Daily Inspiration: Meet Nina Grae

Today we’d like to introduce you to Nina Grae.

Hi Nina, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My first time on stage was at five years old, singing ‘Part of Your World’ from the Little Mermaid which was ironic because I spent most of my life battling with the contention of living in a world that didn’t seem to ‘fit’ me. Born to a Black father and Italian mother in a red town, within a blue State (state), like many bi-racial folks, there wasn’t a definitive space for me to exist that felt full like ‘me’.

The space of music was my love and freedom and belonging and later became my therapy and refuge when I encountered a traumatic sexual experience in my early teens. (This experience would later informed the vocal coaching I do with women, teaching them to activate the healing + creative power contained within their own voice.)

I adopted Grae as my artist name to represent the ‘fit’ I was always looking for but never quite found in the world around me. The fusion of black and white, light and dark. The ‘both’. My parents loved me and wanted me to take a more conventional ‘path to success’ in college, so I studied business marketing and creative writing at Chico State University. Though my soul desired to pursue the path of music, I tried to ignore the soul voice for a while while I did ‘smart’ things. I’ve always been a highly ‘sensitive’ person and the dissonance I felt between my soul path and the path that I was walking in corporate tech sales + executive assisting resulted in years of numbing myself to that inner conflict.

It wasn’t until late into my 20’s I regarded my sensitivity as a superpower; it was how I was able to feel/hear/create so freely and hold an open-hearted, empathetic space for people living completely different lives as me.

On the day of Steve Jobs death, I was working in tech sales in San Francisco and decided to take a walk at lunch. I passed the Apple store on Union Square and saw hundreds of colorful Post-It’s with love notes written on them to this artist and innovator (Jobs) who followed the beat of his own drum, impacted millions, and created an artistic revolution by following his inner compass.

I went back to my office, read this quote on my desktop computer, “Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary” and immediately walked into managers office and put in my notice, vowing to return to the path of music.

Shortly thereafter, I began exploring the open mic scene of the Bay Area and met a brilliant artist, Steve Knight of Flipsyde. He served as a real mentor for me and always centered his love of God in his speech and music, which felt like a sweet return home since corporate America seemed to distance itself so intentionally from everything ‘spiritual’ and God-infused.

We recorded and released an EP together in 2014 under our band name Knight and Grae titled, “8” which taught me so much about the recording process, collaboration, finding the right producers, and ultimately translating the vision you have in your head into a tangible work of art. I loved everything about the process, which also felt so different from my time in corporate America, where the reward/paycheck/commission was often the only thing I truly enjoyed about my job.

After the Knight and Grae project, I linked up with a Bluegrass band in SF by posting Craigslist ad looking for a guitarist. We performed at bars, busked around Bart stations and played backyard parties. It was a blast writing and performing with them around the Bay. At the end of 2015, my soul called upon me once again to create a solo album.

In 2016 I co-created ‘The Remedy’ with producer Ted DGTL from Sacramento; it was the first time I truly heard the songs of my soul and diary exist in the world the way I heard them in my head. Creating that album was a really magical time of my life.

Living in the Bay, I was inspired by the activism and social justice warriors existing around me, along with the artistic communities that held a space of real love and inspiration within them. I knew I wanted to infuse purpose into my work/music and allow for it to provide the same sense of loving, healing, empowering refuge to listeners that I received listening to Lauryn and Michael, and Alicia, and Alanis, and Stevie and Otis.

Moving to LA in 2018, I was inspired by the abundance of creative souls here but felt a lack of intentional community gathering that I so loved in SF. SoulJam — a monthly creative artist gathering — was born from my desire to have a space for artists to share new work, workshops ideas, meet other creators, build together and enjoy some snacks and smoke while they did it. This was my happy place up until March of 2020 — I really look forward to bringing these gatherings back in 2022.

Currently, I’m working on my 2nd full-length album, empowering women through Vocal Activation 1-1 Sessions, and joyfully collaborating with the Black Community Wellness X Social Justice organization, Day of Healing.

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?
Smooth – nooo. But totally worth it.

Working through my own issues of worthiness and confidence has been at the core of many of my struggles, as it’s hard to really bet on yourself and allow yourself to be seen if you don’t fundamentally believe you deserve any of it.

The sexual violation I experienced at 14 implanted a dangerous thought-seed of being unworthy of love (my own or anyone else’s), chronic paranoia, an eating disorder and an overall sense of Godlessness within me that would take more than a decade to shift and course correct.

A lot of personal development, prayer, and consistent movement has kept me out of negative thought loops and put me back into my body and an elevated mindset.

It’s a practice, and some days I’m better at being and believing in love than others.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m most proud of staying true to myself by centering positivity and love in my music in an age where apathy and ego get a lot of airtime. I am so grateful to consistently receive notes of gratitude from folks who share how good my music makes them feel, how inspired and uplifted and emotional it made them. To me, ‘winning’ is being able to make someone cry with my music — this lets me know I ninja’ed my way past their brain and entered their heart.

I’m most proud of sharing the stage with my living spiritual teachers, Michael Beckwith and Marianne Williamson — sharing my original songs at their events. These souls have had such a profound impact on my development. The Agape community in LA has been a supremely positive force in my life since I moved here. And Marianne Williamson’s books, “A Return to Love” and “A Woman’s Worth” mended the deep wounds of my heart.

Shout out Eckhart Tolle as well for being my G!!! A New Earth changed me forever and I’m eternally grateful for the Satori moments I experienced listening to that book.

Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
God.

Because God infused everything and feels like a huge, elevated atmosphere of pure love. Everytime I take a moment to empty my mind and just BE, I feel it. The feeling often brings me to tears like, ‘Woooow God is so good. And pure. And vast. And miraculous. And loving. And consistent. Fucking wow.’ I just love it.

A good make-out, like really passionate and slow with nowhere to go, good music playing in the background… that also makes me really happy.

Pricing:

• Vocal Coaching Session 50min – $108
• Studio Mentor Session 2hrs – $450

Contact Info:

• Email: hello@ninagrae.com
• Website: www.ninagrae.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ninagraexo/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ninagrae
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ninagrae
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/NinaGrae
• SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/ninagrae

Image Credits:
Carlene Kanellis Photography (main photo upload)