Grammy Award-winning recording artist Omar Akram: “You don’t need a lot of money to achieve success”

You don’t need a lot of money to achieve success. Most people think that if you have enough money to do a project, then you can succeed. I learned the hard way — money alone is not enough. It’s a combination of your talent, vision, hard work and resources.

I had the pleasure to interview Omar Akram. Born in New York, Afghan-American Omar Akram grew up the son of a United Nations diplomat, living in France, Czech Republic, Switzerland, his ancestral home of Afghanistan and Cuba, where as a teenager, he had a memorable encounter with Fidel Castro. With powerful supporters like Paulo Coelho and Deepak Chopra, and diehard fans around the world, the world-class musician is an internationally recognized cultural figure who has been featured in such top media outlets as BBC, Origin Magazine and Los Angeles Magazine. The artist’s piano-driven, instrumental music elegantly defies borders and has played a crucial role in defining modern New Age and World music. His songs have millions of plays on YouTube, and his first two albums, Opal Fire (2002) and Free As a Bird (2004), hit the Top 15 on Billboard’s New Age chart…