Rising Stars: Meet Asha Iwanowicz

Today we’d like to introduce you to Asha Iwanowicz.

Hi Asha, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I got interested in music around the age of ten and just sort of never stopped making music. I remember writing songs as early as age 13 and then decided that music would be my life at age 15. I dreamt of becoming a famous songwriter or film composer and made moves to make that happen. I studied composition at Northeastern University, graduated and moved to Brooklyn where I started working as an in-house composer for a music house. There I was introduced to the commercial music world which I still work in today.

After doing the NYC struggling artist thing for a while, I moved to Los Angeles a few years ago to get more into the film world and despite the pandemic, have had many opportunities to score short films and indie features. I hope to continue getting bigger and better projects, as well as making some of my own. I also release music under my name, Asha, and have a new album coming out next year. I love meeting new folks to jam or make music with. I basically write music every day and I love what I do.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Certainly not! It was hard at first to get my foot into the door. Many creative fields are a catch-22 where you need some experience or a reel to get work but you need work in order to get experience or create a reel. You have to sometimes get creative and make your own projects to be seen. Even now I face daily challenges, I face rejection from not getting projects from time to time, but it’s all part of the nature of this line of work. You really need a thick skin and remember not to take it personally. Sometimes the right project comes along and you really get to shine and it’s all worth it.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a composer, producer and songwriter. I specialize in commercial music, but I think my clients hire me to make music that’s sort of outside the box. I play quite a few instruments as well as sing so I have a lot of flexibility and can write music in tons of different styles. I’m known for blending electronic and live instruments and doing weird manipulations of my vocals.

What I am most proud of so far is a short documentary I scored last year called Ipseity that I thought really let me, as a composer, show what I can do. It was a beautiful collaboration between the filmmaker and me and I hope to do many other projects like this one.

What sets me apart from other composers is that there aren’t too many women doing what I do, unfortunately! More and more women are getting involved now and I am happy to see that. This seems to be the age of the woman composer and I am here for it.

We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
I was happy that I still had work during Covid, if anything I had more work because so many people were home watching TV so advertising was paramount. Covid really made me remember that there is so much joy in sitting around with friends and playing music together. I will never take that for granted again.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.ashamakesmusic.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ashamakesmusic/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AshaMakesMusic
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ashamakesmusic
• SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/ashamakesmusic