Dreams Not Memes Podcast

Meredith Rounsley is a singer and songwriter who melds candid storytelling with an organic, folk-pop sound. Inspired by a life of travel and casual conversations with strangers, Meredith creates music that is warm and grounded, placing her comfortably in the company of confessional songwriters like Sara Bareilles and KT Tunstall. Meredith released a 4 song EP in the summer of 2016, Weapon, followed by her latest single, “Fluent” in 2020.

Meredith grew up in rural Maryland on a mixture of the hymns played at her grandmother’s piano and the soul music coming through her parent’s stereo. She picked up an acoustic guitar at thirteen, learning to write her own songs while joining every music program that her school offered. She eventually started playing small local venues and regional shows, following her curiosity to Australia to study music performance in college. When she returned to the states, she began recording and releasing music from her parent’s spare bedroom, borrowing their car to tour up and down the east coast.

She spent the next few years gathering a following at local wineries and restaurants while premiering at esteemed singer-songwriter venues like Rockwood Music Hall, Jammin’ Java, and The Basement. An impromptu writing trip to Nashville in 2018 became a move to town, where she experimented with new co-writers and began expanding her solo performances.

Meredith collaborated with Nashville producer Kyle Dreaden to build lush instrumentation around her acoustic guitar driven arrangements. Hints of Norah Jones’ intimate vocal delivery and Feist’s playful hooks are woven in to complement her vulnerable songwriting. The result is a collection that feels like a favorite sweater - cozy, soft, and familiar. 

Meredith and I spoke about her origin story as a musician, her future goals, her recent release Ember and her challenges as an artist. Find out more on Dreams Not Memes Podcast. 

Social Media 

www.meredithrounsley.com

www.facebook.com/meredithrounsleymusic

www.instagram.com/meredithrounsley

Let Somebody Love You Music Video 

I spoke to Esperanza Delgado, born in 1994, at age 15 she began studying classical singing at the professional conservatory of music in Cordoba, where she is trained as a lyric soprano, after graduating with honors she received a scholarship at Angela Carrasco's musical theater school in Madrid. Although with her insured place at the school, It is necessary to postpone her entry to Berklee for one year, having been awarded the only scholarship granted by the SGAE association in 2016 to Berklee students worldwide, due to her boom in national television in 2016, because of the program of La Voz (The Voice, Spain), being the semifinalist of Alejandro Sanz's team. She sings with artists such as the winner of uncountable grammys Alejandro Sanz, David Bisbal, and the Colombian band Morat, among others. In the summer of 2017, just before entering to Berklee, she toured theaters and halls around the national scene, finally, and as was in her plans, she starts her studies at Berklee in contemporary writing and production. She is currently studying at Berklee College of Music (Boston) and immersed in the Mestizas band, with whom she plans to release an EP, and a Europe-Latin America tour for Summer 2020. In our conversation we spoke about Esperanza's journey as a musician and how her upbringing help mold her current ambitions. Find out more on Dreams Not Memes. 

Instagram: @laespedeverdad

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EsperanzaDelgad

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxTIzHoVBEr1EAJeAnXPevg

Professing over two decades of experience as a performing vocalist, Enya is known among peers for her versatility and creative value as an artist, songwriter, session singer, vocal arranger, and producer. In addition to having opened for and being featured in lifestyle and music festivals including Beerfest Asia, The Conscious Fest, Earthfest, Newport Folk Festival (RI, USA) Boston Greenfest (MA, USA), and Gardenbeats, her artistic appearances under the stage alias NyaLi have garnered critical appraise wherever received, from the North Americas (USA and Canada), to Europe (Spain), to South Asia (Nepal), to Southeast Asia (Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar. Career highlights include supporting household names in the music industry such as Andrea Bocelli, Kristin Chenoweth, Wang Lee Hom, and Jacob Collier—on world-renowned stages not limited to Carnegie Hall, Madison Square Garden, Berklee Performance Center and Boston Symphony Hall.

As far as events engagements go, NyaLi has accrued an impressively diverse and international clientele, including such established names as BMW, Heineken, Google, Samsung, Lululemon, Woh Hup Group, Beerfest Asia, and most recently, Vogue Singapore. In our conversation Enya and 

I speak about her journey as a musician, her profession as a vocal teacher and getting into the authentic and human side of being a creative. Find out more on Dreams Not Memes. 

Social links

Spotify https://open.spotify.com/artist/3mdzg6Fp1vTlkwrg8MMIce

Apple Music https://music.apple.com/us/artist/nyali/1040543406

FB https://www.facebook.com/nyaLiMusic

IG @nyalimusic https://www.instagram.com/nyalimusic/

YouTube https://www.youtube.com/c/NyaLiMusic/

SoundBetter https://soundbetter.com/profiles/88412-nyali-music-bar

Website https://www.nyalimusic.com/ - quite in need of a facelift!

Odd!Drey is a singer songwriter, musician, performer and music producer hailing from Jakarta, Indonesia. She's currently 19, and has been learning music since the age of 3, starting with vocals, piano, drums and then violin. She has won multiple music competitions both in national levels and international levels.   Now she's a fulltime musical artist, working on her own work whilst doing multiple gigs and music for others. In today's episode of Dreams Not Memes, we learn about Odd! Drey's journey and her ambitions in the world of music. Listen today 

Socials 

IG: fg.odd.drey

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4V1ld8DslVKAY2r3yoskdb

Estefanía Núñez Villamandos is a pianist, composer, arranger, and educator born in Havana, Cuba. She started studying music at the age of 6 and graduated from the National School of Music with a performance degree. Nowadays, she is a current student of Berklee College of Music, doing a dual-degree in Film Scoring and Performance and a minor in Music Production & Engineering.

Estefania is a member of the band Mestizas, a musical group, specialized in the fusion of flamenco, jazz, and various Latin American and Caribbean folklore genres, where she plays the piano, sings and arranges the music. Pianist of the band The Timba Messenger, a group where Cuban music and Latin jazz are pillars in the repertoire.

In 2015, she was selected by Salomón Gadles Mikowsky, Professor of the Manhattan School of Music, to perform at the 3rd Meeting of Young Pianists, a prestigious piano festival hosted in Cuba since 2013. Estefanía has had the honor to work perform with many distinguished artists such as Miguel Núñez, Aldo López Gavilán, Ernán López-Nussa, Aida Cuevas, Yaroldy Abreu, Osmany Sánchez, Reinaldo Melian, Sergio Félix Rabeiro, Sidy Maiga, among others.

In 2016, she won the full-tuition scholarship at Berklee College of Music. She has had the opportunity to expand her musical horizons, from scoring films until the experiences of performing and learning many different styles of music from all around the world. Among these are Jazz, Flamenco, Brazilian Music, Greek Music, Cuban Music and Latin Jazz Music.

Social Media:

@estefania_nunez_villamandos

Olivia Farkas (she/her) is the founder of Eclectica Division. After growing up in a musical family and spending many nights frequenting local venues in Philly, she saw how difficult it was for women to make their way into the scene. After years of managing people in various other roles, Olivia decided to create Eclectica Division, where she could represent artists from diverse backgrounds and create a grassroots company for local musicians. Learn more on Dreams Not Memes. 

www.eclecticadivision.com

www.instagram.com/eclecticadivision

www.instagram.com/lvfrks

https://www.facebook.com/olivia.farkas.75685/

Coleman Rigg is an artist based in Philadelphia who started in 2018 with a  self titled E. Shortly after release, Rigg began to form a band to take his songs to live audiences in Philly, thus bringing The Ridge Runners to life. Coleman has had the pleasure of being able to work in studios such as Miner Street Studio and play in various venues across the city. In our conversation we talk about Coleman's exploration with creating music, his relationship to social media and his future endeavors with music. Find out more on Dreams not Memes. 

Coleman Rigg and the Ridge Runners Socials

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/colemanriggmusic/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/colemanriggmusic/

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4LggrAYeZESvXbj6gV3DGg

Website: https://colemanrigg.com/

Margot Varret is a classically-trained harp player and has performed in orchestras, chamber groups, and as a soloist in France for ten years. In 2015, Margot moved to New York City from Paris where she was performing in several prominent jazz clubs such as 38 Riv, Club Rayé, and Baiser Salé, as well as other publicly sponsored musical events, such Fete de la musique (The national day celebrating music) and Dialogues on Humanity in Lyon (world wise conferences about philosophy, society and arts). 

In 2011, while completing her studies in vocal performance, songwriting and jazz improvisation at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Margot decided to create her own project, So French Cabaret. Margot arranged French versions of swing standards for a harp-based jazz quartet and quickly began booking performances.

Margot received an “Artist Visa” (a Visa to the United States granted in exceptional circumstances for extremely talented and culturally important artists) in January 2015, and was encouraged to develop So French Cabaret for New York audiences by Archie Shepp, legendary saxophone player, who used to be a co-performer of  John Coltrane. Since January 2015, So French Cabaret has performed in many European-themed cafes, jazz clubs and upscale social clubs in New York, such as the Flat, Matisse restaurant, Chez Oskar, Brasserie de Paris, Café du Soleil, O Cabanon, AOC, Gloo, BK9, Olivier Bistro,  Saju Bistro, Cornelia Street café, and Club Bonafide.

So French Cabaret has been invited with increasing frequency to represent the connection between French and American culture in prominent public events, such as the 10th anniversary of the press French Morning, the Air France 5000 runners race in Central Park - Run for Life, and Albertine Library literary conferences.

In 2019, she had two residencies in NY, at Bonafide Jazz Club and Jules Bistro.

November 22nd and 23rd 2019, she made her debut show at Birdland Theater. She brought there the Piaf Experience, a immersion in the French iconic singer world. The two shows were sold-out.

In our conversation Margot and I speak about her journey with finding herself as a songwriter and entertainer. Learn more on Dreams Not Memes. 

Socials 

Webiste : https://www.sofrenchcabaret.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/margotsergentmusic/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/margotsergentmusic/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/MargotSergentOfficial

Maggie Poulos Principal, Mixtape Media

Working in the music industry since 2000, Maggie spent the earlier part of her career working for independent public relations firms and talent agencies including Shore Fire Media, Good Cop Public Relations, Monterey International Artists and APA before founding Mixtape Media in 2014. She has a proven track record of increasing public awareness of clients and their projects via individual, targeted and strategized press campaigns. Over the course of her career, she has worked on campaigns including Robert Plant & Alison Krauss’ GRAMMY winning Raising Sand, Fitz and the Tantrums, Nicki Bluhm and the Gramblers, Pink Martini, Spacehog, CAKE, Minnie Driver, Dave Lory’s memoir, Jeff Buckley  From Hallelujah to The Last Goodbye, Storm Large’s memoir Crazy Enough, First Act Guitar, Helmet, Duncan Sheik and independent film Mott Music. Following eighteen years in New York City and the birth of her daughter, Maggie returned to her hometown of Philadelphia. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Franklin and Marshall College. Find out more about Maggie's story on today's episode of Dreams Not Memes. 

Social Media 

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/mixtapemedianyc

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/mixtape_media_philly

Melissa Pothier is an online entrepreneur from Quebec, Canada. She started in the online world back in 2015 with a multilevel marketing company. Pothier fell in love with the possibilities that the online world is providing so she decided to become a marketing coach, she also created an e-commerce company and sold it 2 years later. Her recent business is a branding agency ''Brand expansion agency'' and they do branding strategies and they create visual identities for online entrepreneurs. She is multi-passionate and truly believes that if you show up authentically online you are going to attract the right client this way. Her mission is to create more impact and more influence online to live a fulfilled and aligned life. She is also helping her clients to do the same. In our conversation we speak about Pothier's career journey and her future endeavors. Find out more on Dreams Not Memes. 

Socials @melissa.pothier