Rising Music Star Earth to Jordi On The Five Things You Need To Shine In The Music Industry

An Interview With Ming Zhao

The benefits are infinite. Even in how music, film, and television are able to come to be, it requires many different beings from all around the world to be involved. Down to where materials are sourced to create equipment used for a plethora of projects…..prioritizing a very specific demographic of performers is so limiting.

As a part of our interview series with leaders, stars, and rising stars in the music industry, we had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Earth to Jordi

Jordiana is a gender expanding, multidimensional artist, facilitator, and guide, weaving healing energy into all of their practices. Their performance art work has been welcomed at the Getty Center and Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity expanding from her 20+ year background in Theatre and Entertainment Industries. Informed by her individual self healing practices, Jordi has been able to guide group care workshops centered around meditation, ritual, herbalogy, and decolonial organizing for the liberation of marginalized groups of people.

This work in the past year has brought her to speak at UCLA, The Hammer Museum, and guide workshops at Vimeo, Headspace, and Navel LA.

Jordi creates an environment of healing through sharing wisdom informed by her experiences as a Black Gender-tired Queer person, and it is receiving information in this space that people are able to grow individually as well as collectively benefiting their own expansion and the communities they are apart of. Please explore Jordi’s website and all the ways you can support furthering their work.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit about your “origin story”. Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?

I grew up in a single parent home. My mother had me pretty young and we were kind thrusted into a life of growing up together in a lot of ways. We moved to Los Angeles from San Jose to pursue my mothers acting career, joining her two other siblings who had moved to LA as well. So being around family was a huge part of my upbringing and really informed my creative practice. My family was very active in the church and at a young age I felt my ideology shifting from theirs, trying to make sense of my own identity as a queer person while still being very spiritual.

Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?

Joining my Mother on the auditions she had to go to was a catalyzer most definitely. I would wait in the casting lobby doing my homework watching a room full of actors prepare to audition the role. Once I knew their efforts were in hopes of getting on TV it was a wrap. I wanted to start acting as well. I loved television, and the worlds I was able to experience viewing different projects I wanted to experience on the other side of the screen. I was 6 and my mother waited a whole year to make sure I was serious before she enrolled me into a conservatory arts program called Amazing Grace Conservatory. After that I signed with her agency and began to audition and book my own roles.

Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

Art truly reflects life. I’ve heard this many times but I think it took performing in this one show to really remind me of this fact. I had traveled to Pittsburgh 2 years after graduating to perform in a lovely Tarell McCraney play WIG OUT! In this play, the role I had was of this aging performer who is the mother of this queer house in the ballroom scene of NY. She ends up having a mental health crisis and almost dies because of it. A friend of mine staying in the city with the same name as the character almost died the same way. As I was comforting my friend I couldn’t help but see the very dramatic parallels between them. It shook me to my core because I knew I didn’t come to do the show, but to be there for my friend and the show reminded me of that every night I performed.

It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

I have a naturally nasally voice. And I was singing once and one of my teachers corrected me, using the character Bart Simpson as someone I didn’t want to sound like. I was 8 so it hurt my feelings a little bit, but I ended up being very aware of how to manipulate my body to change the sounds my voice can make…..it really has allowed me to try new things as a vocalist.

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?

I’m currently working on a travel documentary inspired by familial patterns and history. It’s both exciting and nerve racking, but also inspires a lot of ceremony and growth when I visit the land that has a deep connection with me even though we may be meeting for the first time. Also…..fingers crossed, some tracks on a House album I was invited to collaborate on could come out this year. Lots of fire on these tracks I’m excited about.

We are very interested in diversity in the entertainment industry. Can you share three reasons with our readers about why you think it’s important to have diversity represented in music, film, and television? How can that potentially affect our culture?

1. Homogeny is boring. The same thing over and over again is not only monotonous….it isn’t reflective of the world and how ever changing the universe is. Expand, let’s have fun.
2. Lack of Diversity does not support life. In something as basic as our food, pollination is required for growth to occur, with a diversity of life aiding more life abundantly. Art is food for the soul, and our society is hungry for life. Give them life!
3. The benefits are infinite. Even in how music, film, and television are able to come to be, it requires many different beings from all around the world to be involved. Down to where materials are sourced to create equipment used for a plethora of projects…..prioritizing a very specific demographic of performers is so limiting.

What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why? Please share a story or example for each.

1. It’s a Marathon not a Sprint
2. Take a Production Class (editing and sound producing)
3. Ask for Help
4. Buy a Camera/Utilize any camera
5. You can say NO to anything

Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?

Prioritize your physical, mental, spiritual and emotional health. Get into some kind of therapy. Eat food that nourishes you. Drink lots of water. Find some kind of meditative spiritual practice that vibrates with you. Surround yourself with people who affirm you with positive energy and who venture with you through the challenging times. Participate in some kind of self awareness/self archiving practice like journalling. Knitting. Recording. Take breaths!

You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire 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. :-)

There’s just so much to think of. In this moment I would love for there to be more respect for Water. Making sure it’s clean. Not poisoning it with toxins, making sure others have water. Drinking more water. So many people are living life so voluntarily dehydrated. When so many people on this planet don’t have access to abundance of drinkable life giving water. Water is life, I want for more people to acknowledge that.

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?

My Mother is the most obvious choice. Not only has she been very supportive of my artistic path, she has served as such a prime example of the many ways to follow your dreams. There are many artistic people in my family but not a lot of artists. So it’s been such blessing to be raised by one.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

Get the work out of the way, then you can play! It was a fun rhyme my aunt came up with while babysitting me encouraging me to finish homework that had to be done. Even though I believe now a lot of work is play and a lot of play requires vast amounts of work….it taught me about prioritizing. I like making lists. I love going through and getting things done at their own pace but doing so with efficiency. Especially when I do so much.

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, especially if we tag them. :-)

Viola Davis. She is such a creative person, and has created a successful business life in harmony with this while also being a parent. I strive for all aspects of this and think she would be really fun to break bread with. Also I would love to hear about her production company and the Black Sci-Fi magic coming through there!

How can our readers follow you online?

Please visit my website www.earthtojordi.com

This was very meaningful, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!