JourneyTalks Podcast
Your favorite podcast to reconnect with gratitude and inspiration.
JourneyTalks Podcast
Journey Talks Podcast with Gaby Martinez: Navigating Life's Transitions with Gratitude and the Rhythm of Self-Love
Feeling adrift in the sea of life's transitions, I found solace and inspiration in my latest conversation with Gaby Martinez, the vibrant force behind Sony Latin Iberia's marketing magic. Gaby's heartfelt stories of personal evolution resonate deeply, from bidding a tender farewell to her child off to college, to achieving groundbreaking success in the bustling music industry. Our discussion is a symphony of self-discovery, as Gaby's tales remind us that the path to self-love is paved with the stones of gratitude and the courage to face our own vulnerabilities.
Have you ever considered the undeniable link between creativity, connection, and the mentors who guide us? Gaby and I explore this intricate dance, celebrating the mentors who've shaped our lives—like her former boss unwavering belief in potential, and her stepmother's challenge to societal norms. It's a tribute to the creative spirit that fuels our dreams and ignites our passion for music and beyond. Gaby's journey from assistant producer to a leading voice in the music industry underscores a universal melody: the power of following your intuition and the beauty of crafting a life that harmonizes with your deepest aspirations.
This episode is not just a conversation; it's a heartfelt embrace of the transformative power of gratitude, a salute to the mentors who illuminate our paths, and a celebration of the unwavering strength found in self-love. Join us in this intimate exploration of the melodies that compose the soundtrack to our lives. #gratitude #inspiration #mentorship #transformation #latinmusic #musicproducers #ladiesinmusicindustry #creativity #jtpstories
Host: @journeytalkspodcast
Guest: @gabyprattmtz
The Journey Talks podcast, your favorite podcast to reconnect with gratitude and inspiration, hosted by Jorge Gonzales. Greetings everybody. This is Jorge Gonzales, your host, with a brief trigger warning before we begin. The following episode addresses mental health issues, panic attacks, suicidal thoughts and the loss of loved ones. Please continue with discretion. If you are struggling with these dynamics, we encourage you to seek professional help. Let's begin. Hello and welcome to Journey Talks podcast, your favorite podcast to reconnect with gratitude and inspiration. My name is Jorge Sallago Gonzales and I am your host.
Speaker 1:I am convinced that behind every gratitude, there's a powerful story waiting to be told and through this podcast, I want to create a space where we can share these stories and inspire one another. As humans, we all share one thing in common and that is the experience of being alive. We are all together in this journey we call life and along the way, we meet people that and go through situations that leave a footprint in us right. Some have a very short stay in our lives, others linger a little bit longer. Who are the people? What were the situations in our lives that open door for transformations and help us become the person we are today? Through this podcast, we're interviewing people with different stories, stories of gratitude. My hope is that, as we open this space and our willingness to reconnect with these stories will help us celebrate one thing, and that is the beauty of our shared humanity and the access that we have to the unconditional love that we have from within.
Speaker 1:I am so, so excited about today's guest. She has an amazing, vibrant personality, full of light, charisma, creativity and, more importantly, the most amazing heart I've ever seen. I've known her for about nine years now and I feel very honored to call her a friend. She has a long standing career in the world of music and it's recognized as one of the top female leaders in the Latin music industry. She is truly a trailblazer and a force to be reckoned with. Throughout her career, she has worked with some of the major names in the music of Latin music, like and I'm talking about names like Maná, alejandro Sanz, laura Pausini, jesse and Joy and Jay Kiles, just to name a few. Formerly she served as the Warners Latina Managing Director, and now she was with Warners for about two decades, and now she is the Senior Vice President of Marketing at Sony Latin Iberia. She is no other than the one and only Gabi Martinez. Welcome to Journey Talks Podcast. How are you?
Speaker 2:Thank you, thank you, thank you. I'm so excited to be here. Thank you so much for the invite. It's just wonderful to have, like you said, this space to connect within and to share experiences as humans, and that just enriches us and gives us the opportunity to reflect. So I'm very grateful for having you invited me here.
Speaker 1:You are the best. I'm so thrilled. I can't wait to have this conversation with you. All right, so this podcast is all about sharing stories of gratitude, but it's the gratitude that comes as a result of moments of growth and transformation in our lives and, as a creative person, I know you share a particular perspective in your views of life and who we are as humans, and I'll be so honored if you could open your heart and share some of your gratitude stories with me. Will you be willing to do that? Happy, let's do it. All right, let's go straight at it. Actually, you know what? Why don't we just do this first? What's going on with you lately? What's new? What's? What's what's present in your life at this moment?
Speaker 2:Well at this moment. As you mentioned, I just started a year ago at Sony Music and that's something to be very grateful for, because I was in a moment of my career that, as a friend told me, at your age, probably you would have become like the CEO of Gabby Martinez LLC and you're the IP only employee in the company, which is also a great opportunity to reinvent yourself. But I got the chance to be called to another label, and the number one label, and it's really inspiring that they would recognize what I've done throughout the year. So I'm very blessed for that. I'm very happy about that. I have my first kid in college, so that's another big humble pie to let go of him and let him kind of like fly and still be there to catch him. But it's just like a little bit of heartbreak that letting go. But again, life is ever changing.
Speaker 1:You know, I so appreciate the willingness when I meet people that are able to take circumstances in life and they dare to look at them as opportunities. And it's so hard sometimes to access that mindset that it's willing and able to look at a situation and turn it around and try to see the opportunity in it. That's really fascinating For me. It has taken me a long time to develop that skill because I recognize I didn't have it and every time I meet people that exemplify that for me I just think it's a wonderful opportunity. And you, I mean you mentioned something very important, oh, at your age.
Speaker 1:Quote unquote Well, you know, the truth is I recognize how, at times, what you think is that what you think that you need? At the end of the day, no, you know what? No, there's another door, there's another opportunity, that it's going to give you a better chance to, like what you said, to reinvent yourself. And as long as we go through that attitude, I think that energy is going to continue to propel us to move forward and I'm so excited that you have given yourself another chance at this and to go now with Sony, which I think is phenomenal. Thank you for sharing and best of luck with you in this new chapter in your life. All right, so let's go to the questions. You mentioned that you're grateful for the opportunity to be with Sony. You're grateful for your, for you have two sons and one of them is in college. But my main question, my first question for you would be this one what is gratitude for you, gabby, and what is your relationship with gratitude?
Speaker 2:Okay. So gratitude for me is something that grounds me in the present Every time. It's so interesting that we're having this conversation now because I had like a really good talk with my eldest son when he was here in Spring Break. You know, whenever I feel overwhelmed, saturated, you know, kind of the routine or the work or the house, or that you feel like you just are barely getting your head above water, one of the things that I go to is to gratitude, because it just kind of grounds me and allows me, the moment I stop and I say I'm so grateful that I have all of this because all of a sudden, that mountain that looks so high that you feel like you're just never going to.
Speaker 2:You know, see the other side, be grateful for that mountain because it means I have a job or my kids are calling me, they want to talk to me or whatever. There's always a positive on what's going on. So I take a deep breath and I just immediately go to say thank you, be grateful and that kind of gives me perspective.
Speaker 1:Wow, you just unpacked exactly what I was the compliment I gave you earlier, which is your ability to turn a situation, to look at it right in the face and ground yourself. You know I was going to my follow up question was going to be well, what does your grounding looks like? But you already described it right. You name the ability to look at a situation, look at the actual facts, remembering in your body where you are and the things that you have. That allows you to be human, to be grateful for situations. That's really powerful. Thank you for sharing, gaby. What are you most grateful for?
Speaker 2:As you, far as your health Health.
Speaker 1:Tell me more.
Speaker 2:Because the world can fall apart. The world can fall apart. You can lose your job, you can lose your house, you can lose your clothes. You can lose. And if you have health, there's a way to move forward. Obviously it's not easy, obviously it doesn't mean that, but if you're healthy, you can just move forward and find a way, find alternatives, reach out for health. But if you don't have health, you have nothing, and for me that's.
Speaker 1:That's it. Yeah, you know, you have been the very first person on this podcast that has centered the attention on health. Thank you 100%, 100%. You're right.
Speaker 2:Of course, physical and mental health.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. You're right. I mean, when you have health, you can, like you say, mentally and physically, you can problem solve, you have the energy to move, you have a way to tackle whatever circumstance or situation that may arise. Wow, thank you so much. That's a good one, Gavi. That's a good one, wow. Okay. So can you think of someone or remember a situation that you went through and now, looking back, you realize that you know yourself better because of this situation? I'm sure you have a list, because More than I know, right.
Speaker 2:I have, no, but I have like the one.
Speaker 1:You have it, I'm listening.
Speaker 2:For me, yeah, it was like complete. You know the Gavi before and then the enhanced, improved Gavi, and it all got to do with, you know, love and I say it like that because you know love is so broad. No, and that's one of the things that I learned. Love comes in many shapes and forms, but you know yourself love, love for others, falling in love, etc. So I life kind of pushed me since I was very young to be extremely practical. And you know, my mom passed away when I was little. I lived with my grandparents. So I kind of just like have to move forward. My mom passed away. Okay, I was two years old. I have my grandparents. I don't even I frankly don't remember my mom, that was there, but a dad in the 60s, single dad, not really there. Heart love, yes, there was. You know, my grandfather and my grandmother. My grandfather died when I was 13.
Speaker 2:Moving forward, so I kind of like pushed feelings to the side. I kind of did not allow myself to go there because I moved forward in life and I've always had that need to. Not, you know, I trip, I get up, I go, I trip, I get up and go, boom, and feelings I, yeah, okay, that hurt, I just keep moving forward. And then I fell in love with what I thought was falling in love with you, and 30, eh, not 20, I don't know At 30. So from Until I was 30, I had the practical move forward feelings. Yeah, we deal a little bit with them, but we don't let them take the best out of it. So at 30, I had a boyfriend, I was engaged for the first time. We were talking about getting married. It was, yeah, the prince in the white horse, famous and you know, a celebrity artist, paparazzi, nobody Latin, don't worry, you would know. And I just bought the whole fantasy, the whole everything was.
Speaker 2:I fell in love with the fantasy that I was living. And you don't want to see reality, of course, because fantasy was obviously better and I went for it, I got into it, I let myself go and when it started, you know, becoming a reality of where are we going to live, he's from Ireland and living Dublin. So once he started becoming real, it's incredible how the mind works. And God, whether you're religious or you're not religious, whether it's God, light, energy, the universe, all of the above, something inside of me was clashing and clashing. It was the wrong, I was making the wrong decision, but I just could not face killing this dream. So what started happening inside of me? It was a hurricane. I started getting anxiety. I started getting panic attacks. It was something in the universe was telling me wrong way. Big billboards, what are you doing? You turn? No, didn't hear it.
Speaker 2:I was living in New York at the time. My fiance was in Europe. I was living in New York every three weeks to continue my fantasy. Every time I came back, I was feeling worse and worse mentally talking about mental health and you've known me for nine years and I'm going to tell you something that nobody believes me when I tell them. I was in such a bad place that I, when I thought, oh, I'm going to break up the relationship, this is not working, I'm breaking up, I will start feeling this panic taking over. So that choice was not an option. Then I would go this is it. I'm going to go back to Mexico, back home, panic again. And I was living on a 26th floor in New York and I would think of what if I jump off the balcony.
Speaker 1:Peace, really, gary.
Speaker 2:Peace. I never went to the balcony.
Speaker 1:I never opened the window.
Speaker 2:No, never, never, never. I'm not going to lie about this. I never took it that far because, thank God, there was still some rational person in there, right, right. But when I explored my options, jumping off the 26th floor was the only thing that did not give me panic. So that moment I knew I was in a worse place than I thought.
Speaker 2:I had the clarity Again. My mom passed away, my grandma, my grandpa, so I have quite a few angels around me and it gave me the clarity to pick up the phone, talk to the woman that had been my therapist in Mexico for many years before and I told her this is what's happening and she told me you are three seconds away from a nervous breakdown. I don't know how you're going to do this, but you need to get medicine from somewhere, get on a plane and you need to come to Mexico right now. I spoke to my fiancé. He didn't understand what was going on, because obviously we're in love and we're going to get married and everything is perfect. He obviously didn't understand. It wasn't a time where you would really talk about mental health. I would, but it wasn't something that you actually not everybody understood. It wasn't part of the conversation. As it is now, we're talking 97, 98.
Speaker 2:And I'm like I have to go to Mexico, I have to fix myself. I'm in a really bad place. So I go to Mexico, I go directly to a psychiatrist, directly to medicated anxiety, antidepressant and all of the above. I took everything that they gave me and get me out of this mess. I'll do anything, and I was in Mexico probably for about a month, probably every day, for one hour, two hours kind of like get myself, recover myself from this whole Right. And obviously I ended the relationship Ended. Obviously he was looking for somebody to get married. He didn't want to marry me, right.
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 2:I was. I wanted somebody to. This guy was fulfilling my family. I was in a fantasy. So we kind of like both worlds clash and this absolutely just shattered me, like destroyed me, into pieces. This was December 97. I go back to New York end of January, beginning of February. Everybody I was working for MTV at that time All of the area that I was working for we all got fired. I was like, are you kidding me? I had a nervous breakdown. Now I'm getting fired.
Speaker 2:He's like what more signs do I need? I need to get out of here. I need to get out of New York. I need to go my home. I need to be in Mexico. I need to see the holes in the streets. I need to, you know, I need, I need to be back home with my friends, my family, what I love, my food, my people. I need to be, you know, pattern in the back. I need every resource to put myself back together again.
Speaker 2:And, yeah, and I went back to Mexico and it was obviously a long time, but I realized that I had been living in such a pragmatic way that I never really connected with myself the way I had started to connect after getting alienated.
Speaker 2:And I did it all on my I, like I, I put myself in that situation and I, I mean it wasn't this guy's fault, it was me, obviously Wow, I completely own it and I, you know it took quite a long time, but I started to see the sky, even with different eyes.
Speaker 2:I appreciated a blue sky, I appreciated nature, Like I had been in such a pragmatic mode all my life, trying to not feel pain and getting in touch with my feelings that I, you know, with appreciating and with being sensitive, it comes also wonderful feelings. It also comes with the other side, which is you also feel more pain when you're more sensitive. Yeah Right, yeah. But I had decided to not be too sensitive because it was just, I guess, a way to protect yourself. And I just became like I spoke to my ex-boyfriend many years later and all I could tell him was thank you, thank you for upbringing my life, Thank you for you know, because of that experience I really developed a lot of sensitivity that I had never had an appreciation of life, and I just became a much better human being.
Speaker 1:Gabby, is that a?
Speaker 2:good enough experience.
Speaker 1:Gabby Listen. I didn't expect that one.
Speaker 1:Right now I'm here sitting and I'm like, okay, take a deep breath, because what you just shared with me and with the audience is such a vulnerable, genuine, real experience of being human, and you're absolutely right. First of all, thank you. Thank you for trusting me and thank you for opening your heart and sharing something that is so special to you. But I'm going to try my best to hold this as a gem and to unpack it a little more with you, just because it's so beautiful and powerful. I heard so many things here. I heard how a young Gabby learned certain coping skills as a result of your experiences and your upbringing and nobody is here to judge that, because that is just a human experience. We sort of like develop these skills on how to protect ourselves, how to thrive, how to move forward, like you said, and that's really special and I'm so glad. Like what you said, back in the late 90s nobody was really talking about mental health, yet somehow I think you really embody what people sometimes need to understand about mental health and it's the physiological effect that it has in our lives when we try to deny this intrinsic aspect of the human experience. And it's just so profound, gabby, when you mentioned that you fell in love with the fantasy. That really stroke a core with me, because many times in our attempts to succeed, to go about live, to give it a shout out life, we think that we have to follow a certain narrative, a certain story. Like we say in Spanish, la película right the movie right and it needs to look this way. And in order for me to get to point Z, I need to go to A, b, c and then the different layers, and you got it all lined up. Yet none of those things were helping you to really get in touch with a deeper aspect of yourself, and your body was trying to tell you pay attention. And that is so powerful. I so appreciate that you were so willing to go there so quickly with me, just because that is precisely the kinds of cues that were, like you say, god, the universe, whatever you want to call it, we'll make sure to put in our lives so that we pay attention. And then the other thing you mentioned is the way in which you took ownership of your actions and your decisions.
Speaker 1:I feel like, at least personally, I kind of resonate with you a little bit with sometimes, when we find ourselves in that space we are denying aspects of ourselves and then we don't realize that at the end of the day, we have to be present, like the fact that you were having panic attacks and anxiety for this and anxiety for that. We can pay attention to the physiological things and address the physiological thing and ignore the fact that it has a root in our neurology. It has a root in our way of thinking. It has a root in the story that we try to fulfill because it's a narrative in the movie that we put in our heads. But that is a really complex and deep and it's hard to get to the root of that. Yet somehow you were willing to like oh, I have a story and you weren't kidding. It's really deep and profound and I feel so honored that you can share that with me.
Speaker 1:You know one of the things that I so when I worked as a chaplain at a hospital, I was confronted with the capacity that I had to interact with people and my job was to be a good listener and I had to pay attention to how much of myself was reacting to what I was listening to, and I had to develop the skills just to create a space to contain that story without feeling the need to jump at it and talk about myself, you know, and so those are skills that I get yeah, to truly listen right. And I was surprised and I'm not saying that I master this, but I had to help. You know, that's what the whole experience was about. You know, I had supervision and I had other mentors that helped me unpack those interactions. But I guess what I'm trying to say here is the fact that you, at that point in your life, there was what you know, what I heard. I heard that there was once again this inner wisdom speaking to you, whether you wanted to pay attention to or not. The fear was precisely the fact that there's a wisdom there speaking to you, but, for whatever reason, you didn't have the skills right or the fear was stronger and you weren't able to really move forward at that particular time. But thank God that you found that you sought help and here you are.
Speaker 1:And then the other thing is your, how, that inner turmoil lured with the idea of getting rid of your life, and I don't want to take that lightly. But we ignore how powerful and how dangerous, what a slippery slope vacillating with that idea is, and I am so grateful that we finally are honoring the wisdom of paying attention to how delicate this is, and now society is honoring the tools that we have to honor how important it is to really care for ourselves. And I'm so grateful that we now have neurology that helps us to understand it, the psychological tools and vocabulary to access and navigate those waters. Because so one thing, I mean, you know me, you know we are friends. But we became friends because of my capacity, right. So I am the chaplain of a school and so I recognize that my role in people's lives is sort of like bring these spiritual tools into as an opportunity, right as a toolkit for people to navigate life. But I also recognize that those tools have some limitations because they were the result of, you know, history and time and context. But now that we have tools that allow us to expand that toolkit, we can have better dialogues.
Speaker 1:And I think what you granted us as listeners of your story is a beautiful gift and, in my opinion, is the gift of never underestimate the beauty of who you are, never underestimate or ignore what you're capable of doing. I'm so glad that you were able to seek help, because today we're having this conversation, and it's not just today. You have such a beautiful life, what you've been able to do with your career, your family there's so many beautiful things. The way I introduced you at the very beginning, it was precisely your charisma and your energy, and you have a contagious personality, gabby, and I'm so glad that you were able to come to the other side. You know, and that nowadays you have how long you've been married now.
Speaker 2:Well, how long does it feel?
Speaker 1:No, no, no, no, no. How long have you been? Not joking 19 years, 19 years you know, and that's a powerful thing and both of your sons. They are very handsome guys, wonderful personalities. Your husband is a phenomenal guy too, a trip as well, very funny as well. And it's so transformational when we decide to pay attention to that still small voice of self-love, and I'm so glad you did. I'm so glad you did Gabby. Wow, Wow.
Speaker 2:You also. Thank you for what you say. It's just.
Speaker 1:Sorry, no go ahead.
Speaker 2:No, it's just that you have wisdom within you and you have to trust it. And when your stomach is telling you something, when the little hairs in the back of your neck stand up, we have an instinct that we have to listen to, and he has nothing to do with how you being raised or is. Listen to your inner wisdom, because it's always there.
Speaker 1:Yep, yep, yep, yep.
Speaker 2:And as much as you try to cover, it is going to it's gonna show up.
Speaker 1:Okay, it's gonna show up, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Let it come through, let it come through.
Speaker 1:Let it come through. You know, gaby, one thing I've learned over time is that it's exactly what you just said is honor the wisdom from within. We humans have put that in containers, and one of those containers is religion. Another container is spirituality, another container is psychotherapy, psychology, psychiatry. But every discipline is or, yeah, every platform is trying to unpack and understand. How is it that we, this intelligence, animals, homo sapiens, sapiens, somehow can't tap into that wisdom, that awakening, that, that knowledge you know, and in theology and in spirituality, they call it the perennial wisdom. And once I was introduced to that concept, they were so liberating because it helped me validate Actually, I didn't have to validate anything. It gave me permission to recognize how this wisdom is present throughout history and the fact that we as humans, like you say, we can tap into it. And when we create time for that, life really becomes fulfilling. Wow, I mean, how beautiful, how beautiful.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah.
Speaker 1:Gaby, I agree. Wow, we are deep in this thing. All right, this feels good, but it feels great.
Speaker 2:I got you a guard.
Speaker 1:You sure did you? Sure did you know I was gonna ask you how the situation helped you grow, but I'm I think you already answered that question.
Speaker 2:I think we cover that one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. Let me ask you. So how did you got involved in this music thing? Why music? Why do you do what you do and why, yeah, what is it about Gaby that connects with this mystery?
Speaker 2:I still ask myself why do I do it? Look, I was. When I was in college. I always knew I, like music was always present in my. I love music since I can remember forever and ever, like many of us do, as you understand perfectly well. So I love music always. And when I decided to go to college, I went to college to study communications, tv, radio, advertising. It was a very broad, you know, a very broad career, but I knew that that was who I was and music was, could be present in any of those different categories. And then I kind of decided, like I want to work, whatever I do, music has to be a part of not playing, not singing, because that's not my, my talent. Let's leave it at that. And then, you know, I've always been a very curious person and I kind of like never say no to any opportunity that crosses my way and I think that's something that has been very good for me, because you know, a friend of mine told me yeah, you want to. You know, we're probably this third year of college.
Speaker 2:It was a five year career. I guess it was like the third or fourth year. Like you know, I work on a TV show every night. It was at that time was kind of like the Mexican version of CNN, if you will, and I'm a, I need a assistant producer, yeah, sure. So my job was to go to. You know, I was working for my friend. My friend was my boss, I was 20, 21 years old or something on those nights and my job was to go to the record companies to get the videos for the show, because it was an entertainment news broadcast. So that's when I found out that there was something called the record labels. Like I always had music, I always had my records and then I would see.
Speaker 2:You know, Casablanca records or A&M records and whatnot.
Speaker 2:But, you know, nobody thinks about the record labels, it's irrelevant. All you care about is your art. And then I realized, oh my God, there are music companies Like wow, this is interesting. And then I remember, like the moment I knew that that was going to be my career is. I saw this girl, much older than me and she's like working in her office and whatever she was working on had to do with a release of YouTube. And I'm like, no, I need to find a job in the record label. Imagine having to do with YouTube in any way, shape or form. That's where I need to be.
Speaker 2:And what, long story short. Because I was working in this TV and going to all these record labels to get videos. One of the record labels told me yeah, you want to. There's a job offer here. You want to take it? I'm like sure. And I took it. And and that's how it all started, you know, I took that job and then I kept studying and working and then I left that job and I went to work for a radio station and I started just kind of bouncing as you do what that is. And then at some point I was like, okay, now I need to get serious. I need to get serious, I need to find a job, I need to make a career, I want to make money, I want to, like, really be serious about working, and I decided that I wanted to go back to a record label and that's when my career really started.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 1:Gabby, you have been. I mean, you're so humble about it. I mean I just want to single out the fact that you are truly a trailblazer in the industry. You know this is 2023 and thank God for all the women and the work that we have done to recognize the contribution of I mean, our shared humanity first of all, but the contributions of women in our society, and you became a big power player early on in your career. You've worked with so many important names in the music industry.
Speaker 1:I mean, for me, I was born in the 80s, which means that I was, you know, the 90s. For me. I grew up with grunge pop music, okay, and I must recognize that there's one band in Spanish that really touched me, a band that their songs are iconic in my upbringing and they are at the top of the top of my soundtrack. It's Mana, and you had the privilege of working with them. One of the things that I appreciated from Mana is what they did with their music, you know, and when I look back, they were speaking in favor and advocating for the environment in the early 90s. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:So this was a long time. Yeah, I mean, it was not even a conversation.
Speaker 1:Nobody was doing that, you know, and one of the things they were singing turtles, yes, yes, and so for me, one of the things about music that pulled me into music was what you do with it, what you do with the art, how music elevates our consciousness, how you create awareness. How do you use the beauty of that energy to create a culture that advocates for the integration of who we are? And I mean, I'm thinking Selvanera what an album, right and what they did after that, the contributions they've done, the partnership that they've done, and I wonder I'm using them as an example but you work with Lara Poussini, Jesse and Joy and all these different artists. The question that I have for you is can you tell us a little bit about this process of the creativity of an artist and the opportunity to connect with needs in the world, and how that, how someone like you takes a role in that space?
Speaker 2:Right, well, I mean it's to see the process of an artist is amazing because they're connected differently.
Speaker 2:The brain is connected differently. They understand the world in a very different way. I mean, you are an artist and your brain is connected differently. Period, that's what it is. The sensitivity is different, the way the artist perceives things and process them and how they're able to transform that into their music. And, at the end of the day, you know, they connect with certain groups, certain ideologies, and it's not planned, because, you know, if this industry that I work for it was planned to do like the perfect artist, trust me, I wouldn't even be having this conversation. I would be my yacht Having an amazing time.
Speaker 2:No, working every day, because there's no right or wrong. Right, it's just literally a human being connected with their inner wisdom and transforming it into music. And what's my role? My role is to amplify it and to take it out there. Of course, I work in a record label, not a mother Teresa of the artist. We make money with it. Right, there's nothing wrong, you know, because there's. You know there's investments that you got to do to have to make that amplification, to really go to the level that the artist wants to go, deserves to go and is willing to go.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:And that's really my responsibility. You know, I've always thought of my job and the team that I would be working at the time with. My job is just to amplify the voice of the artist, Whether, at the end of the day, people like it, don't like it, that's out of our hands, that's you, can't force it Right.
Speaker 2:And nowadays even less because you know it's so much faster, there's so much more music People have, especially younger kids. Their attention span is shorter and shorter every time. You know you just have one opportunity to amplify and you need to take it to the maximum. So for me, that's my job just amplify their voice and make it connect with as many people as possible.
Speaker 1:Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 2:And it's a big responsibility.
Speaker 1:It is a big responsibility. I've always, you know, so we have, we share, another friend in common, and that's Hector. And for years, you know, our conversations have been how music creates culture, not necessarily influence. I think music creates culture and I think we're seeing it even more powerfully now than ever. Yep, how artists I mean, when it comes to branding, marketing, you name it, you know, but that, to me, I've always been blown away with the magic behind the scenes.
Speaker 1:You know, and the truth is, you know, an artist can have a vision, but without someone and or a team like the ones that you have led over the years, you know, like you said, there's no amplification.
Speaker 1:You know that voice my only goals, my reach so far, but with the tools and the creativity that you guys bring in, it has a further reach. You know, gaby, you know I think I alluded to this several times, but I want to spend some time with unpacking your role as a female in the music industry. And what would you say to young women trying to fulfill their dreams, women that are thirsty to be and I don't want to say successful for the wrong reasons actually holistically successful? You know, I am curious to hear what would you say, because when I look at you, I not only see a successful woman, I see someone that is connected to herself and it's so powerful that you started this conversation by unpacking your original story, and I wonder how much of that has inspired you to be who you are today. So what? How would you answer this question?
Speaker 2:Well to any girl that is now in the stage of her life that she wants to become successful, whatever that may mean to each of us, because success can be measured in many ways and the only way that is important is the way that makes you feel and what you want. I think it's just. It's just, don't be afraid. Don't be afraid, just go for it. No opportunity should be left behind. Just grab them and run with them, because, you know, sometimes it's like oh, you know, it was. It's funny.
Speaker 2:I had this talk. It was a panel on women's month about a year ago. It was very interesting because it was this woman that now I work with her, because she's incredible professional. She's the, the COO of Sony, so she's like her brain is like, you know, financial admin, a brain, and we were both in the same panel and she is financial structure plan and they would ask her so why would exactly that question? And her answer was have your objective super clear and then define what are the exact steps that you need to take. You have to do this thing, you have to do that.
Speaker 2:And I was listening to her first and I'm like how am I going to answer that? She's so good, I'm going to look so good. Yeah, and I was. Obviously I was very honest and I said look I, I didn't have a plan, I really didn't. I knew I wanted music and I knew I wanted to have a career and I wanted to have a good life and I wanted to live well and I wanted to make money not try to say it and I just I want to be a professional and I want to grow. I also wanted to have a family and have kids, but at the time boyfriends were just really not working out.
Speaker 1:So I just focused in my career and the opportunity.
Speaker 2:You want to work, like I told you before, you want to work as a production assistant. Sure, warner Music was my first label. You want to come and work for Warner, why not? Then I wasn't very happy. It lasted just like a year. And then a radio station oh, we need a, you know, a DJ. I love radio, I love music. Sure, bring it on.
Speaker 2:And I, I just never said no to any of the opportunities that came up. And that's the advice that I would give to any girl, that is, you know, something comes along the way. Take it. You don't lose anything. You're going to learn, you're going to make connections, you're going to something else. Make show up after that. Right, just don't be afraid of taking it. That would be my first advice. And then my second advice is fake it until you make it. Oh my God, how am I going to? How am I going to accept that? Because I'm not prepared. They're offering you the job, they're looking, they're seeing something in you that they believe you can do. So just believe it yourself, and sure I can do that Hell yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:And he's like you really have no idea what you're doing Doesn't matter. Sure, let's go. Ha ha, ha, ha ha. And just you know, just go for it, absolutely just go for it, and you don't lose. You're never gonna lose, you're gonna learn. If you don't like it, you're not, you know, you just take one step back and three steps forward and go for it.
Speaker 1:But, you know, thank you so much for saying that and I think I'm gonna.
Speaker 1:I hope that that, even though you're sending this message to young women, I, as a man, I hope that guys are also listening to and believing in themselves, just because, of course, you bring up something so special and it's how do we deal with fear, how do we deal with all these expectations that we feel like we have to, you know, check all of these things in order to become ex?
Speaker 1:No, no, and I admire people sometimes. Okay, that willingness and that thrive that you have of, even though if you don't know something, oh, that openness to accept the opportunities and learn from them, it's something that no degree is going to give you. No degree is going to give the thirst and the hunger to accomplish something, and I've learned it from very many mentors. They say oh yeah, listen, if you want to hire somebody, don't necessarily hire the person that looks perfect on paper. Hire the person that is hungry for it, cause that person is going to learn and grow and potentially be even better than the person with the degree. You know, and it's so humbling to see that, time and time again, you are the example of it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think my high school average was like six out of 10. But I never told my boys that, of course not.
Speaker 1:No, no, no. I kept open no no, no, no, but when they were little I didn't tell them. Like I know you're funny. You're funny Now.
Speaker 1:I'm so glad that the conversation has led us to this space of cause. I always knew that. Like I said at the beginning, any gratitude story, any gratitude, has a powerful story behind it, and what I've heard throughout our conversation today, first and foremost, is self, love, self, love, self, love, love yourself. Learn how to pay attention to that inner voice within you screaming and saying you need to care for this and pay attention to when your body is speaking louder. Love yourself enough to find help, which you did right. Love yourself enough to put a stop to the things that no longer serve you right. Love yourself enough to pursue your dreams, you know. And love yourself enough to have the courage to believe that you can do it. That, in my personal experience, has been one of the biggest hurdles to believe that I can pursue a thing, you know. And it's so beautiful to hear from people that have given themselves permission to entertain that energy and to be led by that energy, and to see where they are today. It's really special, really, really special.
Speaker 2:We're overcoming that fear of failure. You know it's, and.
Speaker 1:Right and.
Speaker 2:There's nothing to lose, and Right that didn't work out okay and, and you learn a few things along the way.
Speaker 1:You get to know yourself better.
Speaker 2:Learn something and something else is going to open up. You know, yeah, it's not the end of the world, and one of the things that you were saying like what are you know? Phrases that may stick or that I found interesting and I would love to say that it's you know, some like philosopher. No, tell me but no, I got it from an Arius Meade song. Ha ha, ha ha.
Speaker 1:Bring it Sorry, there's wisdom everywhere, everywhere.
Speaker 2:There's wisdom everywhere. No, but truly like. Life's a journey, not a destination. And it's true. They teach us or if you achieve this, you're gonna be happy. If you reach this, that it's always in the future. You're going to be happy when you get this, oh you're gonna be happy. No, there's no guarantee that the future is never here. The present is now, so enjoy now. Yeah, I know it's very sometimes it's very difficult to put ourselves in the present moment, but that's when I use gratitude, like I told you the beginning.
Speaker 1:Right, and it's an exercise. It's not like oh you know.
Speaker 2:I immediately go to gratitude and then I come to the present moment. No, no, it's a practice. It's like a muscle. Like you know, you use your muscles, you do exercises. It's the same thing. It's a muscle. You have to constantly remind yourself, constantly practice and gratitude brings me to the present and it takes a moment, like literally, when you go to the bathroom. Just be grateful, like not for the bathroom. I mean, give that 40 seconds that you are, you're gonna be alone. Mm-hmm, you know it's like, thank you.
Speaker 1:So what does? How do you reconnect with yourself what that grounding looks like for you, for Gabby?
Speaker 2:Taking perspective, giving perspective of the moment, mm-hmm, taking like having I don't know. It feels like I don't know. It feels like you give space to the moment so you're able to kind of look away from the craziness that maybe surrounding you in that moment, and creating that space is like you're able to have like a panoramic view of the moment, if that makes sense.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm yeah.
Speaker 2:That's how it feels.
Speaker 1:Got it and let's see, I wanna bring this to a closer because I wanna honor your time and I wanna honor people's spans of attention. But how do you so for me, let's see, I ask you, how do you connect with yourself? I ask you about your stories and how you have grown and your gratitude. Who is a mentor? Who is someone that at some point in your life really show you or give you what you need it and it help you and transform you? Can you name a teacher, a mentor, a coworker, somebody that at one point they really were like what you were saying earlier, your little angels to guide you? Can you name someone?
Speaker 2:I mean, obviously there's been many along the way, right, definitely. You know Inigo, who was my boss and partner for 20 years. He's somebody that believed in me more than I sometimes believed in myself, and that was like very impactful, because he was like he would have used me more than me.
Speaker 2:What am I not seeing? He would definitely be one, my stepmother, even though, you know, she became my stepmother when I was like nine years old and I really liked her that much for many years, right, but and I, she knows it, it's not something, but as I became, you know, and in my young, my late teens and early twenties, she was a woman that kind of opened the world to me in the sense of, you know, wait, no, there's more than what you said, the ticking of the box of okay, I need to go to high school, now I need to go to college, and I will probably find my boyfriend there. So I finished college and then I'll get married and then I'll have my children. You know what most of my friends were doing?
Speaker 2:Now, that was like the, and she kind of she's American, she was not Mexican. So that number one. You know, mexico my generation was to, and it's still somehow very traditional, like a lot of Latin countries. But my generation wasn't even worse, because you were allowed to be a woman and the independent and studying what not? But not that much enough to say that you're independent, but not enough to scare the boyfriends, of course you were better not.
Speaker 2:And no, no, no, no, no. And she taught me wait, there's a world out there, there's a place called New York that you can work there's, you know. She kind of like opened my eyes to that and I went like, oh, let me try that. So definitely I'm grateful for her on that. And I could go on, of course but I think those two are important, very important.
Speaker 1:Thank you, gabby, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you for your time, thank you for opening my pleasure.
Speaker 2:Thank you for this space. I loved it.
Speaker 1:Gabby, I always ask my guests who they think should be or could be a potential future guest on the podcast. If I ask you that question, who could you name?
Speaker 2:You know what would be really interesting, because we kind of go directly to older people because obviously we've had more experiences with life and we, you know, when you're young you kind of maybe not there, but it wouldn't be a bad idea to bring somebody that's young and see what they think about.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I can certainly entertain that. What is?
Speaker 2:their perspective.
Speaker 1:On gratitude. It would be interesting. Yeah, perfect.
Speaker 2:Perfect. It would be interesting to hear someone young of how they connect with gratitude.
Speaker 1:You know. I'm glad you bring that up because in a way I mean for lack of a better word in a way, this podcast is like a project. You know, it's my effort to unpack what gratitude does you know? And it's the result of, you know, being a chaplain, being a youth pastor, working with youth for over 15 years, working with children now for almost 10 years, and realizing that we are giving tools to go about life. But how much time do we really spend on packing what these tools do for us and in what way these tools are really helping us to become the better version of ourselves instead of holding us back?
Speaker 1:Right, unfortunately, I see, you know, I see many limitations of certain systems, right, but when I look at people and in your case, you and guests that I have brought into on the podcast, these are people that I have seen in them that when they pay attention to gratitude, their lives looks in a certain way, and I'm not saying that their lives are perfect, it's actually how, their willingness to turn things around. So I appreciate you bringing this up because it's reminding me that young generations they still have that wisdom that we are talking about. How do they see it, how do they perceive it? How do they use it? It's an interesting question, so I'm going to take that to heart.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I think that will be fascinating to hear.
Speaker 1:That's great. Well, with that I'm going to close this episode of Journey Talks Podcast. Gabby, thank you so much for the conversation, for trusting me, for the opportunity to be vulnerable with me. I appreciate you so much. I'm thankful for the friendship and the things that we've shared, and within the podcast and outside. Much love to you and your family, All right.
Speaker 2:Thank you. Thank you for this time, thank you for this space and I'm sure this will touch somebody and it's amazing that you're doing it. Thank you for trying to share with everybody.
Speaker 1:I'm going to have you again. I'm going to have you again in the future. Okay, all right, thanks, that's it for this episode of Journey Talks Podcast.