This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:02] Jennifer Apple: Hello, welcome back to this week's episode of the Empowered Artist Collective Podcast.

[0:07] Jennifer Apple: My name is Jennifer Apple, and this week I talk to fairy folk singer, songwriter, and actor Shira Averbuch about songwriting specifically.

[0:17] Jennifer Apple: And Shira shares about her connection from her musical theater background to these other creative outlets where she finds inspiration for her songwriting and the importance of following what resonates on a soul level.

[0:31] Jennifer Apple: We also talk about embracing one's differences and strengths, the power of finding connections with those who fill you in your life, and noticing the little or big things that surround you that will allow you to be more present.

[0:47] Jennifer Apple: Enjoy.

[0:50] Jennifer Apple: Hi Shira Averbach.

[0:53] Shira Averbuch: Hi.

[0:53] Shira Averbuch: I just like emphasize my huh on there just to like prove I have it.

[0:58] Jennifer Apple: I know you do.

[0:59] Jennifer Apple: How are you, love?

[1:01] Shira Averbuch: I'm great.

[1:02] Shira Averbuch: I'm great.

[1:02] Shira Averbuch: The sun is in my face.

[1:04] Shira Averbuch: Um I'm seeing you, so the plants are just like a beautiful mirror to the green that you're wearing.

[1:10] Jennifer Apple: If anybody's deciding to tune into the YouTube, it's just like a very zen garden feel, I'm feeling.

[1:16] Shira Averbuch: I try.

[1:17] Shira Averbuch: It's the only one that's been surviving.

[1:19] Shira Averbuch: Everything else around me is dead.

[1:20] Jennifer Apple: Okay, great.

[1:21] Jennifer Apple: So then I'm not alone because I feel like I've just been slowly murdering off all my plants.

[1:25] Shira Averbuch: That's what happens.

[1:26] Shira Averbuch: Is it?

[1:27] Shira Averbuch: Yeah.

[1:28] Shira Averbuch: Because I mean, this is like a new plant journey for me, and I was determined.

[1:32] Shira Averbuch: I jumped in full on.

[1:34] Shira Averbuch: I bought six, and I was like, y'all are gonna live.

[1:36] Shira Averbuch: And it's been an interesting moment to really grapple with your own humanity.

[1:41] Jennifer Apple: Yeah.

[1:42] Jennifer Apple: Yeah.

[1:42] Shira Averbuch: You can only do what you can do, and um then try again.

[1:47] Shira Averbuch: And just keep reinvesting and hopeful.

[1:49] Shira Averbuch: There's some people though, I swear, that have these beautiful green thumbs, and they just it's like you walk into a botanical garden in their home and you're like, it's winter.

[1:58] Shira Averbuch: How are you doing this?

[1:59] Shira Averbuch: I don't know.

[2:00] Shira Averbuch: They have a secret conversation with the plants.

[2:02] Shira Averbuch: I think that might be it.

[2:03] Shira Averbuch: Just like really communicating with them and being like, please live, like live for me.

[2:07] Jennifer Apple: Yeah.

[2:07] Jennifer Apple: Anyway, for anybody who's listening who does not know you, who are you today?

[2:13] Shira Averbuch: I am a spiritual being in this universe and uh singer songwriter, actor.

[2:21] Shira Averbuch: I call my music fairy folk.

[2:23] Jennifer Apple: Um very true.

[2:25] Shira Averbuch: Yes.

[2:27] Shira Averbuch: That genre doesn't exist, but I think if you listen to my music, you'll be like, oh, that's correct.

[2:31] Shira Averbuch: Like you just did.

[2:33] Shira Averbuch: Um and that's it.

[2:37] Shira Averbuch: That's it for today.

[2:38] Jennifer Apple: Great.

[2:39] Jennifer Apple: Um, I'm so grateful that you're here.

[2:42] Jennifer Apple: I'm so excited to dive into whatever this conversation will turn into.

[2:47] Jennifer Apple: Um Shira and I met doing a was it like even the stage reading was just more like a reading of a concert, concert reading.

[2:56] Shira Averbuch: Yeah.

[2:57] Jennifer Apple: And Shira came into rehearsal.

[2:59] Jennifer Apple: I thought she had been a part of this project forever because in our first rehearsal, you just like slayed the song that I was like just learning as though you had known it and it was in your blood for the rest of time.

[3:12] Jennifer Apple: And it was like, oh, okay, cool, cool, cool.

[3:13] Jennifer Apple: This girl is insanely talented and also like obviously it's been a part of the project.

[3:18] Shira Averbuch: And you're like, no, no, no, it's my first day.

[3:19] Jennifer Apple: And I was like, I'm gonna excuse myself and leave the room.

[3:25] Jennifer Apple: And I saw you and I was like, this one is going to be my friend.

[3:29] Jennifer Apple: And I said we should meet for coffee.

[3:30] Shira Averbuch: Yeah.

[3:31] Shira Averbuch: And I'm Israeli, so when I say that I mean it.

[3:33] Jennifer Apple: Yeah.

[3:33] Shira Averbuch: And then now we're friends.

[3:34] Jennifer Apple: Literally that.

[3:35] Jennifer Apple: I mean, it was one of the most honestly, I w in my heart, I feel like I operate like this.

[3:40] Jennifer Apple: And then, you know, growing up in New York, like I have that directness, but then I also understand that I'm American and I can't maybe be like as far.

[3:48] Jennifer Apple: I mean, I could I mean I am.

[3:49] Jennifer Apple: I think I'm learning to just forget those norms and just do what I want to do in that way.

[3:52] Jennifer Apple: But when you were like, We're let's be friends, I was like, oh my god, I've been wanting friends, yes, please.

[3:58] Shira Averbuch: And you were like, Great, let's go for coffee.

[3:59] Jennifer Apple: It was like amazing, let's go for coffee.

[4:00] Jennifer Apple: As we always have those conversations.

[4:02] Shira Averbuch: And then you were like, no, like when are you free?

[4:04] Jennifer Apple: It's like, oh, okay, like uh are you free tomorrow?

[4:07] Shira Averbuch: Yeah, yeah, I'm that I'll yep, we'll be there.

[4:09] Jennifer Apple: And then it was that, and I'm yeah, I'm so grateful for that.

[4:11] Jennifer Apple: And I feel like what a wonderful lesson for all of us to remember that like what's the worst that happens?

[4:15] Jennifer Apple: Somebody says no, and then they were gonna say no anyway at some point.

[4:18] Jennifer Apple: So, like, why not just get it over with?

[4:19] Shira Averbuch: Exactly.

[4:20] Shira Averbuch: Save some time and heart energy and yeah, and also like learn who actually really wants to from the start.

[4:26] Jennifer Apple: Exactly.

[4:27] Jennifer Apple: Well, with that said, I I'm curious how A, you came up with the fairy folk phrasing, but the journey towards your fairy folkness, your songwriting in that world for yourself.

[4:42] Jennifer Apple: How did this whole journey begin besides you just being born with like the gift of God through your vocals?

[4:48] Shira Averbuch: So uh so I studied musical theater in college.

[4:51] Shira Averbuch: I went to Amda and then the new school, they have this joint program, and I got my BFA, and then I just started auditioning.

[4:58] Shira Averbuch: And through my whole time in school and after, I felt like I don't belong anywhere, and everybody's trying to put me in different boxes and nothing really fits completely.

[5:08] Jennifer Apple: Did you not feel like you belonged because of what people were telling you, or you just couldn't find a space that you felt safe?

[5:14] Shira Averbuch: Probably both.

[5:15] Shira Averbuch: Okay.

[5:16] Shira Averbuch: Probably both.

[5:17] Shira Averbuch: Like my voice was always a little different.

[5:20] Shira Averbuch: I'm very tall, I look white, but I don't feel white to people.

[5:25] Shira Averbuch: You know, it's like all this thing things together.

[5:28] Shira Averbuch: Um, and I'm very opinionated and all of that.

[5:32] Shira Averbuch: Um so when I got out there, I auditioned a lot and um and I didn't get anything for a while.

[5:39] Shira Averbuch: And then I got it was like nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, something big.

[5:39] Shira Averbuch: Nothing, nothing, nothing, something big.

[5:45] Shira Averbuch: That's how it always was.

[5:47] Shira Averbuch: And then I got my first uh big thing, which was my off Broadway debut um in a new musical called Solitary Light.

[5:56] Shira Averbuch: And the musical was written by Paul Carbonara, which was Blondie's music director and guitar player for like 10 years.

[6:03] Jennifer Apple: Yes.

[6:03] Shira Averbuch: Yeah.

[6:04] Shira Averbuch: And he toured with her around the world, came back home to New York and was like, I want to write a folk musical um which is incredible and it's on Spotify.

[6:12] Shira Averbuch: Um and you should listen to it because it's just like gorgeous folk music.

[6:16] Shira Averbuch: And the story was about the um the triangle shirtwaist factory fire where um a 142 women died in a factory fire in New York because there weren't the right thing conditions to get out if they needed to um and I and I was the lead and we worked together me and Paul and we really like deeply connected and and at some s some point in the run he's like do you write music?

[6:46] Shira Averbuch: And I was like oh well you know yes but nobody's heard it before and he's like well I want to hear it.

[6:53] Shira Averbuch: Yeah and I said okay so he's like send send me something and I said well I I don't I don't have anything recorded.

[6:59] Shira Averbuch: He's like okay great, come to my studio in Brooklyn and just play me the songs.

[7:03] Shira Averbuch: Which at the moment sounded like the most terrifying thing in the world, but I I I went and I and I and I sat with him.

[7:10] Shira Averbuch: Um and I played one song.

[7:12] Shira Averbuch: It's like quiet, doesn't say anything.

[7:14] Shira Averbuch: He's like, play me another.

[7:16] Shira Averbuch: Okay, he hates it.

[7:17] Shira Averbuch: Oh my god, I play another again.

[7:20] Shira Averbuch: Silence, play me another.

[7:22] Shira Averbuch: And this goes on for about five, six songs.

[7:25] Shira Averbuch: And then he goes, you know, I was kind of uh not looking forward to the end of the run because I don't know what I'm doing next, but I know now I'm gonna produce your album.

[7:34] Shira Averbuch: That's what's gonna happen.

[7:36] Shira Averbuch: And we've been musical partners ever since, and we recorded two EPs and he's like, so I just released a new song called New York City in December, and I came up to him with that in like the first week of November, and I'm like, That's too late.

[7:50] Shira Averbuch: I thought about it too late.

[7:51] Shira Averbuch: And he's like, No, it's not.

[7:52] Shira Averbuch: Let's do it.

[7:53] Shira Averbuch: So he's that person in my life, like my constant, and he's like family.

[8:00] Shira Averbuch: I always joke with my husband that like I have my husband, I have my boyfriend.

[8:03] Shira Averbuch: Paul is my boyfriend.

[8:06] Jennifer Apple: As long as everybody's in agreement.

[8:08] Shira Averbuch: Everybody's good, everybody.

[8:08] Shira Averbuch: We love it.

[8:10] Jennifer Apple: Great.

[8:10] Jennifer Apple: Amazing.

[8:11] Jennifer Apple: So so Paul stepped in, basically was like, You have this voice, let me just show it like put a spotlight on it, give you a little confidence boost around what you do and what you are capable of.

[8:22] Shira Averbuch: Yeah.

[8:22] Shira Averbuch: How did you find it within yourself to start?

[8:26] Shira Averbuch: I mean, it's like a larger question, but like believing that.

[8:29] Shira Averbuch: Um, you know, it's it's a cliche, but just having one person to believe in you is is a lot.

[8:36] Shira Averbuch: And sometimes you don't need more than that.

[8:39] Shira Averbuch: And um and then once the music was out there, seeing the responses and what it did, like what I thought it is was for a lot of people.

[8:48] Shira Averbuch: Mm-hmm.

[8:49] Shira Averbuch: And seeing that mirror and resonate was all I needed.

[8:54] Shira Averbuch: And um part of the reason why COVID was so hard because we lost that that ability to like feel feedback from people, right?

[9:03] Shira Averbuch: And and to feel that resonance in in real life.

[9:07] Shira Averbuch: But that's all I need.

[9:08] Jennifer Apple: Well, let's talk about that then, right?

[9:10] Jennifer Apple: I feel like I am not a I when I was a kid, maybe I wrote songs and they're all in some cute little journal that I probably have stored away somewhere.

[9:19] Jennifer Apple: Um and I've definitely thought about it, but in my current life, I am not a songwriter.

[9:25] Jennifer Apple: I do write, but not specifically for songs.

[9:28] Jennifer Apple: Um and it's it's a very isolating process for most, I would argue, and that you, unless you have a collaborator who's with you throughout that whole time, you are mostly alone thinking, pondering, creating, writing, all extracting all of that by yourself.

[9:47] Shira Averbuch: I imagine in COVID it was heightened tenfold in many respects, but how is that as a process for you?

[9:56] Shira Averbuch: Even with Paul, it still feels like a lonely process because I write my own songs and then I come to him and I show him and maybe we continue with them and maybe maybe we don't.

[10:08] Shira Averbuch: But the fact that as a singer-songwriter, if you don't get independent, if you don't get up in the morning and decide to do something, nothing happens.

[10:18] Shira Averbuch: Right.

[10:19] Shira Averbuch: Every day, every day, and it's up to you to make things happen.

[10:23] Shira Averbuch: I think that's also true as an actor.

[10:26] Shira Averbuch: But once you book the job, you're on the wheel, things are turning, you're in inertia, like you're there, right?

[10:31] Shira Averbuch: So there's really no point that that happens when you're an independent um singer songwriter.

[10:39] Shira Averbuch: Right.

[10:40] Shira Averbuch: Um, even if you're if things are happening, things are moving, you still have to climb up to the next thing.

[10:45] Shira Averbuch: And that's true even for Beyonce, right?

[10:46] Shira Averbuch: She has to wake up in the morning and say, like, what am I gonna do tomorrow?

[10:49] Shira Averbuch: Yeah, right?

[10:50] Shira Averbuch: She's not part of a production that's already happening.

[10:53] Shira Averbuch: So um, so I found this uh circle, this songwriting circle, which we meet once a month and we share songs and hardships and joke about how terrible it can be or how wonderful it can be.

[11:09] Shira Averbuch: And it's really it's really really important.

[11:13] Shira Averbuch: And I think that's in part what you're trying to do with the podcast, and I really appreciate that.

[11:18] Jennifer Apple: Thank you.

[11:18] Shira Averbuch: Um, and in COVID we couldn't do that in real life.

[11:22] Shira Averbuch: So now that we're back to real life, it's like it's a whole nother world.

[11:26] Shira Averbuch: And I did a lot of Zoom concerts during COVID and all that, and and I know that on the other side it was meaningful, but I couldn't feel it.

[11:26] Shira Averbuch: I couldn't feel it from like little words on a screen, like so it's it's such a relief that we're not in that world anymore.

[11:43] Jennifer Apple: Are you meeting with these people in person?

[11:45] Shira Averbuch: Yeah, in person.

[11:46] Jennifer Apple: Amazing.

[11:47] Jennifer Apple: And did that start?

[11:48] Jennifer Apple: Was it a was it birthed out of COVID or were would was that community existing beforehand, transitioned and then came out?

[11:54] Shira Averbuch: No, it's pretty new.

[11:55] Shira Averbuch: It started right after COVID when it was like, okay, can we come out of IRC?

[12:01] Jennifer Apple: Yeah.

[12:02] Jennifer Apple: How did you find them?

[12:04] Shira Averbuch: Um, my friend Amy J, who's uh an amazing, amazing singer-songwriter.

[12:08] Shira Averbuch: Um, we played the uh a show together.

[12:11] Shira Averbuch: It was like a singer-songwriter circle show.

[12:15] Shira Averbuch: And I the same thing that happened with you.

[12:17] Shira Averbuch: I saw her play and I was like, that one.

[12:20] Shira Averbuch: She's gonna be my friend.

[12:32] Shira Averbuch: Sure, but arguably also, you know, like you're I mean, I'll like brush my shoulder off on this. Like you're picking people that you want to be friends with, which has an energy to what like to whom you want to spend your time with, right? Like I think about that often, and we've talked about this maybe in earlier podcast episodes, and I know most of my friends know I talk about this and I do this when I coach, but like there's the phrase, you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with, right? And I've said this before on here in some episode, I'm forgetting which, that like it's not who you like the most. It's like if you work at a job that you hate your boss and you're with them for seven hours a day, you are spending a lot of time around that energy, and that energy is going to be absorbed into one of the five people, or like if you're riding a bus and you're stuck in traffic and you're sitting next to a person who is really hard to sit next to, you've been on that bus for two hours with this person, like that is going to be absorbed into your energy, and the average of those energies in a day really starts to weigh and manifest themselves into your body and hundred percent.

[13:31] Jennifer Apple: Yeah, and like what a better way than to cultivate and curate your energies if you can by like being like you, I want to be friends. And I think it's really it's really hard to when you're in those circles and it's already like okay, these are my friends, you can it's hard to get out of it, right? Or this is my job. It's hard to get out of it, right? And I think one good thing from COVID is that it allowed the possibility to just like cut everything and reevaluate that work. And I don't know about you, but I definitely have some friends or friendships that have fizzled and I let them fizzle.

[14:05] Shira Averbuch: Yeah.

[14:05] Jennifer Apple: And I was like, okay, yeah, restart. Who do I need around me? Who do I want around me? What kind of energy? Just like you're saying. And it was that opportunity to do that.

[14:14] Shira Averbuch: Yeah. I definitely had that happen, whether it was naturally or whether it was just kind of organically, or I guess those are one and the same. But you know, there was just this natural cadence of this that season of my life with this person has ended, and there's no hard feelings around it. It's just this is the cadence of that particular journey. And then the next one, thank you for your time in a Marie Kondo kind of way. I've learned a lot. This has been wonderful. It's just a whole new chapter that can then begin by acknowledging that this was and it was beautiful. And here comes the next thing, you know.

[14:50] Jennifer Apple: Yeah. Kind of still on the same isolation track. Even with this beautiful community that you have, that means once a month, you still have all the other days of the month, and you still have to be creating and you're still sitting and mulling things over. And how do you find that inspiration for yourself?

[15:10] Shira Averbuch: Another thing during COVID is that I was completely inspirationally empty, like nothing was coming out. The well was dry, and everything felt insignificant and not important enough to say. But again, that's changing now. Um, and what happened during that time is I started noticing the smaller things, the smaller things became more important. The way I wake up in the morning, who I wake up with the more in the morning with, um, the way the light hits the window at a certain time, like these things became so much more special. And thank goddess and the universe, it's still there, like so. That's where I'm finding inspiration right now. In the small in the micro. Some I've I have written about the macro a lot but I feel like now now I'm in my micro phase that's where it is.

[15:58] Jennifer Apple: Was there something that drew you to focusing in that capacity or was it just like was there a specific moment or was it just life happened and now this is just kind of the way that you're seeing things?

[15:58] Shira Averbuch: So the macro felt so terrible like I felt like I had no control over my life everything that I had planned was immediately cancelled. I know I'm not the only one everybody listening to this was like are like yes um and then the only thing the only things I could hold on to and feel like are meaningful and beautiful were the little things so that's why that's how it started.

[16:40] Jennifer Apple: And you're still finding that that's the lens through which you're viewing life for now?

[16:40] Shira Averbuch: For now. Yeah. Right I recognize that you know that can change 100%.

[16:50] Jennifer Apple: So with that when you find these small little bits of inspiration what is your actual process of sitting down and writing?

[16:50] Shira Averbuch: So I'm very inspired by poetry. So it needs to be an action to say okay I'm gonna sit down and write either I look in my you know voice memos from some things that in passing I record to myself and be like oh that could totally be a song do you do that you do like micro voice notes?

[17:16] Jennifer Apple: Yeah I do I do on your voice memos or is it like in your text?

[17:20] Shira Averbuch: It voice voice memos.

[17:22] Jennifer Apple: Okay.

[17:22] Shira Averbuch: I'll like talk to myself or like I'll sing a little bit to myself. For me music and lyrics come in usually together or uh lyric first and then but it's not to me it's not really lyric first because I look at a lyric and I'm like, oh that's that's its melody. I have it immediately in my head.

[17:40] Jennifer Apple: Like interesting yeah, words I I feel that words that are put together in a in a unique way have their own melody already.

[17:52] Shira Averbuch: Explain what you mean, or is there an example that you can give?

[17:55] Shira Averbuch: Um, so for example, I really like poetry, and one of my biggest inspiration is a Sufi poet named Rumi. Um, and he writes about the beauty and the little things, and his imagery is like very I don't have the word even. It's it's magical, it's gentle, it's it's like a big hug. Um and sometimes I can read a line of his and have a melody already because it's just written that way. It could be the cadence, it could be the imagery, it's probab usually a mix of both, and then and I want to sing I don't want to read the line, I want to sing the line.

[18:36] Jennifer Apple: Mm-hmm. I love that. And so you find that when you are voice memoing yourself, or you see a word written somewhere that inspires you, you're literally seeing it in melody, basically, rather than just retrieving the word.

[18:52] Shira Averbuch: Amazing. So from there you have a bunch of these, maybe amalgamation of a bunch of words, phrases, whatever, then what do you do?

[19:01] Shira Averbuch: And then my uh my musical theater brain kicks in, whether I want it or not, and I try to think of the story.

[19:08] Jennifer Apple: Okay.

[19:08] Shira Averbuch: Or I see a movie in my mind of how how every scene is is in the movie of what this song is. And there's usually an overarch or a story that takes you beginning, middle, end in the story of the song.

[19:25] Jennifer Apple: Does it ever shift or like once you've seen an image of that movie play out, it just is that usually when I write, it could be like I could, you know, have something cooking for a while inside me, but once I like sit down, it's like what it's a vomit. Comes out.

[19:40] Shira Averbuch: Um like my song Am I Beautiful, who I wrote about um my friend's journey with breast cancer, when I sat I knew I wanted to write a song for her, but once I sat down and was like, okay, this is this is the moment I feel like, you know, about like when you feel like you're about to vomit, but in a good way. Once I sat down 15 minutes and the song was out. That's it.

[20:06] Jennifer Apple: Wow.

[20:07] Shira Averbuch: So that's usually how it happens. So it's really a percolation that eventually just comes out in like a sputter that is all of it.

[20:15] Jennifer Apple: Exactly. Exactly. That's kind of really lucky.

[20:19] Shira Averbuch: Yeah. Unless until until you are feeling maybe inspirationless and then you're like, well when is when am I gonna feel that you know rise of you know metaphorical vomit.

[20:33] Jennifer Apple: Exactly. Which I didn't feel at all for almost three years during COVID. And that was scary and um sent me into depression, anxiety things that I hadn't really felt that deeply before in that to that level.

[20:47] Shira Averbuch: So yeah. Did you create it all during that time the three years?

[20:51] Jennifer Apple: In a non judgmental way. Just No, I I'm trying to think.

[20:54] Shira Averbuch: Yeah.

[20:55] Jennifer Apple: If I um I I said yes to everything that came along because I felt so inspirationless. So so I did things, but nothing came out of my fountain.

[21:09] Shira Averbuch: Yeah.

[21:10] Jennifer Apple: Yeah. If that makes any sense.

[21:12] Shira Averbuch: Very much I I deeply, deeply resonate with that. I think there was a period of time, especially towards the beginning where that, you know, like that quote about Shakespeare, you know, came around that was like floating around the ether about like, you know, like, well, he wrote all these things during his time when everything was terrible. You know what I mean? And then it's like the guilt around me sitting and just watching Netflix for a long time started to, yeah, consume me in a way that was like, well, how come all these other people are now doing these Zoom readings and now they have a play that they just wrote and they just created a short film in the comfort of their home. And like people are doing these things, and I'm just still sitting here watching Netflix and being totally uninspired by any and all of it.

[21:59] Shira Averbuch: And I remember explicitly, there was one day I was coaching. I that was like the major pivot for me over the pandemic, coming off of tour that had been, you know, shut down abruptly. Um, and I pivoted to teaching and coaching virtually, mostly all these young artists and for monologues and singing and scene study and breaking down text and all of this stuff that was like tactical acting and arts related. And every single one of them was trying to work on their craft, but bar none, they all were struggling mentally, emotionally, spiritually, life stuff, business stuff, like all of the other stuff. And it was that was the light bulb for this community. It literally was. I had no inspiration necessarily for myself, but it was like there is nowhere for all of these isolated artists to go and exist and create and um process everything that's happening, and we have not given any of these artists the tools to even know how to begin with that, nor do I think I have them myself.

But like, how can we create a community so that we're at least giving people a foundation for you know times that are hard? And that's really where like the birth of this community came, like from that of like, okay, let's let's do something about that.

[23:27] Shira Averbuch: Um, but it interestingly enough, that was never something that I ever thought would even at the time it didn't feel like inspiration, it was just like a necessity. But hindsight's 2020, and it's like, oh, because I was in such a place where I couldn't do anything necessarily for my own artistry, and I was of service, I guess, for other artists who were trying to continue cultivating it for themselves. Here we are, you know, however, I guess years later now because of it. But it's just it is interesting to look back on that feeling of not being able to access a part of one's arguably identity, which is creating, yeah, you know, and I'm so I and I understand the artists that had this like incredible um, you know, uh creative spirit that took over them because and and this is my theory, it's not the truth.

I think people who maybe were um not creating right before the pandemic or were like too busy to do what they really wanted to do. Yeah, um, and then the pandemic hit, they had all this time, and then they had all this space to do what they wanted to do. I think people who were already in creation and feeling like they were doing what they wanted to do, which I feel like you were totally in that space and I was in that space. I was about to go on tour. I was about to play this huge worldwide music showcase, release new music, like I had everything lined up and then boom.

[25:03] Shira Averbuch: And I'm very much a person who thinks I can affect my own reality and my mind and my spirit. Suddenly the world was like, oh yeah. Oh, you think so? Well, let me tell you otherwise. So I think that's why it hit me that way.

[25:21] Jennifer Apple: Yeah.

[25:21] Shira Averbuch: I again, yeah, this isn't like a scientifically proven theory, but I would agree you are correct. Also because for many of us who were on say like the hamster wheel, whether it was self-imposed or whether it was the world, either or, there is a level of exhaustion and pacing that happens that sometimes we're not even aware is happening. That like when you are forced to stop and take stock of like all that you've done and all that you've been a part of and rest, there really is something about giving your body the breath that it has been asking for without it like yelling at you to give it to it. You just had to, and then all of a sudden your body, you know, was like, oh wait, this is what it means to just like exist without any of the other noise.

In many ways, yeah, that was a surprising gift of a really dark time to be like, well, what is my body actually need in this moment? My body needs rest, and it has literally not had rest for however many years I've been on this planet because I've been on this hamster wheel, whether self-imposed or otherwise, that I have not been able to or given myself the gift of getting off of because why would I? That's the whole point. Let's get to the next thing. There's the next thing down the pike, you know. But it's like actually you pivoting off that self-ascribed or otherwise prescribed journey is still gonna get you back on the journey just in a different way than you anticipated.

[26:52] Jennifer Apple: Yeah.

[26:52] Shira Averbuch: Um, it's so wild to look back on it though, because when you're in it, you know, pandemic or otherwise, we all as artists go through that, you know, these periods of real isolation, these periods of real creative depletion or lack of inspiration. We talk about that on the Liz Kimball episode that we have. And she talks about the cycle of creation and how it really is this cyclical cycle. And sometimes there are parts of that cycle that are so much longer than you want them to be, but you need that in order to come back to your form of creation. I think about that often, even though it feels really icky.

[27:38] Jennifer Apple: Yeah.

[27:39] Shira Averbuch: Yeah, it's being in those uncomfortable places.

[27:42] Jennifer Apple: Yeah.

[27:42] Shira Averbuch: Or maybe just putting the focus on something else and not the art. Like I put so much focus in my personal life and in my love, my home, my I was building a lot of new things in my personal life, and that was great.

[27:55] Jennifer Apple: Yeah, you know, and I would argue or imagine that that actually inspired you to then look at those smaller details and be able to come back to those things that were real for you.

[28:06] Shira Averbuch: 100%. Yes, that's exactly right. You know, it just feeds, we forget that these other things like the life feeds the art and the art feeds the life if you're actually listening.

[28:17] Jennifer Apple: Yeah.

[28:18] Shira Averbuch: Exactly.

[28:22] Jennifer Apple: Have you been using the same monologue for years and can use a new piece? Are you applying to BA, BFA, or MFA programs and need a monologue for that process? Are you someone who simply has no idea where to search for monologues? Well, lucky for you, I do what is called monologue sourcing, in which I find monologues specifically chosen for you. So many artists use pieces based off external labeling for types and roles rather than find pieces sharing who they really are and what speaks to them. So we'll meet virtually together. You share who you are as a human, what you love, your dislikes, your values, beliefs, family, friends, love, politics, you name it. I will help guide you through this. And then I go off on my own and find you monologues chosen just for you that fit like a glove.

I've been doing monologue sourcing for years as an extension of the coaching I do with artists, and I have found pieces in this way for over hundreds of artists thus far. So if you are someone who wants to feel empowered about the monologues you bring into rooms and use for auditions, I would love to help you find them. And because you are a dedicated listener of the Empowered Artist Collective Podcast, I want to provide you with a custom link to an exclusive rate when you check out today. Head to EmpoweredArtistCollective.com slash podcast promo to register. That's EmpoweredArtistCollective.com slash podcast promo right now. I cannot wait to help you find monologues you absolutely adore.

[29:58] Jennifer Apple: Well, I'm curious what you're working on now.

[30:01] Shira Averbuch: So I have this project that I'm very excited about. Going off the whole pandemic thing, not feeling connected to other artists and not feeling invited.

[30:12] Jennifer Apple: Not feeling invited to anything.

[30:15] Shira Averbuch: Do you mean that literally because nothing was happening?

[30:18] Jennifer Apple: Do you mean that you felt like you were outside of the thing?

[30:21] Shira Averbuch: Both. Both.

[30:22] Jennifer Apple: Okay.

[30:22] Shira Averbuch: Yeah.

[30:23] Jennifer Apple: Was that a shift from prior, like from pre-pandemic?

[30:26] Shira Averbuch: Yeah, because pre-pandemic there was always something. I felt like there was always, I don't know, a happening here, a happening there. But then it, the silence made me feel uninvited. And also coming back after the pandemic, you know, I would see other friends doing things, and I'm like, okay, am I also gonna be invited to something? So I did the 21 Days of Meditation of Abundance by Deepak Chopra. I recommend it to anybody feeling stuck. And then you invite, you invite things into your consciousness, into what you're asking from the universe, in a mind frame of abundance. Is there's enough? There's enough for me, there's enough for you, there's enough for everybody. And then after I finished it, the thing that stuck with me is I want to be invited.

I want to be invited. I want to be invited, I want to be invited. I want to be invited on a personal level. I want to be invited on a spiritual level. I want to be invited on a work level, art level, all of it. I just want to be invited. I want to be invited. I'm gonna come. Invite me.

[31:31] Shira Averbuch: Um, and I just walked around the world like I want to be invited. I want to be invited. And then this really beautiful invitation came from this author. Her name is Susan Lax, and she's a spiritual counselor, and she's also the co-owner of Now Foot Footwear, which is like this global amazing shoe company. So she's like this badass businesswoman who 15 years ago did a shift and became a spiritual counselor, and she mostly works with end of life patients. So it could be anything, and their families. And so she started this thing called morning inspirations, which she would send out an email to her clients of something she wrote, a little poem, a little prose, a little story, just to help them start the day with a nice breath, right?

And some photos that she would take too. And it became a, it was, it started as like this small little thing, the little gift, and then it grew and it grew and it grew, and the list of the newsletter became in the thousands, and she got an offer over the pandemic to make it into a book. She made it into a book. It was on Good Morning America, became like the number two selling spiritual book on Amazon, like something crazy. And then she got an offer to write another book, and she said, I don't want to write another book because I miss being with people and I miss the connection. So what I want to do is I want to find the right musician, songwriter, to compose some of my words and make it into a performance, a concert, a song cycle that we can present and be in the room with people.

And then she found my song, Am I Beautiful? And she found me. She came to one of my concerts, and she's like, you're the person, you're the person I've been looking for. And she invited me, she commissioned me to write seven songs, and we're making it, we're gonna do our first concert on March 26th.

[33:31] Shira Averbuch: Yeah. Um here in New York. And then the idea is to take it all over the country. And it's, it's funny, it's hard to explain what it is because people are like, is it a concert? Is it a service? Is it a spiritual experience? Well, it's kind of all of it. So I'm there, she's there, there's a band, Paul is gonna be there. And we're gonna sing those seven songs. And each song is like a little tool to your spiritual toolbox of what to do when you're in this space, what to do if you're feeling like this, what to do, how to bring to live together in grief and joy and anger and beauty and all these things together. So she's gonna read some of her words, and I'm gonna sing some of her words, and then we're gonna what we call jam, is like talk about it. And some of the songs have a lot of communal singing, so whoever comes is gonna be singing. And anyone can sing and it's gonna be great. Don't worry about it.

[34:32] Jennifer Apple: I'm so proud of you. I remember when you told me this, and I was like, ah, um, I think it's, it feels so you, which is I think why it makes me really happy, because it's not just like a person who's like, I love your music, make some music. You're like, no, this is, it's, which would be great, but it's also, but this is just so in alignment with like your energy going back to that, you know, about like who are you gonna be spending your time creating this with? Somebody who's giving in a way that is cultivating community, B giving emotional support, you know, ways and tools of coping or existing. I think there's something very cathartic about that what you're talking about in a process, and it feels so right that you are going to be in that. I'm so excited for you and to hear all that you're creating with it.

[35:29] Shira Averbuch: Um, thank you. While you've, I mean, are you able to even talk about like any of the pieces thus far or like a little how it's been creating it?

[35:41] Shira Averbuch: Yeah, it's interesting because I've never had to completely only use somebody else's words. That's what I mean, yeah. It's hard, but I feel like our big why is what the way I like to call it, like why you do what you do is very similar. Like we both want to come from a place of awakening, healing, and love in hard places and in difficult situations and in beautiful ones. So when I see her words, a lot of the times I'm like, oh, I could totally, I could have totally written that, you know, it really resonates. And also she gives me a lot of freedom in playing around. Like I can take one piece and put it together with another piece and create something new, and she's really cool with that. So, so it's been, well actually when she approached me and asked me to do this, I was like, you know what, wait a second, let me read your book and see if anything comes up, like, you know, the percolating thing, if anything percolates.

And I thought they might not, you know, and that's okay, and I did, and like within an hour something came up. It's, it was like, oh, okay, it's here. I don't need to worry about it. So that's what it's been.

[36:54] Shira Averbuch: Are you feeling it in your body as a different way of curating, or does it feel like a similar like uh just going off of what you were sharing earlier about you know, seeing a word or a phrase or whatever, and then it kind of just boils up in you in that way?

[37:10] Shira Averbuch: Does it feel similarly, even though it's from a different way in?

[37:16] Shira Averbuch: The music that's coming out is a little different because I have no worries of it needs to be listened to on Spotify, or it doesn't need to be listened to on Spotify, like it needs to be this long or that long, because what I'm thinking about is like the song cycle, the thing as a whole. We'll probably record it and it'll probably be on Spotify, but like that's not even something that I'm putting in my mind, right?

[37:40] Shira Averbuch: You know, like the structure might be not regular, and that's okay. And we can break it down and we can do communal singing, and a song could all of a sudden be seven minutes because we were doing a thing, you know, we were in the moment. Um, so that's there's a lot of freedom there, which I'm really enjoying.

[38:01] Jennifer Apple: Oh, I love that. I also imagine that is inspiring your own songwriting that you're doing independently. That I would imagine if you look back on this in the year, two years from now, you'll be like, oh, this was where this whole thing was morphing into this new thing that I now use and have in my own toolkit that I blah blah blah blah blah from there.

[38:23] Shira Averbuch: Yeah. It's always such a fascinating chicken or the egg, I find in that way. Like, what's really like you working the way that you were working was what inspired her to collaborate with you. But now that you're working with her, it's inspiring you to start working with yourself in a different way, right? And it's like who's to say that that which is the start, which is the end, where does it all begin? Where does it stop? That little infinity sign that I'm just like randomly drawing in the air, like you know.

[38:49] Jennifer Apple: Yeah, exactly. Oh, I'm really excited for you in that. My other question would be how do you marry this part of your creative self with the performer self? How do you feel like they work together in conjunction with each other? Have you found that they've opened it's opened up more doors for you or not? Like, what's that been?

[39:12] Shira Averbuch: Yeah, well, like I said, with Paul, like I think none of this would have happened if it wasn't that you know, that musical theater job that I had, right? And a lot of the times I miss theater when I feel isolated and alone and lonely in trying to make everything happen alone. And I'm like, I just miss being part of a company and just just being and doing with other people. But the pandemic and everything else have has made me very picky. And I just don't want I don't want to do everything.

[39:49] Jennifer Apple: Good.

[39:50] Shira Averbuch: Um but the things I want to do, I really want to do, and things that sound interesting to me, I would love to do them. But they are few and far between.

[40:00] Jennifer Apple: Yeah. How did you get to that selection philosophy?

[40:05] Shira Averbuch: Um I think by during the pandemic not doing anything and then kind of slowly coming back into doing things. I I just okay. I said, okay, I'm starting anew. I'm gonna really pick everything with uh with a you know, with I don't I don't even know how to explain it. Like it kind of happened naturally, and then I was like, oh, I like this. I like that I'm only doing things that really resonate in my soul.

[40:35] Jennifer Apple: Yeah. So what if there if there's less? So what? So what? I don't have to be busy all the time. I could have time to have coffee with my beautiful friend Jennifer, you know. And and not feel bad about it. I don't know if you've had this, or like when you take a few days or you know, you go have coffee that's like four hours, and you're like, I didn't do this, I didn't do that, I could do this, I could yeah, you know.

[41:01] Shira Averbuch: That's no, but again, it feeds back.

[41:03] Jennifer Apple: Yes, I've had those feelings all the time, the guilt around it, blah, blah, blah, blah. But those purposeful decisions of me spending my time with somebody or a thing or an event or an experience that I want to be doing, yeah, arguably I would I'm going to be getting more out of that experience than me sitting at home, quote unquote forcing myself to do something that I I'm not present for. And maybe this is the procrastinator in me, knowing that I now only have X amount of time to accomplish said things that I was quote unquote supposed to accomplish by whose standards, unclear. But knowing that I have that time crunch is now going to put a little pedal to the metal on my urgency to get those things done, and frankly, get out of my own way.

[41:50] Shira Averbuch: I think that's the other thing too, right? Like, you know, I was teaching an improv class uh recently, and we were doing, you know, props, the game props where you have prop and you have to just pretend that the prop is, you know, whatever it is, and you don't have much time to think. And if you set it, if you set the the game up in a way that um there's like a line and there's people having to come right after each other, you really don't have time to think if you're actively listening to what somebody said beforehand because you can't repeat. And because you don't have the luxury of sitting with yourself and like all of these options, you just have to trust your intuition and just go and just do the thing. And there's a huge amount of freedom with trusting that your body, your instincts, your heart, your desires, everything, like it knows. And you're just getting out of your own way to let it come out.

[42:41] Jennifer Apple: And I I really do feel that if you are accepting incredible coffee invitations from strangers who want to be your friend and saying yes to it because that's really what you want to do, but you weren't the one who is forward enough to ask the person. So you just accepted and then you went, and then you wanted to be there with Shira and you had a wonderful time, even though you probably should have been at home doing X, Y, and Z, but you wanted to do that, and now you have a new friend and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Then me going back home after that experience is only going to make me feel better about doing the things that I quote unquote neglected during that quote unquote time that I was supposed to. I mean, like all of the shoulds.

[43:11] Shira Averbuch: Um, I really do think it it flows into each other. Um, and they work hand in hand. And you're in a way at the end of the day, you're more productive.

[43:20] Jennifer Apple: Correct.

[43:21] Shira Averbuch: Yeah. But also that whole word is something that like is, you know, like who's ascribing productivity to you and your own life choices, you know, besides like literal deadlines of things that matter for larger reasons, you know.

[43:33] Jennifer Apple: Yeah, you're really making I really want to take that word out of my vocabulary in general.

[43:37] Shira Averbuch: Like, thank you for that.

[43:39] Jennifer Apple: Yeah. The should the word should is something that I'm really that's been like my path, this this, you know, journey of trying to remove that, because that implies that there's somebody else who's told me that this is something that must be done. If it's self-imposed, then like Zyga's in, do your thing. But like, but even that should create you it makes you want to do it in a in an anxious way. In like whatever you're doing, like I should do this. Okay, let's go. It's never it's never calm. It's never with ease. You want to do things with ease and with love.

[44:13] Shira Averbuch: Right. Yeah.

[44:14] Jennifer Apple: As we wind on our time, is there anything that you wish you knew when you were beginning your artistic journey in this way? Or is there something that you are currently navigating that you would love to impart to the listener about what it means to be grappling with that thing?

[44:42] Shira Averbuch: Both or so like I said when I was in musical theater school everybody was trying to put me in boxes and failing. And I was trying I was trying to find my box in a way I was like, yeah I want a box. Everybody's got a box. I want a box. You know? And I didn't have a box. And this was so I was in school right before once started. And that was like the first show I saw and I was like oh there is room for me. It's not a box but there's room and and what I didn't know that I know now is that everything that made me different was a strength and not a a weakness. And I'm not I I'm not regretting anything but maybe if I would have embraced that a little more I wouldn't have struggled internally so much and felt bad and felt like I don't belong anywhere. Um for a little less time. But maybe that's part of the journey, and that's okay that I went through that. So that's something that I now know that I wish everybody knows.

[45:44] Jennifer Apple: Yeah.

[45:45] Shira Averbuch: That everything that makes you different, weird, awkward, um, you know, is is a gift. Yeah. Is a gift. And it's it maybe you're not gonna work for if you're an actor, you're not gonna work for a little while. But when you get that thing that is you, oh my god, it's gonna be so much better than anything you can imagine.

[46:04] Jennifer Apple: Yeah. Thank you. I know I know that that's something that even if you do feel that, or even if you're further in your journey and you're like beginning to accept all parts of yourself, it's always a helpful reminder to be like, there is literally nobody on this planet who is you.

[46:21] Shira Averbuch: Literally nobody else who is you, period. Even if you share similarities, even if there's overlap, even if things look the same or sound the same, the nuances, the differences, there's literally nobody else on this entire planet who is you, and why not embrace that?

[46:39] Jennifer Apple: Yeah, and when you hone into that, people are like, whoa, who's this person? Who's this creature that's so unique and embracing that?

[46:45] Shira Averbuch: Yeah, yeah.

[46:46] Jennifer Apple: And then that's magnetic, and then it makes the other person think about themselves, and then everybody's winning, whatever that means, just by embracing themselves as full human beings who exist in a space. Um I adore you so much. Thank you for being bold and like telling me we need to grab coffee because I'm the friendship that has come from that has been just such a blessing, and it's been so wonderful to watch you create, inspire, live so earnestly and truthfully and vulnerably. Um you show up in a way that is very earnest in the most wonderful of ways, and it is palpable and tangible, and I think people see that.

[47:31] Shira Averbuch: And if anyone has yet to listen to Shira's music, do it and you will feel that. Um, it's just really inspiring to me to have somebody like you in my life who um literally lives and breathes consistently who you who they are, which is uh it's just wonderful. So thank you for all that you're doing.

[47:54] Shira Averbuch: I love you.

[47:54] Jennifer Apple: I love you.

[47:56] Shira Averbuch: I'll say that again. I love you.

[47:57] Jennifer Apple: Great. I love you too. Um for anybody who is listening and they want to follow along on your journey, they want to listen to you, they want to work with you. What within your own boundaries is a way for people to get in touch?

[48:09] Shira Averbuch: Um, uh if you're on Instagram, um, I'm Shira Music, and that's where you'll find everything. There's a link in bio which will take you anywhere and DM me. Like I said, I'm up for being invited. I'm still in that headspace of just like invite me. Yeah, I will probably say yes, you know. So feel free to reach out.

[48:30] Jennifer Apple: It's so funny hearing you say that because you did that for me. So obviously, you are taking your own advice. So just let me reflect that back to you that you are inviting others, so others will invite you as well.

[48:44] Shira Averbuch: Thank you.

[48:48] Jennifer Apple: I highly encourage you to find Shira wherever you listen to your music or linked in our show notes to simply listen to this fairy folk singer at work. Her voice is absolutely transcendent and incredible. And hopefully, after this episode, you feel some sort of inspiration to either continue writing if this is something that you do, perhaps starting to songwrite if that is something you have been interested in, or to simply support other artists who are doing this kind of really emotional vulnerable work.

[49:14] Now, if you like this episode, please like, rate, follow, and most importantly, review us on Apple Podcasts. This allows us to continue making these episodes, releasing this type of content, and reaching people who really, really want to be having these kinds of conversations. If you do not like it, just let it all slide. If you are not yet following us on Instagram, you can find us at Empowered Artist Collective, on TikTok at Empowered Artist Collective, on our website at Empowered Artist Collective.com. If you are looking for some merchandise, we got you in the show notes. And if you're wanting to join us on our mailing list where we drop some inspiration, you can also sign up there too. As always, I am so grateful you keep on coming back. And we will be back again next week. Until then.