Every few years I have that single event that triggers a good two or three hours of reflection. A few years ago it was on the treadmill, listening to the NeedToBreathe album before an interview with Honor Society almost two years to the day of the initial one that changed everything. This time, the moment of “deep reflection” happened as I was walking through London listening to music following having lunch at the Google offices.
See the thing about that lunch was that it can all be traced back to the same event that the band interview was. A memory that now seems so distant but a moment that shaped my entire life for the past 8+ years. What was that moment? Well I was in Disney world with family for New Years and my cousin introduced me to this band of brothers, you may remember them as the Jonas Brothers. I was a Disney kid so naturally I had heard a song or two on TV by this point and honestly I thought they were crap (sorry to anyone who was a fan from day one). But then when my cooler, older cousin played them for me I thought they were the best thing ever.
Very first in-person interview with Honor Society
That moment, where I became a fan of this boy band defined a lot of what has happened since. Seeing YouTube videos of a girl interviewing them made me want to do the same so I set out to do just that. By sophomore year of high school I had an interview with their opening band. Then I was hooked on this magical world of music and suddenly I found a direction for life in general. From there I met a whole slew of incredible people at concerts, from photographers to friends and musicians to managers and agents. I saw more green rooms and tour busses than I like to note and was giver a glimpse into the world of music few are able to see.
Chatting with Jason Derulo
On the carpet with OneRepublic
From there it’s easy to start tracing even more moments – I got into college to study the business, my resume had this cool line about creating an ongoing project (A Teen View), I started to go to shows on the east coast and continued to see more of the industry I had grown to love and had opportunities to interview some incredibly talented people.
Conversation with Greg Holden
Mid Interview with Dakota Bradley
How did I end up at Google? Well even after deciding to let A Teen View remain as a glimpse into my teen years, I continued writing for Broken Records and was able to have a special section for London. I had heard of this guy Vance Joy when his song ‘Riptide’ was the free single on iTunes and when he was playing two nights in London it was added to my list of shows. It was at that concert where I met another photographer who also worked on the business side of Google and from there I took the chance to have lunch a few weeks later and talk about the company, music photography and summer internships & postgraduate opportunities.
So this whole long post was basically to say, each moment truly does happen for a reason and a teenage obsession can lead you to some pretty crazy places.
– AS.
