Hi Gemma, thank you so much for joining us.  I’d love to start out with the most basic question to get it out of the way- can you share with us how you got started in music, and your background in music (and in general too!).

I got started in music singing. I grew up in the Catholic church and I sang in and then led my church choir growing up. After highschool, I worked at a record store in Long Beach, played in a couple indie bands, and began releasing my own music that I’d make on my laptop. Around this time is when I got more serious about composing and stepped into professional recording studios for the first time. I enrolled in music theory classes at community colleges, and then when I was ready I transferred to CalArts.

You work as a composer, audio engineer, audio/music producer, and music performer.  Wow!  What skills do you find to be most important for these endeavors?  Are they all overlapping, or do certain jobs take certain specific skills that differ from each other?  I’m also curious in what capacity you wear these different hats?

It’s actually quite common for the same person to wear all these hats, and I’m very proud of all the skills I’ve acquired over the years. I think the two most important skills in all these roles are perseverance and being actively curious. Composing, engineering, and performing all have their magic and challenges and require you to be genuinely engaged and willing to chip away at it until it’s something. All these roles overlap in my day to day. I see mixing and recording as compositional tools.

Do you have any upcoming or current film projects that you are excited about?  Can you tell us more about your film scoring process- what your personal style is, and a bit about your workflow?

Yes! I recently scored a short film directed by Pablo “Fer” Simental and shot by Edson Reyes, both rising artists whom I was really excited to work with. I really like to learn a lot about the characters and who they are and like to imagine what kind of music they would listen to. Across all my work, I like to lean into the ethereal but my favorite part about scoring is being able to work with the director and understand the world they are building and then designing something for that world.

Congratulations on your recent Grammy award!  That is so huge, and we are so happy to celebrate your win.  Can you tell us about the project for which you won the Grammy?

Thank you so much. I’m super grateful about it. The album was Why Lawd? by NxWorries and it won for Best Progressive R&B album. I engineered and sang on the album and got to work with and learn from Anderson .Paak and producer Knxwledge which was a really important experience for me. It was also incredible working with other excellent composers and engineers on that album and just seeing all the strength that goes into making a hit record. It definitely elevated my own work ethic which was the best thing that came out of it for me.

Do you have any advice or pearls of wisdom for other multihyphenates working across various audio roles?  

Stay curious and take care of yourself.

You were a part of our 2022 AWFC Recording Initiative (congratulations!).  I’d love to hear more about your experience with the program, and the music you wrote for it!

Yes! I loved it so much. It was so exciting because it was the first time I got to work with a professional orchestra for my own music. I wrote a piece for string orchestra entitled “Rich Bitch” that I recently released officially. The piece is a manifestation spell for myself. When I wrote it, I had just had a break up that in many ways destroyed my self image, and I was praying for and imagining a future where I was this confident, successful, and powerful person. “Rich Bitch” is what I heard when I imagined this person.

Where do you find inspiration?  And what do you dream of for your future?  Any dream projects you’d love to work on?

I find inspiration in my family. I have three siblings and we are all so wildly different and all ambitious and that really drives me. Any person trying to improve themselves in any way is really inspiring to me. Maybe that’s why I like going to the gym so much. 

I dream of composing and releasing more original music. I have so many incredible compositions that I’ve been working on that I would love to have the money to record and mix in the way I’ve been dreaming of with an orchestra. I’m sure it will happen soon. I also dream of having my own compositions take me to the Oscars one day. 

Dream projects… I’d love to score a runway show and I’d love to work with Tyler, the Creator and Kendrick Lamar in any capacity. As someone born and raised in the LA area, they both have been beacons of light and inspiration for me throughout my life and exemplify artistic excellence.

Interview by Connor Cook.

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