Today we are talking about the struggles we deal with trying to find our own creative voices. We both grew up having many creative interests and outlets, but at times we would let self-doubt and stress keep us from pursuing our passions.

Mel has let a few of her creative passions fall to the wayside over the past few years. She’s been wanting to get back into her photography as well as other artistic talents, but she already feels overwhelmed at times just dealing with work and her family alone.

Danielle was always interested in art, music, and writing. She has struggled to show off her talents because she is overly critical of herself and her skills. Recently, she has made it a point to plunge into the art and music world headfirst. This hasn’t been an easy process, but she realized that she didn’t want to live her life with any regrets.

Today to help us dive into our topic we have producer, singer, and rapper Gene Stovall. Gene started his professional career as a child actor as ‘Reuben’ in ‘Joe Turner's Come and Gone’, by playwright and fellow Pittsburgh native, August Wilson. When the production ended, Stovall was in the middle of his 7th-grade year and had gotten used to the daily grind of a performance artist. So, he studied acting and trained his singing voice for a stab at musical theater.

Awesomely, he got his first lead role as ‘Don Quixote’ in ‘Man of La Mancha’, which lead to Stovall being cast as ‘Judas Iscariot’ and ‘Pontius Pilate’ in two very different productions of ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ one year later. These shows get him the courage to study Vocal Performance at Duquesne University’s School of Music.

Stovall performed solo as a singer/songwriter and fronted lots of notable Pittsburgh bands. He became a recording artist in 2003 and did his first album ‘Gene Stovall: Live at the Shadow Lounge’. He followed it up years later with his first studio album ‘2+2=5’. Both albums and more of Stovall’s past recording work will be available on Spotify in the Summer of 2022. (Listen Here)

He now records as ‘Gene Stovall x Geenpool’ which brings together both of his recording personas into one musical place. For the most part, the tracks are self-produced and Stovall acts as the singer and songwriter that you will get to know and love for years to come. 2022 is all about Stovall unapologetically celebrating how far he’s come to be where he is today.

So give him a warm AC welcome as we talk about what we like about being creatives and how we are working to overcome the negative self-talk in order to conquer our goals.