Today we’d like to introduce you to Carolyn Iga.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Carolyn. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
To talk about me as a person is to talk about a life that my all-consuming music school and business is only a small part of. My identity is that of a 4th generation Japanese American, an evangelical progressive Christian, who believes it is the love of a personal God that provides, sustains, and propels me to create a business and environment that is values-centered and focused on character development, while really attempting to engage the world with a relevant message, that as we care about people, and we teach people to care about people. Music happens to be our trade and is a wonderful medium to communicate this, but at the end of the day we are all about living honest lives and caring about people.
It is a pleasure and privilege to work with such a deep and diverse staff of gifted musicians and teachers, and together we create a synergistic and life-giving learning atmosphere for people to form lasting friendships while learning skills and establishing a caring and trusting community.
I consider myself a deeply spiritual person, and although I was very invested in music as a kid, and eventually majored in secondary music education, the lens I see my life through is a spiritual lens, through what I determine to be God’s “call” or “assignment.” These assignments have given me a specific context to share God’s love with people, whether through organized church, or through business or education, or in China, where I ended up going often over the past ten years. It is important for me to feel strongly “called” before moving on to a new place or job, and so even as I received my music education degree, I knew there was much more to life, because music and the arts, I found out, could also become a crutch, a hide out, a performance game, a burnout pit, or a cesspool for depression.
Following my music degree were two more seminary master degrees: in church music, and in divinity, and 15 years of pastoring in local evangelical churches before launching Neighborhood Music School & Store. I spent another seven years learning Chinese by spending months at a time in China, building friendships, bringing teachers here to help us launch our Chinese language program, and maintaining partnerships with the farmers and business owners in some of the poorest villages there, to help the motherless and fatherless orphans in those areas get basic needs and education while sharing our values, care, and life skills with them.
I am a former marathon runner, an animal and nature lover, and these daily activities of trail running, gardening, interacting with my animals are what keeps me centered. I live as an eternal optimist, with an abundance of hope and enthusiasm that the next day will be so much better than the previous one because of the people I have yet to meet; and living in deep appreciation of each moment, while caring about each person in front of me is the key to moving through life with joy.
Has it been a smooth road?
Having never aspired to own and operate a retail store, and never giving much thought to finances or business on a large scale made it a very rocky road to suddenly own a music store and school. Soon after the unplanned purchase of this start up music studio, I found myself flying by the seat of my pants to learn how to buy and sell products, how to price them without feeling guilty for making money, how to measure growth, and how to budget. At some point about a year after purchasing the start up, I got so afraid of running out of money, that I moved out of my house of 13 years and into the business, where I lived for 18 months. I would leave my car at a friend’s house and bike a mile to and from the business because I didn’t want to let on that I lived there. I would take a shower the gym and cook using a little microwave oven. There were no windows, and it was an extraordinarily depressing and lonely time in my life.
There have also been a lot of faith challenges, listening to that whisper or nudge that comes from inside, that says to confront an issue with an employee or to fire a customer, or in one case to give $5K to a competitor at a point in our business where we had no extra money. I have almost always trembled when moving forward on those inclinations, but in the long run, and sometimes in the short run, things always worked out to my complete advantage.
Staying true to my own values have been rather simple. The challenge came when building a values-based company. Throughout the life of our company, I maintained a transparency policy where the employees could know how much the company is making and what percentage they are getting off the sale. I had to wrestle with the practical part of being values-based because I knew my goal was not that we had to agree politically or religiously or make the same lifestyle choices. What it did mean was that honesty, forthrightness, love, respect, boundaries, responsibility, and personal growth would all be values that were affirmed and cultivated in the company. And so moving forward over the years, we have shaped this culture.
“If you make a mistake, no problem, you just report it, and fix it.” I tell everyone on their first day of orientation. “And if you own up to your mistakes, then you will find there is a lot of grace, on the other hand if you don’t own up to it and cover it up, well then it becomes an issue.”
The Covid-19 crisis has been one of the biggest challenges we have ever faced. Our immediate response was to talk about safety with our staff and get them to work from home while getting ideas to retrofit our facilities. We agreed on an employee health & safety protocol. I also came up with a very involved rental instrument return procedure and restocking system that mirrored other more stringent guidelines given to hospitals, rentals, and hair & nail salons since no guidance had officially yet been given by government agencies regarding our industry. Noticing the very high orderliness and cleanliness standards in some grocery stores and health care services inspired me to strive for providing the safest, cleanest, most hygienic environment possible. We update the health & safety protocol weekly during this pandemic, and apply the latest scientific findings to our protocol list, keeping our staff highly accountable in applying these safety measures if live interactions must take place.
The latest challenge was finding an appropriate response to the BLM protests around our city. While feeling very moved to participate, but not fully being able to in good conscience encourage our staff to participate because of the health risk that presented to our other staff and students, we got together in separate rooms and made a studio recording of “We Are the World,” featuring our multi-ethnic staff and making a statement that we stand in solidarity with our black communities in the fight against racism. Our recording and video is coming out on July 4th.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
The name Neighborhood Music School started off as “Carolyn Iga’s Neighborhood Music School” because it started from walking door to door in my neighborhood, letting people know I was teaching piano.
Our motto: “experience the excellence… enjoy the process” speaks of my desire that students who come through our school gain an uplifting, nurturing experience and not a brow-beating one. Enjoyment is and should be an essential aspect of learning, and we try to connect with the will and desire of a child to learn the disciplinary daily practicing regiment through community, inspiration, fun, and relevance.
Our entry through the door is the private lesson or the rental instrument; and minimally the teachers and staff are professionals who embody excellence and treat students with respect and encouragement. After our initial contact, we try to get students to engage with each other through our ensembles, our rock bands, and our music theory and composition classes; and to participate in our recitals, our street festivals, and our bigger performance venues. This is one of the ways they can interact with the public and the community.
We often take on interns who are majoring in music, or who are planning on majoring in music. We try to prepare these interns with job training sessions by talking about values, character, relational skills, and the other intangibles that, if not introduced to some of these aspects of early on, may come as a stunning surprise once they actually begin to work in the real world, when they can find that although excellent in their skill of playing an instrument, may still not be an employer’s favorite choice to hire.
What I hope and believe sets us apart from other similar businesses is our desire to develop long and trusting relationships amongst our staff, our students, and toward our community. We have to know that it matters that we exist, and that longevity is important. We want to find long-term ways to shape, provide for, and support our community through the changes and the rough times that sometimes hit, and this aspect is more important to us than making a profit all of the time.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Being located in Downtown Arcadia is definitely a plus. Businesses are well supported by the local Downtown Arcadia Improvement Association and the Arcadia Chamber of Commerce, where we feel included and even highlighted from time to time. Within the sprawling city of Los Angeles, these types of local organizations and efforts help to enfold and empower the small businesses like ours. Los Angeles provides a huge market of diversity, and when looking to start a business, finding a small community and becoming active is a real plus.
Pricing:
- 30 minutes per week ($35×20 lessons = $700) buy now for $630 Pay now with cash or check: $595 This is a $35/lesson rate with 2-3 free lessons.
- 60 minutes per week ($70×20 lessons = $1400) buy now for $1170 Pay now with cash or check: $1105 This is a $65/lesson rate with 3-4 free lessons
- Advanced 60 minutes per week ($80×20 lessons = $1400) buy now for $1170 Pay now with cash or check: $1105 This is a $65/lesson rate with 3-4 free lessons + 5 free group lessons
- Buy 12 lesson and get a free registration (first time)
Contact Info:
- Address: 25 S 1st Avenue, Arcadia CA 91006
- Website: www.neighborhoodmusic.net
- Phone: 6267080122
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/neighborhoodmusicarcadia/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NeighborhoodMusicArcadia
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOPlNn0hxl88Sobc-ypah1A?view_as=subscriber
Image Credit:
Carolyn Iga
Suggest a story: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
