Episode Transcript
Hello, my name is Aziz and I'm the son of a divorce mother. She is really my superhero. That's why it's important for me to support women to share their uniqueness, their personalities, perspectives, and emotions about life. Too many women in this world feel alone. They worry about the judgment of others and they struggle with their mental health. But when they listen to the Rare Girls podcast where empowered women share their voices and tell their stories, many women will feel inspired to live a life of freedom and to overcome all insecurities. They will feel it is a safe space to find their confidence, to remember their unique beauty, and to feel their self-worth. And they will connect with the sisterhood of Rare Girls who encourage their success and support their dreams. That's what this podcast is all about. My guest today is Riaquel. Riaquel is a singer, songwriter, and producer living in Miami, USA. Originally from Brazil, she has always studied music and majored in audio engineering. She received an entertainment business bachelor's degree from Full Sail University. Riaquel founded RTC Music in 2023. The boutique record label focused on empowering and uplifting artists. She is paving the way for a new generation of female artists to succeed and inspire women to follow their dreams and breakthrough barriers. Riaquel, how are you today? Hi, Aziz. Thank you very much for having me here. Yeah. It's such an honor. I appreciate you inviting me to this powerful podcast, bringing women together to inspire each other. I'm happy, honored, and lucky to have you here. I'm very curious to know much more about you. So I'll begin with this nice first question, which is a bit difficult, but it's also very enlightening related to you. So Riaquel, if your friends could describe your personality, what would they say about you? And would there be a difference in Brazil compared to Miami? Are you a different person or not? Wow. That I can definitely say that I am not a different person. I am the same person everywhere I go. And even at times when I have to be more discreet in my personality, because I'm very bubbly, I'm very enthusiastic all the time, for the most part, sometimes I have to be a little less, you know, be more discreet. And I am very happy everywhere I go. So I had to ask my friends to see exactly what they thought of me. And I was surprised with their answers. My friends, they think that I am very kindhearted and that I am very sensitive towards others, self-driven, mostly positive and feisty sometimes. And my friend Ben, he says that I'm a little crazy. Which are app descriptions for an artist, because you have to be a bit crazy and you have to be sensitive in order to be creative for real, for real. So let's speak a bit about your music career. It's challenging, it's very, very difficult. And like part of it, a huge part is that it's male dominated as well. But also you being an ethnic minority who's trying to make it in a part of the world where things are more standardized for a different type of person. Can you share a bit more about that journey? How difficult was it? What kept you motivated? And what did you do throughout your story in order for you to decide till the end to be someone who helps other people as well, not just struggling alone? Yes, definitely. I actually got goosebumps with that question, because it's very, you know, what you said is very truthful. It has been a long journey for me. I discovered that I liked singing when I was 13. And when I discovered it, I was just, you know, singing like just anyone. And my friend said, "Hey, girl, you could sing. Like, what was that?" And I was like, "Really?" And that motivated me. I'm like, "Okay, so here's this again." And then I started practicing. And at 15, I started singing at the Orlando Youth Opera. And that's how I started developing my vocals. And since then, everything started happening for me. I started singing in a lot of different venues and lounges, festivals. And I found out that's really what motivated me. I found out my purpose, because I was a little bit of a troublemaker. Growing up, I was very, you know, like bored here, because it was a big change for me coming from Brazil to the US. And I had all my cousins there. And it was really hard for me to adapt to the school system. And I couldn't find myself. I didn't know who I was. I didn't know how to fit in. And I found myself in music. So since then, I started pursuing music. And really, I started having more like the real world experience. When I went to New York City, I was 19. You know, once I finished out of engineering at Full Sail, I said, "You know what? I want to go to New York now to report." That was my dream. I had never been to New York, not even to visit. And I went to live, you know. And as soon as I got there, I started-- I didn't know anyone. I started looking for vocal coaches and recording studios. Actually went to quad recording studios. That's where Tupac got shot, actually. Not sure if you know who Tupac is. You know, big time hip hop rapper. But that recording studio was really cool. I met Madonna there and Lil' Bow Wow. But I started as an intern, you know? And I started from the very bottom. I had to clean bathrooms and the whole like four floors that they had. And pick up coffee and clean the whole studio. And really only lasted two weeks as an intern. I said, "You know, what am I doing here? Like, I don't even want to be an engineer." I went to school to learn about engineering so I know how to communicate with engineers and producers. So, you know, that could facilitate the whole recording process for me. Or if I have to do it myself, I could just jump on it and do it. But I don't want to be an engineer. Like, I'm not going to be here cleaning bathrooms. Like, I'm out of here, you know? But I left with a good attitude. And, you know, like I left all doors open. And after a week, the receptionist called. They said, "Hey, Raquel, you want to come by?" "And you want to get on my position?" You know? And I said, "Yeah, sure." She said she was leaving. I'm like, "Of course." "Hegg, yeah, you know, I'm on it." So the next day I was there talking to Ricky. He's the owner. And I told him that I was there, you know, to start my new position. And he said, "Wait, you know, but Karina, like, she's leaving?" I was like, "Yeah, she invited me to come work for you guys." And he said, "All right, sure." He was like, "Super cool." And that's how I started my journey, because that's where I met a lot of the people that I work until today. Like, I worked with Ben Arendelle. He was an engineer there, an in-house engineer. And when I had that role, I started as a receptionist. I had to call all the engineers for the sessions. Like, I had to see, like, it was up to me to decide what engineers I wanted to call for the sessions. So I became really good friends with Ben Arendelle. And he gave me the opportunity to start recording at his recording studios, because Juar was always super busy. And although I worked there, I never, I never, like, the studio was never available for us. They always had blackout sessions. They had Jim Jones there. And, you know, it was always, it was always packed. So anyways, but that's, you know, how I started singing with Ben, my first session when I started recording and I heard myself back, I started crying. And I said, "I can't do this. Oh my God. I'm so horrible. Like, what am I going to do? This is all I know how to do." Like, all I know how to do is sing. Like, what am I going to do if, you know, if I don't sound good? And I had a breakdown. I had a breakdown and Ben said, "No, you know, just go home." I said, "I'm not going home. So I'm not going anywhere." And I stayed in the recording studio until like probably six in the morning and went to sleep, you know, and then the next day I woke up like, "Okay, let's get it. Let's, let's, let's do this again." And I continued and I never stopped, you know, and along the way, I met so many people that promised me so many things. They sold me the dream. And I, I was in New York by myself, you know, my family, they lived in Florida. And I, I was very vulnerable and naive. And I believed, I believed in everyone, everyone's promises. And, but I, I never, I believed, but when it was time for me to do something that did not, that did not meet with my principles and my values, I would, I would, you know, I would turn it down. I said, "Nope." Like, I'm not doing nothing. What am I doing for you? I'm nothing. I'm, I'm, I'm going to sing. I'm here, you know, I could do an audition. I'm going to sing. And, you know, and I had a lot of moments that I just had to like, just get away and leave the room and just walk away. And I did that for many years, but, you know, one thing that was solid was always the, the work relationship with my friend, Ben. Ben, he always respected me. He's a friend that never tried to cross the line. And I recorded many songs there. I started songwriting at his students. I didn't know how to write one single line. And I used to cry too, because of that. I'm like, "I can't write one line. I don't know what to do." So we got songwriters to write me songs and, you know, I didn't like the story. I'm like, "I don't, I'm not feeling it," you know? And my friend was like, "Rica, you know, just try to tell a story." I'm like, "All right," you know? And I started just writing everything that I was going through and I started getting better and melody wise and lyrical and just having everything to rhyme. And, you know, we, I kept pushing and I met my vocal coach in New York, Craig Derry. He's Alicia Keys, actually vocal coach, Katy Perry, vocal coach, and that, of course, always inspired me and we had group vocal classes. So the whole entire group, like we would inspire each other because there were so many talented people in the room. So after everyone sang, everyone did, you know, after once everyone finished our vocal exercises, we would perform in front of, you know, our peers and we would like evaluate them, you know? But that inspired us. And after class, we would hang out on the stairs, just like you see in the movies, hang out on the stairs and sing and harmonize. It was awesome. And that moved me a lot, you know, to keep going. And I performed a couple of places in New York City, Webster Hall and some festivals. And I was trying new things, you know, and I was looking to meet people and network and go to radio stations and just meet as many people as I could and just knock on many doors. And, you know, I looked for producers recording studios, but I did everything on my own because every time I try to work with, let's say, someone that was interested to be my manager, I felt like I couldn't trust them enough. I felt like there was other interests. So I said, you know, I'll do it myself. And I learned some business and at full sail with my first degree in auto engineering. So I already know how to do my copyrights. I already knew how to defend myself and do my split sheets so no one would take advantage of me in the music level. And it was just a matter of learning how to build relationships. And that's something no one teaches you. School doesn't teach you how to build relationships. That's something that you just learn along the way. I had a breakdown in New York. It came down that I had a breakdown because I went through a couple of experiences in the recording studios, you know, just being there by myself. And when you're by yourself and you're a woman, you have to be extremely, extremely careful, like not to really drink anything and just do whatever people are doing. You know, a lot of people like in that environment, they do drugs. And to be honest with you, you know, back then I used to smoke weed and once in a while, to be honest, you know, and when I was recording at the studio, I took a little hit and I was fine. But then something happened that they offered me something else like a candy and I thought it was just candy and oh my God, I went on a trip. After that day, something happened to me in my brain, like chemically, that I had a breakdown, like a mental breakdown, like anxiety. And I was sick. I went on a big, big, big dark hole for maybe three or four months. I couldn't eat. I couldn't sleep. I went through depression and I'm a very happy person. I had never been through that and I couldn't understand when people would go through that. You know, I thought it was, I thought they were weak. I'm like, you know, that's so weak. How can you like allow yourself to be that way? And that happened to me. It happened. It was I don't wish that on anyone, you know, and my mom helped me to get myself out of there. We went to Brazil for me to treat myself. The only treatment I accepted was to take sleeping pills because I didn't want to take medication. I didn't want to take anything. And that's when I started getting back to myself, you know, my normal self. And I picked up where I left off. I wrote my my my the very first song that I wrote after that phase was Armor or More, which at the time I called it Crystal Moon. That song talks about self love, talks about that. Now, you know, I am lacing my my heart to win and I'm taking off to win to win because I'm, you know, stitching myself up together. And now I have wings to fly. I'm ready to go up like a like a like a rocket and no one is stopping me. So I started, you know, with that drive again, I moved out of New York. And that's when I came back to Florida to stay close to the family. And again, I started reporting and meeting people again and going out again and other experience happened to me again. So I you know what, I hit rock bottom again. I did. I hit rock bottom. And I said, I need to I need to do something in my life. I got to change. I can't I can't continue like this. Like if I continue the way I was, I would have either end up ended up probably, I don't know, dead, like suicidal or someone could have kidnapped me here in Miami. That's why I talk about like, I don't go to both parties, yacht parties when people invite me. I don't go if I don't know the host, only if I really know them, then who? But if not, I don't. But, you know, everything changed for me, to be honest with you. When I had an experience that I started praying to God. And I had never prayed before in my life, like I prayed before going to sleep, but I started praying for a guy that I had met that I was in a relationship. And when I prayed for him, my life started changing and I saw that change. And I said, well, you know, like my life is really changing. It was something like a miracle that things were going better for me. And I started walking away from all of this environments that I used to go to in the music industry. And I started, you know, just doing everything on my own. I said, you know, I'm going to start here producing my music. And I'll send it to Benton, New York. He's still working with me. He mixes my songs. And, you know, and just do all my production at home and then just really choose wisely who I want to work with. And if I ever come across someone in the recording studio, like a producer, someone that disrespects me, that, you know, they offer me, like, oh, let me kiss you and this and that. You know, because I go there to report to work, you know, and I usually go all covered up. I don't go like, you know, with a little skirt or something, you know, being like all, you know, seductive. Like, I really try to keep myself as hidden, let's say, as possible in a recording studio. So I don't get hit on. But when I do, you know, which had happened so many times that, you know, if I say no, like people were like, all right, you know, watch, watch. You're not going to go anywhere. I'm going to make sure you don't go anywhere. Like, I'm going to make sure I tell everyone not to work with you. It's like, wow. You know, but like, that's not going to happen because I have a God. I have a God, you know, and you're not God to tell me that I'm not going anywhere. So yeah, I started just choosing better, like who I hang out with and the friends. And now, now I have, you know, like a whole different circle of friends. Even in the music industry, I have people that really, you know, respect me and it's a mutual relationship. I have many friends that are producers, videographers, you know, stylists and so on. And right now I'm in a good place. Thank God, you know, mentally, emotionally and every way. And it's just a matter of continued persistency. And I persisted so long and I continue persisting because, you know, time passed by so many years passed by. But I continue persisting because I realized that it doesn't matter what happens to the outcome if my songs become successful or not, because, you know, I release music every year. I try to release four songs every year. I actually got a deal with the Orchard, which is Sony's music distribution label for independent artists. And I noticed that, you know, I am having progress like over the years, like step by step, but it's a slow process and I would like to be faster. But because I do everything on my own, it's, you know, it's a slower pace. But I've learned to really enjoy the journey, you know, if I'm not feeling like, you know, writing a song today, I won't write a song today if I want to hang out with the family, you know, I'm just I just learned to have balance in life and and just be able to, you know, not not not not not go back to that place of sadness and sorrow. And if I'm a little sad, I pick up my guitar, you know, write a song, but then the next day I'm better, you know, the next day I'm ready for the world again to smile at life and keep going, you know, and that, you know, and the music, the music is something that that lives in me. I it's really what motivates me. You know, I feel there's nothing in this world that will ever separate me from that, because even like I was saying, even if the outcome is it's not a successful music career, like known famous or whatever, I don't hear it anymore because my message changed that I just really want to have a positive message in my songs that, you know, I just I just share, you know, like always like a positive message, like the song, for example, like detox, detox talks about taking, you know, detoxing everything from your heart, like all of the everything that makes you sad, everything that makes you feel that, you know, those dark feelings and everything that doesn't that doesn't make you feel like, you know, to let it go to detox from your body. So that's why it's called detox. You know, I talk about a guy like I got to detox you, but every song is a different message. So it just makes me feel good. It makes me feel like I have a purpose in life. So I will always I will always do it forever. No matter what, you know, I will always I will always be working on my crafts. It's what I love. Thank you so much for sharing that. I have so many questions. Actually, I want to begin from the beginning. The fact that you went to New York City, you didn't know anyone, you just jumped in. There are a lot of women in this world who are dying with their creative artists inside them that is not explored because they worry. And even though you are worrying, you are thinking, oh, I have to be extra careful about who I speak to. What do I drink? What do I take? Which means you are careful. But what allowed you to be brave enough to suddenly go to New York and take that big leap when many women will be staying in their comfort zone because they would overthink and worry and they would not feel comfortable with that risk because if they fail, they will think, oh, what if I fail? What if something happens and I'm far from my family, etc. Yeah, I was I don't know. For some reason, I always had a thing for New York since I was 14 because like all to me, like all the cool kids in school, they were from New York. Like they know how to dress. They had the cute little pink tims and the gray tims. And I don't know, they talked differently and they were more expressive, more talkative. And I don't know. It always called my attention. So I guess also because I'm from the city in Brazil, Sao Paulo is very busy, you know, and I had a lot of friends growing up as a kid in Brazil. And when I moved here as a little girl, I didn't have that many friends. So because I didn't know the language, I didn't know Spanish or English. But going back to New York, though, like, you know, I remember growing up in school and thinking to myself, you know, like, I'm bored here. I'm bored because I grew up in Orlando and Orlando is very quiet and there's not many things to do. And like I was saying, I was growing up. I didn't have a lot of friends, you know, because of the whole change. I didn't know how to communicate in English, Spanish at the time. We didn't have a lot of Brazilians in school. I only had one Brazilian friend in school. So when I graduated, I said, I want to go to New York. I mean, as soon as I graduated from high school, I worked for six months. And then I said, you know, I don't want to I don't want to do this forever. I don't want to do something that I don't like. So if I go to school, what I'm going to go to school for, like I only like singing. So I started I started thinking about what I could do. Oh, I remember. OK, I remember I met the first producer that I met was at a gas station. I was at a gas station. And this guy out of nowhere started talking to me. And he said, hey, you know, and he was from New York. He said, hey, you know, like, do you sing? I guess he heard me sing and I don't know. And I said, yeah, yeah, I'm a singer. He said, well, let's work on some tracks. You know, I have some beats for you to hear. I'm like, OK. So I started working with them. It's such a long story that this guy like he had me take out his gear from the pawn shop. And when I took out his gear because he told me he you know, his gear was there for you know, that he could record me when I when my mom got the stuff out of the pawn shop, he didn't record me. He didn't record me. It was kind of like, you know, he just used that excuse to take off and see whatever he could get. So from that experience right there that I already had finished high school and I was working at a regular job, I said, you know what, like I'm going to go to school to know my business. Like I'm not going to let anyone take advantage of me. That's I was 18. That's when I decided that. So so I went to full sail to learn business. But then at the time they didn't have business to start off. You had to do the engineering or design and a couple of other courses that they had other majors. But I didn't relate to any of them. But when they showed us what the audio engineering is, which I had no idea also what I was like, what the heck is audio engineering? And they took us on a tour. Oh, my God, I fell in love. The tour was like all the recording studios and the gold and silver plagues, you know, and it was in the consoles. Everything was so beautiful. I'm like, what is this? Like, I want to learn this. So when I learned a little bit of music production, and it was really hard for me because I had never learned any. I mean, I had never heard about any of that. And the business, that's when I said I'm ready for New York because I'm ready for the next level. You know, I just I don't know, I just knew that in New York, it was just I don't know what it was. I just knew that over there. I could have more possibilities because I knew all the record labels were there. I used to be like after record labels all the time. You know, I knew like, Universal Music was there, Warner and radio stations and, you know, and I don't know, like, all the shows and things. And I wanted to be where the action was. And I didn't know anyone. I really didn't, but I had no fear. I had no fear. And my sister, she knew some girls in Jersey. She said, well, you know, I know some girls in Jersey City that you know, you could live there until you get yourself situated. And I said, all right. And that's what I did. I went to Jersey, lived there for three months. But I kept going to New York City every night, taking the it's like the little ferry and there's like a little bus that takes you there. But then that the the ferry or the train, I forgot what's it called right now. It stops at 12. I don't know if it's still like that till this day, but it stops at 12. And then after 12 at night, I was stuck in the city. I couldn't go back. I couldn't go back to New Jersey, you know. So sometimes I stayed the night just there hanging out, you know, at a club or something until until it was morning until it was time for me to, you know, to take the train back to New Jersey until I was able to move to New York City after three months. But it was just the dream was always bigger than any fear. You know, I have always been such a go getter. You know, I was just so excited to be there. I felt like I was inside a movie. I felt I felt like I was in Spiderman, Spiderman movie, to be honest with you. I said, what? Like Times Square for the first time, you know, that feeling and the girls, they took me to see cheesecake. Everything was new. It was exciting. I was I wasn't scared. I wasn't scared. Sometimes, you know, when when I went through a situation where I will meet someone that they told me that they had connections, whatever, but then they would take me somewhere and, you know, or talk so much. Then I started thinking, like, why not? Like, why can't I hear speak for myself? Why can't I share my information? So, you know, it's just I learned a lot about life there. I learned a lot because I was thrown in the real world. You know, I found out the reality. That's when I started having it my my first experience out the house and just living life and especially in the music industry. You know, I went after I went after the producers that did Dan Sakuduro is a song here by Don Omar. And when I recorded a song with them and, you know, I just I just went after everyone, DJs and everything to the remix for me. But I was I was definitely more aggressive back then than today. Today, I'm not I don't I don't really look for people so much anymore. I do a lot on my own. And I just like I was saying, I just choose wisely who I really, really want to work with. Thank you. And so your label, RTC, how does it help empower and protect maybe new artists and women from going through some of the dangers that you almost like were involved with but protected yourself? What are some things that deal with you being involved with you will help them not need to deal with if they go try to do it on their own? Yeah, you know, artists and music, it just happened because I picked up so many skills along the way. I had to learn how to do it myself so I could release music and I had to learn how to song right. So I wouldn't sing a song that I didn't like. I had to do my own artwork for my CDs, you know, to release it. I had to put it out in City Baby and other distribution labels. You know, I had to like go and do my research and do it on my own. And it was just, you know, so many factors of putting a project together that I had to learn on my own. Also because of budget, I not only because of, you know, encountering those situations that I couldn't trust many people, but also because I didn't have money. I was broke, you know, like literally a broke artist. When I worked at Quad, you know, I didn't have enough, you know, I worked only on the weekends and actually worked 32 hours straight. And I would like knock out on the couch and I little bit, you know, for 30 minutes, wake up again. And then throughout the week, the entire week, I just wanted to go after the music and do auditions, you know, I did a Broadway auditions, like whatever auditions that I would hear that I was out there, like I did an audition for Puff Daddy, P Diddy, for some girl group that he was doing back then. Oh my God, I hope they don't have that recording anywhere. I don't know. But anyway, so, you know, I was always busy, like during the week doing my vocal classes and dance classes and just getting myself ready, you know, but now that, you know, so many years passed by, I realized that all these skills that I learned along the way that I was pretty much just forced to learn so I can just keep going. So I have material, so I have content. I learned and also copyrighted my music, everything, you know, I noticed that I can offer that to other people and especially women, you know, so they don't have to go through then, you know, sorry, guys, you know, not all guys are bad, you know, not at all. But there are a lot of bad guys out there, you know, and we just really have to, we have to empower each other, we have to protect each other, because I want, I would love to have that I would love to have someone, you know, a company that I can, I can run to, I actually met the president of a major record, but I don't want to say, you know, the name, and she's a woman. And when I met her, it was like a refuge for me, I was so excited that she's a woman and she's a, she's the president of this huge label that I admire. And when I told her my story, she didn't even care. She didn't even hear me, she didn't even listen, she didn't even reply to my, to my message because she gave me her phone number. And my message, I was like, Oh my God, you know, it was such an honor meeting you. Here's my music. She asked me to send her my music. When I sent her my music, I told her a little bit that, you know, it feels so good to meet her because she's a woman and she could relate to my story perhaps. And she didn't even reply back. And I was so disappointed because she's a woman. I'm like, geez, you know, like, I would really expect that, you know, you like to have like more, what's the word? Just be more receptive and more, you know, embracing more, you know, some was like another woman, you know, it's kind of like a shelter, you know. So here are artists in music. I want to have that. I want to have everything that I didn't have, everything that I don't have for myself as a team. I want to offer that to women and even, you know, men too. But, and I want to work with people that are talented, that have quality work and that they do not have to feel like they have to degrade their image to be successful to sell their music, you know, because people say, Oh, sex sells. No, here you're not going to have to be a sex appeal to sell. What's going to sell is your message is your talent. That's what artists in music is about. I agree with that 100% and I salute you for being the refuge and safe haven to a lot of artists and empowering them and helping them. You spoke also a lot about how you were someone who met a lot of people who sold you the dream, but you also met Ben, who is a good person and never crossed the line. So let's say you're speaking to young female artists about some of the red flags to recognize whether someone is selling them the dream and they're wasting time with that or not. How could they differentiate from your experience? Now you've said you're selective. You choose people who are different to the old group of people you used to meet before. What's the difference? How can someone recognize the good people within the music industry from some red flags in order to pay attention? That is such a good question. Very, very smart question. Let's see how I can separate the two, right? So we can discern. See Ben, he has always been an example because Ben never promised to me anything, never promised anything. Matter of fact, so this day when I tell him, Oh my God, I had such a great session. I recorded so fast. And he was like, don't ever tell anyone that. No, no, no, it's not like that. It takes time. You have to go and record as many takes. And he doesn't sell you dreams. Someone that tells you, let's work and let's invest the time. And I want you to go and write a song. And when you go back to them, you show them the song. They were like, ah, you could do better. And that's something, by the way, I would get so frustrated. I'm like, come on, this song is already great. No, you could do better. Like what are you talking about? You just don't get it. You don't see the vision here. You don't see the outcome. I already see everything in my head, but it's just someone that don't tell you everything that you want to hear. And it's someone that really sees your imperfections, your flaws, and they'll tell you so you could work on them. And I really believe that's someone that is real. Because my other friends also that are producers and mix engineers, also they're married and they have a significant other. And they don't text you really late at night after 2 in the morning. Or they don't say, hey, you want to come here, come over, hang out here at the studio. When you hear the word hang out at the studio, so we can all just stop hanging out. There's no hanging out. There's no hanging out. I'm there to work. And even if you go to the studio, okay, let's work. And you get there and it's more talking than reporting. And then when you finish recording, they don't give you your session. That's a huge red flag. You should always have your session on you, your file. Because if they don't want to send you that, what's the problem? That if they start getting too close to you, hugging you, to friendly, give me a kiss. No, no, I don't give kisses here. There's another, or let's hang out after here. Let's go for a drink. That's another thing, which is really important for me. I learned not to drink. Why? Because I was a cocktail waitress in New York. And as a cocktail waitress, I myself, I took a lot of advantage of people because I wanted to make them really drunk so they could spend more money and give me a higher tip. And because of that experience, I learned not to let anything control me because when you're intoxicated, other people will control you. And you're not completely aware of what's really going on. So, of course, I repent of that, of intoxicating people so much or being an influence of having people drink so much. Because I was a good salesperson. I would sell the bottles and party with everyone and just motivate them. And I don't want to beat that kind of motivator to motivate people to be a self-destruction. I want to motivate people to have a good time, but to always be healthy and be the best that they could be. And I don't ever want to take advantage of people. So, I think that's the difference. If you're hanging out, if you're at the studio and people start offering you weed and drugs and your gummies or whatever and alcohol, no. You say no. You party at another time if that's what you like. But when you're there to work, to do a song, you gotta do it consciously fully. You have to fully be there and also performing. I think when you're also performing, it's important for you to take someone that really cares for you, that can look out for you while you're performing. It's always be like a second eye. So, you have to work with people that you trust. And people that you trust, I don't think for me, it did not come easily to have a dream team. I work with a couple of producers now that I've known for a long time. Also, my friend Michael Zieben from France, he's always sending me songs. We select what songs would work or whatnot. But he's another person that he never crossed the line too, never crossed the line. Someone that wants to mix things up is a person that telling him that he comes too close. The approach is always too close to get to you or text you too much, invite you to other things like to yacht parties. Here in Miami is yacht parties. New York is mostly clubs. And if the conversation is not revolving really much about some work that's in progress, then forget it. You're gonna waste your time. If they tell you, if they promise you everything, like, "Okay, I'm gonna put your songs in playlists. I'm gonna give you more Spotify plays and views." Walk away because it's not true. They're just promising you that to impress you. So then you could do whatever they want or for you to fall for them and then they'll leave. Thank you for sharing that. That's very, very wise. And to finish, I recognize that one of your messages and your songs is "Self-Love." You spoke about that earlier. And nowadays there are a lot of women who struggle with self-love. They compare themselves to the idealized version of some women who are on Instagram or now made with AI, etc. How was your journey of self-love and what's your advice to women who are struggling with that so that they fall in love with themselves? My gosh, yes. That's another journey. I think that's a life journey. To really discover who you really are and to really accept who you are and really truly love yourself and work on yourself for you to be the best version of yourself. I started really having self-love after that breakdown that I had in New York. I thought everything was over for me because of how I was taken advantage of and I allowed myself to go that deep. And once I left out of that place, I felt so much stronger. I felt stronger because I felt like I would never go back there again. So even when I'm sad, I don't allow myself to lay down in bed and stay there all day. I'll go to the beach and I'll relax. The ocean relaxes me. But what really was my strength and where I found myself, where I found my identity, I can't hide. I have to say, it was really once I started having a relationship with God because I hadn't had a relationship. I didn't like I was telling I never prayed in my life. When I started praying for someone else, my life started changing and I started seeing value in me. I started seeing my essence and who I am and my purpose and that I am different. I started acknowledging my imperfections and also giving myself the applaud also for myself of my achievements because sometimes we achieve things that we think that it's not possible to achieve. And then after once it's achieved, it's like you don't make it, you, yourself, you don't make it a big deal, at least to me. I'm like, okay, yeah, yeah, I did that. But you don't really see the value of that so much because you want other people to approve it. You want other people to validate it. So once I started recognizing my small wins that I'm still in the process of becoming who I want to become in my dreams, and I'm working towards it and having goals. I started loving myself because I started looking at myself back and now I see how much I've been through, how much I'm already a winner because I did not let anything corrupt me. I didn't let anything buy me, you could say, because in this industry, you want money, you want fast money so you can invest in your songs because the more you invest in your music to promote it and for you to the shows or for you to the features with other people, then you grow faster. Then you could probably win the world. So many things you can do with money, but I never allow myself to be corrupted really because my principles are they're so much more worthy. I know that we are made with a purpose, we have so much value, and I started loving myself just like that. It's been a journey of finding that self-love because I'm single right now, I don't have a man right now, I'm not in a relationship. Finding love also, it's been challenging, it's been a journey. You have to feel confident that even if someone that you even like is not responding to you as you would like them to, you still have to think to yourself, "It's okay, it's not me, the person has to love me for who I am." Because you know that you are smart, you know what you're capable of doing, you know things that you've been through, you know your feelings, you know that you're kind, you know that you have good intentions of loving and being loved. So at the end of the day, it's just you can't put yourself down or depend on other people's opinions for you to feel validated, for you to say, "Okay, yes, I'm successful, yes, I'm beautiful, flawless, whatever it is." On social media that so many women are beautiful, you just really have to be beautiful every day, take care of your feelings on the inside, your mental health, feel happy because that reflects in the face, that joy, then when you have that face that you're feeling down and bitter and you don't treat people good. If you don't treat people good, you're gonna feel like crap at the end of the day, you're gonna feel like crap because all those feelings, everything is energy. So if you transmit happiness and love and if you're always bright, you're gonna feel beautiful, you're gonna feel light, you're gonna feel in harmony with the world and with the flowers. I very much compare ourselves with nature because we are nature. So I'm always comparing women to flowers because we're sensitive, we're beautiful, but that's just all of us. Even men, men is just not like, "Oh, women." I believe that men need to feel validated too and self-love because a lot of men nowadays, maybe they don't feel like they're enough. Maybe that's why, I don't know, maybe that's why a lot of men have a hard time committing because they don't want to put their heart out there and have their heart broken. I'm not sure what's going on nowadays, but a lot of us, a lot, men and women, we're feeling a little bit insecure because we feel like there's so many options, but yet there are so many options, but no one is really the right person for you. So what's going on? So I think the first step definitely is just knowing who you are, validating yourself, loving yourself, having a relationship with God, because that's where I think to me, that you find your identity, your essence, you calm yourself down so you're not feeling anxious and that's it. You let things flow, you let things be natural. We are loving creatures. We were made to love and to be loved. We were born out of love. That's my message. Thank you so much, Ryakel. I wish you all the success in the world. I wish you to find true love. I wish you to actually surprise yourself with how much you can achieve and that there will be an acceleration to the world hearing your message, your songs, and your music. And I know that your label is very important. It's necessary and that it will impact the lives of many artists. And thank you again for participating in this podcast. Thank you so much, Aziz. It has been such an honor to participate. I'm very excited and I am encouraging everyone to come check it out. Rare Girls by Aziz. And I'm definitely looking forward to meeting you when I go to Dubai. Thank you.
