“SERHII SAYS”

MAY 2025

Lovelies,

There are times it's dangerous to ask for feedback. Yes, we're banging our heads against the walls of a project and would love nothing more than to be helped. But really we're passing through a Vulnerable Moment. Any thoughts other than our own would confuse us, if not derail us altogether.

The problem with making an app is that the Vulnerable Moment is years long.

I realized this during my bi-weekly schooling by my trusted advisor, Ukrainian business manager, Serhii. Typically our meetings go like this: I share my latest self-doubt, he laughs at me, and I feel better. For example, last week I told him I'd discovered a competing creativity app and realized it was the one the world needed, he laughed his head off, and I understood that's not how user acquisition works.

This week I told him I'd hired a wrong person for marketing. He listened to my reasoning and agreed. But then he added, "Rachel, you must know that for the first three years, everyone you hire will be the wrong person. You don't yet know what Muzi is and you're the only one who can figure it out. There's nothing you can outsource." 

Whoa.

Naturally, I said, "But I have no idea how to make or release an app! There's nothing I CAN'T outsource!"

To which he, naturally, replied, "That's true too. You must ask for help. And you must know that no one can help." 

So yeah, this month's wisdom comes not from me, but straight from the (apparently) zen monk that is my trusted advisor, Serhii. And I think his little "one hand clapping" koan is at the heart of every Vulnerable Moment. It's a beautiful thing to collect others' ideas about our work. But we must know, also, that they are, by definition, wrong. They are merely lights, pointed this way and that, and occasionally illuminating some facet of truth, OUR truth, that we haven't yet seen.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go hire some other wrong people. 

With love,

Rachel

For all the time Narada and I spend writing songs, we never kick back and chat ABOUT writing songs. Well this month I made him Muzi's Featured Artist and we finally got to the bottom of it!

From his beginnings with Mahavishnu to an inspiring phone call from Aretha Franklin, you won't want to miss his amazing stories and perspectives. 

“ALTERNATIVES TO SOLITUDE”

april 2025

Lovelies,

My summer of 2024 was creatively charmed. I had so much to do -- songs to write, albums to produce, most notably an app to complete. And I was doing it! I walked blossoming streets and felt my ideas crystallize. I approached my piano and notes delighted to meet me.

A true thing: I whispered to myself daily, "This is the summer of my life."

Then July 30th I woke to my apartment on fire.

Some questions I asked: "Where will I sleep tonight?" "What will I wear tomorrow?" "Can I afford the Bay Area without my rent controlled apartment?" But also, my idee fixe inverted: "Is this (still) the summer of my life?" 

Around 11:30am, walking a long block from the still-working firefighters, I took a breath and CHOSE that it was. I'm proud of myself for this. And for how, with each next step I took, I made it so. 

But.

A few weeks later leading a rehearsal I felt like I was on the wrong side of a pane of glass. I heard the music from a distance. I saw my friends smiling, laughing, strumming instruments from a distance.

And whenever I sat to write, my words were so muted they were inaudible. 

What is LOVELY, and what I want to share today, is that it's PEOPLE who have broken the glass. Historically I've accessed creativity in solitude: Door closed. Door LOCKED! But now it's an artist asking for help that reminds me I feel song structure in my toes and fingertips. Now it's a production company asking to produce my song that reminds me to source content from the awkward truths of my experience. Now it's a Grieg melody that's my breadcrumbs home.

This week, between Muzi and music, I had meetings with France, the UK, Ukraine, and the Netherlands. It's a chaos of accents. I don't understand what's being said in so many different ways!

I still think solitude is a precondition to creativity. But now I understand there are seasons solitude is occupied, and it must be people who rush in to take its place. 

All love,

Rachel

DOWNLOAD MUZI!

(But do make sure to download on your PHONE! She's a mobile app y'all!)

“RACHEL CHRONICLES”

march 2025

Lovelies,

A few years ago I didn't think much about these Newsletters. If anything, I dreaded them a little: the muscled extroversion, the embarrassed self-promotion. I sent them as rarely as possible -- whenever there was a project it would be irresponsible not to mention.

Then one day I did something different: I opened my computer and wrote something true. Not, like, the Whole Truth or anything as audacious as that. Just whatever garbled bite of human truth I'd experienced of late.

Who knew that was an option!

Since then I've done nothing else.

I've told you about my high school mentor and his obsession with bridges. I've told you about the rocker boots that carried me to the scariest stage. I've told you about my varied relationship with ambition, my wrestling relationship with my body. I've told you about my preference for the fantasticand my diagnosable obsession with the creative.

You've seen me through career growth, identity formation, identify reconsideration, fire survival, and some high-key spiritual reckoning.

And sure, I share my PROJECTS, but always below the fold. Because who can be bothered when I'm up here TELLING THE TRUTH!

I think you've had more fun, too. Because now you write me back with your truths. And oh I love them!

Well I decided these Newsletters are cute enough to warrant collection. You can now read every last (worthy) one whenever you'd like!

It is my great joy to write to you.

Rachel