Guest Article by Senté
This is an interesting question to answer because I am an advocate for the general well-being and prosperity of my community as a whole – be it my peers in the music and entertainment industry, my family members and friends, or my country and the world at large. I am somebody who loves to see everybody thriving, not just surviving. And sometimes our conditions aren’t fully in our control. But we do, however, have a lot more agency to change things than we give ourselves credit for.
Sometimes change is for the better but other times, we can change things for the worse. My questions to you, dear gentle-reader, would be as follows:
Are you being accountable to all the stakeholders (community members) that need your positive contributions?
Are you holding yourself accountable to your own goals and ambitions too?
Are you showing up for people (including yourself) in all the ways you need to show up?
Are you setting clear boundaries and standing firmly within them so that nobody takes your contributions for granted?
This past year of my life has been full of changes – I graduated from University, moved back home and started my career in music. I have met so many new people and developed new relationships.
But I have also lost a few people who were once close to me. Some relationships are just for a season and some don’t outlast the growing pains of two people moving in separate directions. Nonetheless, I cherish all the people that I have been able to cross paths with – I wouldn’t be who I am today without the relationships we have built together.
Unfortunately though, we also impact the community negatively in our own ways. Even though it may be unintentional, we hurt other people with our behaviour just as much as we uplift each other. We are all the main characters in our own stories.
And the people we come into contact with can be other heroes, villains, friends or foes. You may be the protagonist of your own story but in someone else’s life you may just be a side character, an extra or even their arch nemesis.
If we are in community with one another then we must all be accountable to each other – including ourselves. Communities have rules/standards that the members have to abide by in the same way that we all have our own personal standards that have been shaped by our community elders (parents, teachers, older siblings etc…) Inevitably, people are gonna fall short of the standard sometimes and we have to be able to repair when that rupture happens. That’s the standard that I hold my community to.
am no different to any other human being because I too fall short of my own standards sometimes – whether it be artistically, in business or in relationships. I know I wrote Wasted Love but I have also been the culprit of wasting somebody’s love. I have been dishonest with those who are close to me but I think you all deserve to experience me as my most authentic self.
I want to take this opportunity to invite you all to my alma mater – Little Cranes Montessori Kindergarten – for a little trip down memory lane.
I want to remind myself, and my community, about where I come from, and about all the little steps that may seem insignificant in the grand scheme of things but are actually the very foundations of the person (and artist) I am today. The school is celebrating their 30th anniversary and I am celebrating a whirlwind debut year in the musical business. Why not throw a good party, right?
My community loves to enjoy themselves and that goes back deep in our roots – we’re all still feeding the little 5-year-old children within us as we grow into respectable adults and build our dream careers. While it’s all well and good to indulge, I want this communal fandoms event to be a celebration of things coming full circle; a party that reminds us of the most fun aspects of our childhoods and connects us to those little kids inside of us again. Our inner child is always crying out to be seen but I want this event to make those children feel celebrated and fulfilled.
Please join me and a few special guests at Little Cranes on Saturday 16th November and let’s have a great time celebrating (and healing) our inner child. I’ll be playing you some of your favorites and maybe even debuting some new music to see if you like it! I want to get the chance to talk to and connect with all of you over some non-alcoholic beverages and child-friendly snacks too (when was the last time you got a party bag, for example? Lol)
There will be more announcements on what to expect in the following weeks but I hope to see you all there and thanks for reading! I hope you’re all checking in with yourselves and putting your mental health first – the parties are more fun that way 😉
