Music Stars Making A Social Impact: How & Why Harper Starling Is Helping To Change Our World
An Interview With Edward Sylvan
Over the years there are countless people that I feel have impacted me and not just one individual. As a result of realizing the platform I now have as a performer, I’m now ready to become more active in the causes close to my heart and also feel that my voice will now be heard. These include the Tourette Association of America and the Make a Wish Foundation.
As a part of our series about music stars who are making an important social impact, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Harper Starling.
Harper Starling is a Wisconsin-raised, Los Angeles-based pop artist. Diagnosed with Tourette’s Syndrome at a young age would’ve deterred most, but not Harper. When she steps on a stage, any related symptoms magically disappear and are replaced with the ability to soar and achieve her dreams.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you tell us a bit of the ‘backstory’ of how you grew up?
Thank you for having me! I’m a small-town bubble, Midwest girl from Wisconsin. Everyone knows each other there and while it was a great place to grow up, I always knew I wanted to get out and reach for something more. I ditched the flannel and believed in my dreams enough to overcome the fear of the unknown and moved to Los Angeles. It’s been quite the transition!
Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?
I think my career path stemmed from my Tourette’s, which came on when I was 8 years old. It was hard to process what was happening with my body since the tics are involuntary, but I noticed every time I sang and danced the tics would disappear. This led to me doing it so much it became second nature. Basically, what I was most self-conscious about became my biggest strength!
Can you share the funniest or most interesting story that occurred to you in the course of your career? What was the lesson or take away that you took out of that story?
I was in the production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. We did a modern-day interpretation and in the final scene a motorcycle came on stage and my job was to remove it off. Long story short, I crashed the bike on stage taking out the props and gasoline spilled all over. The audience could see everything and couldn’t stop laughing. I just kept singing like I didn’t just destroy the lead man’s vehicle, who now has no means of transportation home. The lesson? The show must go on and always make the audience believe it’s part of the act.
What would you advise a young person who wants to emulate your success?
I’d advise them to have a strong work ethic and to respect the journey you’ll be on as an artist. Dreams don’t come free and I don’t believe in failure. Every step of the way is a learning process and it’s wonderful to look back and see the transformation of your art.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you explain how that was relevant in your life?
“Though nobody can go back and make a new beginning, anyone can start over and make a new ending.” I used to question a lot of decisions I had made in the past and would always ask myself “What if I…”, “If I’d only…” I came to terms with the fact that you can’t change what is in your past, but you can change the outcome of your future. Instead of leading my life with “What If?” I changed the narrative to “No More What If.” It’s been a very rewarding change and peace of mind.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
Definitely my parents and my manager Cindy Valentine. My parents have loved and supported me throughout my entire music journey (even at 3 when I began performing at dance recitals). Cindy has achieved a lot of success in the industry and understands what it takes to be an artist since she’s a former Arista and Polygram artist/composer herself. In the year that I’ve been with her, I have already seen so much growth in myself vocally, understanding the business and at a performance level.
Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview, how are you using your success to bring goodness to the world? Can you share with us the meaningful or exciting social impact causes you are working on right now?
By showing that despite the challenges of my Tourette’s, I can still be here living out my dreams. I hope that this can encourage others that their dreams can come true too.
Can you tell us the backstory about what originally inspired you to feel passionate about this cause and to do something about it?
Because I live it, I have it, and therefore it was my passion and purpose to understand it.
Many of us have ideas, dreams, and passions, but never manifest it. But you did. Was there an “Aha Moment” that made you decide that you were actually going to step up and take action for this cause? What was that final trigger?
My “aha moment” came in December 2019. I had been working on my music career for a few years by that point and I seriously questioned why I felt so stuck. I found one of my journals from the first month of me deciding to do music professionally and I could feel the excitement and passion coming off the pages. That night I made a vision board and glued the words “performance, manager and September” on it. Sure enough, that February I booked performances around LA and in September, I officially signed to management The Star Groomer LLC. Seriously, the power of manifesting is incredible.
Can you tell us a story about a particular individual who was impacted or helped by your cause?
Over the years there are countless people that I feel have impacted me and not just one individual. As a result of realizing the platform I now have as a performer, I’m now ready to become more active in the causes close to my heart and also feel that my voice will now be heard. These include the Tourette Association of America and the Make a Wish Foundation.
Are there three things that individuals, society or the government can do to support you in this effort?
Yes, kudos to the government for giving us June 7th as International Tourette’s Awareness Day. Let’s make sure that on that date comedians are not allowed to poke fun at us.
Fantastic. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why. Please share a story or an example for each.
- No one is perfect. You will make mistakes and that is fine, it’s simply a growing experience. My story about crashing a motorcycle in front of an audience was embarrassing as heck, but I learned to keep singing through it.
- You cannot please everyone. Loving yourself and treating everyone equally is what we should strive for. I have spent a lot of years trying to please others around me just to be liked by people that wouldn’t give me the time of day. I’ve learned to let that go and the ones that truly matter will love me for me.
- There will always be more nos than yeses, but when the right ones do come around, you will appreciate it so much more. As an indie artist, it is much more difficult to break into the industry. It is harder still, to find the right team that believes in you and your music. Once that occurs, it all feels worth it.
- This requires hard work, determination, and tough skin. As the popular saying goes “Dreams don’t come true. Goals do.” Every day an artist should be writing, singing, working on their performances, social media, etc. It is a full-time job because it is a career.
- Enjoy the journey and trust the process. Music is ever-evolving as are we as humans. When I take a look back at where I started on my musical journey, I can see how far I’ve come and how each decision I’ve made has influenced me and brought me to where I’m at today.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
Laughter and learning to laugh at yourself. I hope this would trigger a happier world, especially with so much sadness happening around the world that we can’t control.
We are blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Politics, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them :-)
Do I have to pick just one? I guess if I picked someone for each category, my waistline would definitely pay for that but it’d be worth it! For business/entertainment I’d pick Oprah Winfrey because of her strength in overcoming diversity, taking her power back from a difficult upbringing, and being a strong woman in a tough world. With the advice I’d gather from her during our breakfast, I know it would take me into lunch and hopefully dinner with this incredible icon.
Thank you so much for these amazing insights. This was so inspiring, and we wish you continued success!
Thank you for giving me a spotlight to share my beliefs, my challenges, and my humor with your readers. Grateful for the opportunity!
About The Interviewer: Growing up in Canada, Edward Sylvan was an unlikely candidate to make a mark on the high-powered film industry based in Hollywood. But as CEO of Sycamore Entertainment Group Inc, (SEGI) Sylvan is among a select group of less than ten Black executives who have founded, own and control a publicly traded company. Now, deeply involved in the movie business, he is providing opportunities for people of color.
In 2020, he was appointed president of the Monaco International Film Festival, and was encouraged to take the festival in a new digital direction.
Raised in Toronto, he attended York University where he studied Economics and Political Science, then went to work in finance on Bay Street, (the city’s equivalent of Wall Street). After years of handling equities trading, film tax credits, options trading and mergers and acquisitions for the film, mining and technology industries, in 2008 he decided to reorient his career fully towards the entertainment business.
With the aim of helping Los Angeles filmmakers of color who were struggling to understand how to raise capital, Sylvan wanted to provide them with ways to finance their creative endeavors.
