of music?

• Well if you can play jazz, you can play any other type of music because it’s so hard. With jazz, it’s completely different because you literally have to make up like everything. It’s like having a conversation, you kind of go off on a topic. With classical and pop it’s like reading a book out loud. Anybody interested hit me up! I live in the Arts Building.

How hard is it to be a musician?

• There’s a lot of hardships. You have to work extremely hard. You practice all these days and all these hours and skip hanging out with friends just to realize you suck. And then you go from there. It’s just a consistent suck cycle of you trying to get better and you realizing how awful you are as a musician. But it’s well worth it. Then you get to the part of trying to get people to pay you for what you do. And especially being a young person and a woman, a lot of people are condescending and don’t take you seriously. As a woman, I have to work twice as hard to get the respect a guy does. But it’s worth it.

What would you like prospective musicians to know?

• That you can make money and you can succeed as a musician if you put your all and everything in it. If you cheat the music, the music will not serve you back. But if you know you’re serious your art will open opportunities for you. You have to be extremely focused, make sacrifices (a lot of sacrifices), and realize that a lot of people will not necessarily understand that you have to sacrifice time with them in order to do music.

Would you do this career as a professional job?

• Of course! I can’t do anything else. This is the only thing that I’m half decent at.

How do you manage your time between school and music?

• Haha that’s a great question! I’m actually losing my mind right now. The main thing for anyone else who wants to do this is time management. Please manage your time very well. This is a reason why I usually come to school late—anyone who has a class with me knows I get to school at like nine o’clock, because most of my gigs start at like seven o’clock and end at 11. Guess who has to go home and write three papers. Not counting if I have a four hour rehearsal as well. It’s really hectic. I haven’t slept in three days…But it’s worth it.