Today we’d like to introduce you to Hyacynth.
Hyacynth, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
My love for music started during the Christmas holidays for me. I would spend my 2-week Christmas breaks that my elementary school allotted at my grandmother’s house. There, I would watch my uncle produce different beats, and if I liked them, I wrote to them. He was heavily influenced by “futuristic” sounds, so naturally a lot of “timeless” songs from the 90s and early 2000s were played in the process.
My love for music would be apparent at school, just as it was at home when I decided to join the chorus at West Clayton Elementary School in the 4th grade. It was here that I also discovered my love for acting after auditioning for the lead role of “Dorothy” in the school play “The Wiz”, and booking the role.
I would go on to expand my appreciation and love for music and acting throughout middle, high school, and college. It was in the 7th grade at Rex Mill Middle School that my love for strings grew when I joined the Orchestra and started playing violin, and would continue to play until I was in the 11th grade. I missed singing in the chorus, so I decided to join one at my high school Mundy’s MIll, and was placed as a first soprano, but sometimes sang alto. Although I opted for chorus in high school, I would still play my violin from time to time.
I graduated with a fine arts seal from Mundy’s Mill High School and would go on to Georgia State University to study Biology, or so I thought. It took me five major changes to realize that Psychology was the closest I was going to get to a subject that would allow me multiple career directions that wasn’t so straightforward and rigid.
While I attended Georgia State, I took theater classes and participated in “extra” work to feed my creative flow. During that time period before obtaining my Bachelors of Science of Psychology in 2016, I also took acting classes and workshops at studios such as GetScene Studios, Alliance Theatre, and AnthonyMeindl’s Actor Workshop. I met a lot of talented, creative, amazing people during this period, which prompted me to sing again in 2016. After recording a hook on a song in 2016, I decided to write and record my own single because that familiar feeling came back to me that I once felt at my grandmother’s house on Christmas break, that feeling I had when I wrote my first song.
From there I would write and record two more songs, and all were released to Soundcloud under the artist name “Avee Munro”. In 2017, I took a break from writing and focused more on acting, and eventually got an agent to represent me commercially after taking more classes and workshops.
During that time period, I was also going through major shifts and personal transformations in my life, which is why I changed my artist name to “Hyacynth”. The meaning of the flower Hyacinth is significant to me, because the tale of the violet flower says that the Hyacinth was able to bloom from death, and I think that is the true meaning of transformation, allowing the old you to die so that the new and beautiful can blossom. That’s exactly what I did, used my “trials” from 2015-2017, to know the real me and to now fully walk in my purpose. I’m currently back in the studio and I have 2 singles out, “New Heights” by Avee, and “HYDT” by Hyacynth, both produced by Genius Art.
Has it been a smooth road?
The road was not smooth, and will never just be smooth. The key is to pay attention to certain life events that keep getting thrown at you, and responding to it in a totally different way than you have before. If you continue to respond to stimuli, or your daily life, the same way that you have always responded, then you will always remain stuck in the same position.
My advice for women is to love and believe in yourself, because when you love yourself, you will enable your mind to automatically think about what you CAN do as a women despite what labels society tries to throw at you, and there will be no need for validation.
For example, if you’re a woman that has been told to “keep quiet” during certain meetings, or that “only men can do that job”, deprogram your mind from that by loving yourself, believing in yourself, and doing whatever it is you want to do, even if it goes against the “rules”. Take a look around at the best rule breakers like Rihanna for instance. Do you think she waited for someone to tell her that her choice of style for Fenty was ok? Or that she should only stick to “profitable” shades for Fenty Beauty? No, she followed her heart and made everybody else in those industries shook by being a pioneer woman.
We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
I am a singer, actress, and teacher.
If I am not writing a song, coming up with a melody, or taking an acting class, I am online teaching about childhood disorders and various methods of healing.
I also proudly serve on a Junior Board, and as brand ambassador for a nonprofit organization called “The LGC Project”. The LGC Project is dedicated to empowering the lives of youth and families in the Caribbean in under-served communities globally through the principals of Lead, Give, and Create. This is done by addressing the needs of youth and schools while promoting travel to deliver those needs. That includes enabling implementation of courses ranging from visual arts, media, production, dance, music, STEM, business etiquette, and much more.
I am most proud of delivering content that not only satisfies my listener’s ears, but also encourages them to grow, transform, and invest in the children since the children are our future, which is what I think sets me apart from others.
Do you think there are structural or other barriers impeding the emergence of more female leaders?
I think that barriers stem from those tired played out patterns of the entertainment industry, but are quickly slipping away. By that I mean, the notion that women need to act a certain way or look a certain way to be successful in the entertainment industry is dying off, thanks to social media. We now live in a time where you literally can create your desired results by the use of social media and marketing research, instead of trying to appease to a certain hierarchy that runs your entire career. Some women still opt for major deals, which there is definitely nothing wrong with, but some people with a sense of “power” may still try to “dream kill” or take advantage based on a reality that THEY would like to have for their “talent”.
Contact Info:
- Website: Patreon.com/HyacythMusic
- Instagram: @Hyacynth.music
- Twitter: @Hyacynthmusic
Image Credit:
Hyacynth, Mila
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