Today we’d like to introduce you to Heather Mills.
Hi Heather, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I guess my journey started probably back when I was around six years old. I had learned the main melody of Beethoven’s Fur Elise on my janky Casio keyboard by ear and my parents realized they needed to enroll me in piano lessons (and eventually get me a real piano). Piano quickly became an obsession for me and I took formal lessons for 16 years and loved every second of it. That love for music and everything about it led me to apply to several music schools and I eventually chose Azusa Pacific University. Their Commercial Music Program integrated technology and music business better than the other music conservatories I was accepted to, which is why I chose to attend.
I mainly studied classical piano until college, where I was thrown into the deep end of jazz charts and combos. It was a hard adjustment at first, and I wasn’t confident that I was meant to be there. However, once I started taking music business and music technology courses, I realized the amount of opportunities that were available in the music industry. I worked really hard in school to learn everything I could about literally everything. I completed my Bachelor of Music in Commercial Music Business, a minor in Honors Humanities, received both the Outstanding Senior and Academic Achievement awards for the Commercial Music department, and graduated Magna Cum Laude. I’m really proud of my achievements in school, especially since I grew up in a really remote town of 250 people in the central Sierras. There wasn’t really anyone in my town who had pursued a path even remotely close to my own, and no one in my family was really musical in the same way. I was also homeschooled and never really played music with any ensembles, so to go from only playing solo piano to singing and playing in 5 different ensembles at APU was a huge change. Coming from that to where I am now makes success a little sweeter.
While in college, I completed a Marketing & Concert Booking Internship at the Teragram Ballroom and a Licensing & Publishing Internship at Brand X Music Library in 2017. Those were two amazing jumping off points and helped me land my first few jobs after college! The first one was a marketing internship for a nonprofit called the Sitka Center for Art & Ecology on the coast of Oregon. It was crazy to be able to finish managing an art workshop and then hike along the Oregon coast after work. After that, I moved to Portland, OR and was hired as a Production Assistant at Doug Fir Lounge, one of the top club-sized venues in the country. I produced shows and managed schedules, settlement, box office, green room requests, and all communication with the band/artist. At the same time, I also worked for Tender Loving Empire, a local handmade goods store and small record label. I was hustling pretty hard between those two jobs, especially since I was working shows til usually 1am and then the next day was working retail. Not to mention at this time, I was also planning my own wedding (2018 was a whirlwind!)! I met my husband Alex in school since he was also in the Commercial Music program and was studying Audio Recording. Our first “date,” we played music together and listened records together for hours. The rest is history. Alex has been and continues to be a huge part of my creative journey.
After a few months of working at Doug Fir Lounge, I was offered a full-time position there, continuing in my Production Manager position and adding on Marketing Assistant duties. This is where my creative journey blossomed into something I was not expecting at all. I was basically given a crash course in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop so that I could take over designing and editing print ads, gifs, web banners, menus, and social media content. Little did I know that I would fall in love with graphic design and would spend most of my time outside of work watching tutorials and experimenting on my own. Once I had a decent handle on my design skills, I started designing posters for local shows and bands, which continues to be my favorite thing to work on. I’m sure you can imagine with no shows in 2020, it’s been a rough road for show poster designers. In addition to design at the venue, I also built all of the ticket links, helped out with box office duties, managed social media, and helped in the transition from Ticketfly to Eventbrite.
It’s been a little over a year since I worked at Doug Fir, but I know that it will be probably one of the coolest jobs I’ll ever have. I made so many crazy memories at shows, met amazing bands, and have dealt with many nightmare situations. It was seriously a trial by fire and it’s made me feel prepared to take on pretty much anything now. I’m really grateful for that place and all the people that made it special. And now I get to say that I worked Doja Cat’s show before she blew up the following year!
My husband Alex and I moved back to the LA area in December of 2019 when Alex landed a music publishing job. It was hard to leave Portland, but it was definitely the right decision for us. I was hired at the LA Philharmonic as a Social Media Project Manager in early 2020 but was laid off along with over 100 other employees due to the COVID situation for music venues. I was definitely bummed I didn’t get to work at the Hollywood Bowl over the summer, but I’m not alone in how the pandemic has impacted lives.
I definitely thought music venues were going to open in late 2020, but obviously that didn’t happen. Along with many other music industry folks, I was out of work for most of 2020. After applying to jobs along with 800 other applicants, I started to realize I needed to rethink what I was going to do to make money. With many venues on the brink of closure, I decided to pursue freelance and graphic design in a more serious way and not just as a side-gig.
Fast forward six months and I am full-time freelance now! I feel really lucky that I’ve been able to continue to be creative for my work, and it’s not just in graphic design. I’ve been helping plan a bunch of styled shoots all over Southern California for a photographer that I work for, which has been so fun! It’s the closest thing I have to production managing a show and has made me realize how much I miss events! I’ve been doing a bunch of design work for a music distributor over the past few months as well. I basically take complicated music industry concepts and make them look really pretty for their website infographics and presentation decks. I’ve also been designing a lot of album covers and lyric videos these days (yay!). The intersection of visual art and music is EXACTLY where I want to be and I’m honestly grateful that 2020 has given me perspective and a greater sense of purpose. I know what I want to be doing and I’m doing everything that I can to stay there!
I also started a new artist project called Strange Bangs, which I call my “sad-girl psychedelic” brainchild. I released a single called ‘You Did Not Know’ in January 2021 and have more coming down the pipeline. My husband Alex helps me record and produce everything, and he plays most instruments on the tracks. I’ve been writing a ton of songs over the past year and I am excited to release them this year!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Definitely not! When I was in high school, my brother was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia and went through treatment for 3 1/2 years. That was obviously a life-changing event for my whole family, and we gained a ton of perspective on life throughout the experience. Thankfully my brother has been in remission for several years now and is happily married! But, for a while there my parents didn’t think they would be able to afford my piano lessons. Thankfully, my piano teacher didn’t charge us at the time, and he would drive all the way to the Children’s Hospital where my brother was being treated to give me lessons on the piano in the hospital lobby. It was weird to take lessons in front of an entire hospital, but I was just so glad to be taking lessons. I’m still so grateful for my instructor because I was in the middle of preparing for college auditions. When he wasn’t giving me lessons, I played Disney songs on the piano for the kids and families at the hospital. It was really special to see their smiles, knowing the hardships those families were also enduring.
Fast forward to 2017, when I was working at my two internships and also working part-time at APU, I discovered a painful lump on my back that was growing pretty steadily. It ended up being a tumor, and until I had my surgery to remove it, my doctors had no idea if it was cancerous or not. So, I was working at two unpaid internships, driving 1 1/2 hours to West Hollywood and taking the metro to DTLA 4 days a week, and all the while not knowing whether I had cancer or not! It was crazy! Looking back now, I’m really proud of the fortitude I had during that time. After I had my surgery in the late summer and I found out the tumor was benign, I went back to both of my internships (despite being in a lot of pain, don’t know if that was a good idea) and finished them out because I was so determined. If you can’t tell already, I’m incredibly stubborn.
I’ve been dealing with complications ever since my surgery in 2017. While working at Doug Fir Lounge and Tender Loving Empire in Oregon, I was having a ton of pain at my surgery sight and was having trouble doing regular things like sitting and walking. Again, my doctors were concerned that the tumor was coming back, so I went through a bunch of testing only to find nothing. We’re pretty sure now that it’s a combo of nerve pain and muscle tension due to the surgery, but an incredible physical therapist has made my journey a little easier. I now have a pelvic floor yoga routine that I do every day and I’m getting better at speaking up for my unique needs. It still impacts my life in odd ways, but I’m learning to live with it.
And most recently, my family lost our home to the Creek Fire in September 2020. Amidst losing my job and the turmoil of 2020, this has been one of the hardest things to process. Half of the houses in the tiny town I grew up in were burned along with over 378,000 acres of the Sierras I spent my childhood in. I’m still grieving the loss, but along with all of the other hardships I have endured over the years, it has given me perspective and has made me stronger. It makes a lot of the problems I deal with on a daily basis feel a lot less important. I definitely have a ‘bigger picture’ mindset now. Losing so much has made me center in on the things I care about the most like my family, friends, music, and art, not just because it’s what I want to do, but because they are some of the only things getting me through.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m a freelance graphic designer and musician! My passion for graphic design exists because of music, so that’s where I prefer most of my work to be. I design show posters, album covers, admats, lyric videos, and any other content an artist needs! I think my deep understanding and first-hand knowledge of the music industry is a huge asset to any musician or music-based company that is looking for a designer. Not many graphic designers can offer that knowledge, and I’m proud to be working in a niche that I love.
I also have my own music project called Strange Bangs, and I play keys for a few bands occasionally. I don’t think I would be happy if I abandoned playing music! I also write a few pieces a month for a music blog called The Music Enthusiast.
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
Determination. My journey has been far from easy, and I definitely didn’t start out doing exactly what I wanted to do. But, you have to have enough perspective to realize that every opportunity, whether it’s in your field or not, is a chance to grow skills and better yourself. And you can’t let a few “No’s” get in your way of doing what you want to do. What I’ve found from grinding through the really hard stuff is that your willingness to get your hands dirty and put in the work will open up many doors.
Determination mixed with kindness is a superpower. Not many people have it.
Contact Info:
- Website: heathermillscreative.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heathermillscreative/
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7uWhDUZx26D95oNrhD74bl?si=FayzdJWZRZG4D4B0cmcqEg
Image Credits:
Kate Garcia
