We asked experts from a broad range of industries to open up to us about things they know about their industry but that we probably don’t and we’ve shared some of those responses below.

Hanna Born | Owner and Lead Planner

I think it would be genuinely surprising to a lot of people how supportive and cooperative the wedding industry is. Of course, just like anything, there is competition and market saturation that has to be dealt with. However, if you talk to any individual vendor in the wedding industry whether they are planners/coordinators, florists, photographers, caterers, etc., each one of them likely has a long list of vendors they love to work with, as well as a list of alternative suggestions for you if they are unable to help you out. Read more>>

Shane Chikeles | Drummer & Multi-instrumentalist

Being renaissance festival entertainers, there is often a misconception that we only work 2 days a week. There is a lot of administrative work that goes into booking the year as well as creating new music and content for the show. In many cases it can actually be a 7 days a week situation. When we first decided to bring Boom Boom Shake on the road full time I remember quite a few 14-16 hour days researching different festivals, sending emails, making phone calls, etc… Read more>>

josefien stoppelenburg | Soprano and painter

For my work as a musician: The enormous amount of preparation it takes before you’re really ready to perform and have mastered a piece of music. It takes half a lifetime for the voice to fully mature and it keeps changing over time. Many elements can influence the voice: humidity in the air, hormones, how you slept, what you ate, altitude, etc, and each concert hall and musical style demands an vocal adjustment. Also really important is the role of failure: in the pieces I know really well I’ve made many mistakes or have experienced other people make mistakes. Read more>>