Today we’d like to introduce you to Heerraa.
Hi Heerraa, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’ve always wanted to become a singer since I was a little girl, but the biggest change in my life was when I met ET Ideas as a teenager. That’s when my dreams of performing on global stages became a reality.
ET Ideas is a social business incubator platform dedicated to developing entrepreneurs to step out of the system and solve world problems at the root cause collectively and selflessly. It comprises 30 companies and over 50 associates with expertise ranging from tourism, finance, IT, training, education, media and production, event management and many more, built on the foundation where everyone works on their passion and with a purpose. Being in this environment of goal-oriented social entrepreneurs who follow their hearts, I had the opportunity to start developing my career as an artist under the guidance of my mentors.
At 15 years old, it felt like a crazy dream to be a high schooler who aced classes while building my music career. It was the simple things, from writing my songs during recess to recording cover songs over the weekend. I felt fortunate and wanted to share this wonderful experience with more Gen Zs. Soon, I co-founded an initiative called Ascendance, which aimed to inspire and empower fellow youngsters to achieve holistic success while still in school. Together with my co-founders Mathura Kannan, Harsha Ravindran and Sanadtkumar Ganesan, we conducted programs for our peers through Ascendance while developing our careers and juggling secondary school.
Fast forward eight years later, what started as an after-school project to engage our disengaged peers to begin living their fullest potential turned into one of Southeast Asia’s fastest-growing student-led organizations. Today, Ascendance is run by Gen Zs ages 8 to 25, impacting over 50,000 students across 26 countries through our programs. For our leading work in championing social entrepreneurship and financial literacy amongst students, we received The Diana Award for Young Changemakers from the renowned Diana Foundation (UK) for our community development initiatives as well as the “Best Entrepreneurship Education Project” at the Money Awareness and Inclusion Awards (Singapore).
Meanwhile, in my musical journey, my songs have gone on to impact audiences around the world. Thanks to ET Ideas and Ascendance, who has shaped me over the past decade, I’ve found my purpose with songwriting: Changing the World with Music! Nothing warms my heart more than knowing I can positively impact audiences with profound life lessons embedded in heartfelt lyrics and catchy melodies.
Having written over 100 songs so far, the themes of my songs explore how we are the source of our happiness (‘Feel Alive’), managing the limelight and attention (‘Attention Island’), finding hope in your darkest moments (‘Chasing Daylight’) and overcoming our insecurities to appreciate the beauty of life (‘Note to Self’), all of which are available for people to enjoy on Apple Music and Spotify. Today, I am an award-winning international singer-songwriter and Voting Member of the esteemed Recording Academy (GRAMMYs®). Having received multiple awards for my music, just last week I was honoured to receive two awards – “Best in Pop Original (Young Adult)” for my song, ‘Peter Pan’, at The International Red Carpet Award Show in the Netherlands and “Best in North America (Funk)” for my self-produced song ‘Across the Universe’ at the InterContinental Music Awards right here in LA.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Producing a song costs more than its returns in stream payouts in today’s new age of music. So, creating high-quality and impactful songs with limited resources is a struggle.
Through corporate performances, producing theme songs and jingles for organizations, I am able to grow my music career while funding my undergrad studies at Harvard. One of my favourite things to do while performing at events is to engage the crowd. I’ve developed this secret superpower where I can write a song on the spot using random words from the audience. It’s a fun activity with the audience, getting them to live in the moment and enjoy live music. I’m excited to perform more shows and produce theme songs for companies and organizations that want to engage their audiences while contributing to my mission of changing the world with music.
One of the songs I’ve gotten to produce is the official theme song for the ‘Global Gamechangers Summit’ led by the ASELxPenn club from the University of Pennsylvania. Written based on this year’s conference theme, the track titled ‘The Future Is Now’ is set to hit digital streaming stores this October 6th! Being my first electronic song, I hope everyone enjoys the song and, more importantly, its message. You can pre-save the song on Spotify or pre-order it on Apple Music here (https://linktr.ee/HeerraaOfficial).
My supporters on Patreon have also played a huge role in enabling me to produce my songs – providing me with the funds and resources to play my music on radio stations worldwide. I’ve got to thank my Patreons, who’ve taken the time to believe and contribute to my vision.
Together, we are making a difference and are able to release more impactful music grounded on life lessons.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m grateful to be able to wear a few hats through my work – either with my music, as a co-founder of Ascendance or as an undergrad at Harvard.
This week has been one of the most exhilarating ones I’ve had so far. I’ve just returned from the Netherlands, where my song “Peter Pan” won the ‘Best in Pop Original (Young Adult)’ award at the International Red Carpet Award Show. Being my first time in Europe, it was an honour to have a song I wrote when I was 15 years old receive praise and recognition from the judges.
While visiting Amsterdam, I attended The Recording Academy’s Welcome Week events hosted from LA to welcome newly accepted Voting Members like myself. The icing on the cake was that in the same week, my song, “Across the Universe”, won the ‘Best in North America (Funk)’ award at the InterContinental Music Awards right here in LA! This touching moment marked my first time as a sole producer on a track. The song started out as a fun project to explore my song production abilities – I’d just attended a semester on ‘Technomusicology’ by Professor Wayne Marshall at Harvard. It was a way for me to apply all my new-found knowledge. This funky song was featured on Harvard Undergraduate Songwriters’ Collective (HUSC)’s 2022 album. So, receiving this award gives me the confidence to continue producing and arranging music on top of songwriting and performing, especially with my brand new song, “The Future Is Now,” released in early October.
Speaking of Harvard, I’m about to start my third year at Harvard Extension School, one of the 13 schools that comprise Harvard University. With all the fun I’ve been having in my undergraduate classes – from the practicality of marketing and management to learning the basics of ESG reporting to taking every music course they offer – I can’t believe how quickly time has flown by. Attending classes by world-class professors and being surrounded by high-achieving peers, I am grateful that my undergrad experience is about growth, where I learn how to further bring Ascendance’s vision and my music to new audiences worldwide. Hundreds of hours go into focusing on my papers, so I’m really grateful to the Ascendance team for stepping in for me during those intense periods. Because of their love and faith, I’ve been honoured by the Dean’s List Honors for my academic achievements for the past two years.
As for Ascendance, the team is expanding its operations to other countries, branching out from our home country of Malaysia to the US, India and Indonesia. This year’s biggest initiative is the Ascendance Gamechangers Program, a three-part mega project comprising our ‘The Teenage Entrepreneur Challenge’ and ‘Undergrad Mentorship Program’. It culminates with the 48-hour ‘Global Gamechangers Summit’. The Teenage Entrepreneur Challenge connects budding social entrepreneurs from high schools in Southeast Asia with undergrad mentors from top universities worldwide. Supported by the Malaysian Ministry of Education, Avery Dennison Foundation and Wharton Interactive, 64 teams from Malaysia and Indonesia are developing and executing their start-ups over the summer. The finale and winners are announced at the Global Gamechangers Summit – a 48-hour non-stop live summit that exposes 5,000 undergrads globally to the world of Finance, Global Issues, Entertainment, Tech, Culture and more.
There are over 50 people that comprise the team behind Ascendance, an organization that is led by Gen Zs as young as 8 to 25 years old. Seeing how the younger team is leading and paving the way for their generation is something I constantly look forward to.
All in all, I can do what I do thanks to the support and foundation ET Ideas and Ascendance has provided me. With all these crazy, beautiful things going on in my life, I hope you get to join this fun adventure by following me on Instagram (https://instagram.com/heerraaofficial).
What sets me apart is my mission of changing the world with music. Songwriting for me is a medium for reflection, learning, growth and I’m happy to be able to share these life lessons through my songs and lyrics.
How do you define success?
Success to me is someone who stays grounded and true to themselves, no matter how much they grow financially, how much recognition they gain for their work or how busy their days get. Since I was a teen, I have been surrounded by successful individuals (balanced in their happiness, health, career, family, and community) at ET Ideas and Ascendance. No matter their schedule, they took time to give back and build the younger generations, sharing their knowledge, wisdom, funds, expertise, and resources for others to grow. This is who I aspire to continuously be no matter how I grow in my career – to stay anchored on my heart through my music while working side-by-side with the young people in Ascendance to truly change the world.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://heerraa.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/heerraaofficial
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HeerraaOfficial
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heerraa
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/heerraaofficial
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@HeerraaOfficial
- Other: https://music.apple.com/my/artist/heerraa/1379076574
Image Credits
Cover Photo Credit: Johan & Bernadette Vlaskamp / The International Red Carpet Award Show / FPCM Media Photo 1 & 2 Credit: ET Boost Photo 3 Credit: Johan & Bernadette Vlaskamp / The International Red Carpet Award Show / FPCM Media Photo 4 Credit: Bing Cheng Photo 5 Credit: ET Boost Photo 6 & 7 Credit: Nicky Cheng / ET Boost
