I am using my sister's office as my packing depot for shipping the 2000 copies of "journey" and when the couriers finally delivered all of them last week, I arrived armed with envelopes and bubble wrap to get started and walked into the staff listening to their copy. Here's a little clip of the celebration that was going on while they listened to "Take you Back" and looked for their names in the artwork...
Here is a cool Q&A I recently did for a magazine article - all about 'giving back'...
How important is giving back to you?
I have learnt that my life is as meaningful as the contribution I am making to the society I live in. I realise that as one individual I can make a difference and be actively involved in things I want to change.
When did you get started and what prompted that involvement?
I was asked to do a voiceover for POWA and it woke me up to what so many women deal with and I committed to raising awareness through my songs. As I have had great support in my career so I want to help other musicians get started in this industry.
What projects are you involved in at present?
When I started my project to sell my album before recording it, I split 10.6% of each sale etween POWA and my Live Your Dreams Foundation. I have already paid out nearly R30,000 to the two charities and enabled two young singers to record demos.
Do you get any satisfaction from any of it?
Being actively involved in these causes gives my life and work meaning. When I give talks about my journey to record this album, I tell people that having a purpose beyond our own success is hugely powerful. I am grateful that each sale of my CD continues to give back.
Do you every encourage others to make a difference and if so?
Absolutely! We all count in creating the world we want to live in.
Which causes are closest to your heart?
I am passionate about women empowerment and artist upliftment.
What have you got planned for the future?
Now that my album is released I would love to see sales continue to contribute to POWA and Live Your Dreams, and know that my music is making a difference and raising awareness where it is so desparately needed.
Since I sent out a newsletter to my Future Owners to let them know that I am nearly ready to post off their albums, my inbox has been flooded with emails wishing me luck and updating me on address changes etc. It has been pretty emotional to watch mail after mail come in expressing so much excitement about the album and the fact that it is almost done.
I have had amazing offers from people offering to help with postage, so a few tears of gratitude have been shed on my side I must confess! I now have 300 addresses to change which will keep me busy for a while, and yesterday I bought 1000 envelopes to get me started so it is feeling VERY real! One bummer is that I will have to foot the bill for getting the 2000 cd's from Jozi to Cape Town so I am a little
worried about how much that might be!
Other than that I have a busy week to look forward to and am hoping to hear back from PostNet on Tuesday as to what kind of a discount they will be able to give me! Holding thumbs & getting myself ready to run my own little logistics company from next week...
The response from my Carte Blanche interview has been pretty amazing and overwhelming! I was really nervous when I sat down with my family on Sunday night to watch it, but have to say I was blown away with how well it was put together. My phone started going nuts about 2 minutes into it and it was awesome to feel how excited people were for me! In many ways the piece was a celebration for everyone who has already bought my album, as it must have felt great to see where their faith and trust has taken me.
Needless to say my website has almost crashed twice from the traffic, sales are going well and my inbox has been flooded with emails of all sorts - from congrats, to wanting advice to opportunities for gigs. I feel very fortunate that the gamble I took in starting this project is paying off so amazingly. I have an incredible record label behind me now, a great web team, incredible family and friends, a super supportive boyfriend and 2000 people who are about to receive their CD's that they helped me record!
All in all as I near the end of the Lucky Packet Project I have to say that I am one very very lucky girl! Here's to the next part of the adventure...
A quick shout out to say that it looks like CARTE BLANCHE will be airing the 10 minute piece about my album project this SUNDAY 13th JULY @ 7pm!
I am keeping my fingers crossed that it actually happens as I discovered a few weeks ago that world news sometimes prevails and the line up changes last minute. But, if you are near a telly with MNET this Sunday, please keep an eye out, and if you find that I have been replaced by stories about crop circles, shoe fetishes and world peace, know that sometime soon the story of one girl's mission to sell an album that didn't exist will be shown. I promise!
Happy weekend & watching!
I have just come back from posting the finished artwork disc off to Joburg! It was quite a moment to hand the CD over the counter and know that it is done and in a few weeks thousands of albums are going to be stacked into boxes and be ready to posted and sent to the stores!
The process of finishing the artwork has been an journey in itself, but I have loved every moment. Taking me to the finishing line where three amazing designers - Sharon Boonzaaier, Heather Brown & Charmaine Taylor - and yesterday we yelled with glee when we held the print ready work in our hands! I have loved watching each page come to life with pictures and lyrics and names of the amazing 2000 people who bought this CD long before it even existed.
I am really excited to get it out there for people to listen to and look through the booklet and celebrate what they have helped me to achieve. Only a few more steps on what has felt like a very long stretch!
A few weeks ago I received an email from an Amercian speaker who was going to be visiting SA with a young choir from The States. As life would have it I didn't find a moment to meet him until his last night in Cape Town, and so I arrived at a dinner quite unlike anything I have experienced before. Greg Forbes Siegman is an unusual man with an uncommon love of people. I didn't know anything about him other than he is a speaker and has a book called The First Thirty and that we was very insistent that the dinner included everyone he had met on his trip. The venue he chose was The Spur in the Waterfront and when I got there he proceded to introduce to an incredible array of people - from the tour director, to the waiter from his hotel, to an usher from Ster Kinekor to a friend of a friend to a young american woman he had met shopping with her family. He definitely doesn't have the boundaries so many of us have of who we can connect with. It was an inspiring evening and opened my eyes to how many people I miss out on meeting because of self-imposed boundaries.
Greg and I swapped his book for my CD and the next day I got to read his incredible story and discovered that the meal I experienced with him was in fact a continuation of years of 'brunches' he has run every sunday with people from all walks in life back in The States. An incredible example of how one person can cross divides to make a difference in many lives & well worth reading.
After sending out a newsletter to all my Future Owners, sms's to all my friends and rushing back to Joburg from a weekend away in order to catch the Carte Blanche interview last night, I got to sit through the entire program waiting and waiting and then slowly realising that world news had prevailed and my piece had been postponed. It was pretty disappointing having told everyone to watch, but I had to laugh when I got a message from my sister saying "Are you sure it's on tonight? Are you a flamingo? A sheep? A dictator?"
I think from now on I will keep my eye out for it on Sunday nights and allow it to be a pleasant suprise when it does air. The one good thing about the delay is that it gives me time to get the album on the shelves!
I have just heard that the 10 minute piece that Carte Blanche have done about my album project is going to be aired this Sunday 29th June between 7-8pm on MNET!
I was blown away when two months ago I was contacted by one of their producers Peta Krost Maunder and told they were interested in interviewing me about the lucky packet project now that the album is recorded a few weeks away from being released. It was quite an experience to have their team arrive at my home and spend two days interviewing me, as well as my sister, my website designer Fred Roed, my manager Peter Lacey and my first sponsor Alistair King. Suddenly it became very clear just how much this iniative has achieved and how much it says about the people who stepped up and bought an album that didnt exist!
I still have to decide where to watch it as my boyfriend and I are travelling back home on Sunday after a much needed weekend away, but I do know that wherever I am I will be feeling nervous, excited and incredibly grateful for the three year journey that has gotten me to this point! I hope you enjoy it if you get to catch it & if you are a future owner you pat yourself on the back for making it possible!
