Somehow, it seems appropriate to be interviewing Ja-Naé Duane about creative self-promotion for singers between bites of Caesar salad and a superb steak fajita. The keen-eyed mezzo-soprano is as enthusiastic about good food as she is about good music—and it’s a tenet of Wild Women Entrepreneurs, Duane’s international membership-based organization dedicated to resource-building and creative networking for female entrepreneurs in all fields of endeavor, that the most important things happen over lunch.
“Why is it,” I ask, to get her started before I tackle my fajita, “that singers in general are not known for being creative entrepreneurs?”
“I love you!” exclaims Duane to the server bringing a sizzling plate, and then turns her attention back to me as she efficiently spears some lettuce. “Singers don’t think of themselves as business people,” she says. “But we are, and as a businessperson you have to look at your assets—women, in particular, always underestimate their own assets—and ask yourself what are you willing to do for yourself, for your integrity, for your art? My asset happens to be hooking people up and helping them to make connections. That’s what the Wild WE is all about.”
It seems almost random for a singer to focus her energies on creating the Wild WE, an international network of entrepreneurs. How could such an activity possibly aid a career in music? Duane points out that singers develop the mindset that if you are in school for long enough and study hard enough, you deserve a Renée Fleming career, but that frequently is not the case at all, she says.
“It’s easy, too, to get lost in all these Young Artist Programs without knowing how to break out, when to break out, what is right for us. We have to listen to 50,000 people as students. It’s overwhelming, and we wind up losing our sense of self. It’s not as though anyone does it intentionally. It’s just part of how the academic system is set up. We are not taught as students to think for ourselves and to set our own goals for our career.”
What is Duane’s ultimate goal for her career?
“I want,” she says without missing a beat, batting an eye, or making a single gesture of self-deprecation, “to be an international superstar.”
It’s a goal many singers share—but unlike many singers, Duane has a tactical plan that goes beyond showing up at the round of cattle-call auditions so indispensable to the common run of the business. Apparently, a primary tactic is getting to know everyone in the world so that everyone in the world will want to go to her shows; in that way, she is a partner in audience-building with the organizations that present her. In addition to the Wild WE, she has a killer website she bartered for with voice lessons, she hosts online connector events, and in her spare time she is a professional public speaker with an impressive record and contacts in every port. I don’t even want to see her address book. Tellingly, she rarely goes in the “front door” of an opera house when she wants work.
“Say there’s an opera company you want to work for,” I say. “You go online. You Google the company, you look at the artistic staff, and you don’t know a single name. What’s the next step?”
“I find people that have worked for the company before.”
“How do you do that?”
“That’s a good question,” Duane admits.
“Chances are I probably already know someone anyway.”
“In any opera house in the United States?”
“Probably.”
“Geez,” I say. She nods and takes another bite of salad.
“Whenever I meet another singer I try to make friends and find out if there is any way I can help them in their endeavors. You never know what contacts that singer has and how that may be able to help you at some point. If you’re in business, you have to know how to create a ‘win-win.’ Think about who you know! You effectively network by meeting people and making new friends. Anyway, if I don’t know anyone I might call up a member of the artistic staff and see if I can have a coaching with them.”
“Let me ask you a question about career building and money,” I continue. “Nobody has any. What do you do?”
“It depends on what you’re looking at. There have been many times when I couldn’t afford lessons and I got down on my hands and knees and scrubbed voice teachers’ floors. How much are you willing to do for yourself, for your integrity, for your art? Barter! Financials aren’t an issue if you’re creative.”
“You barter for a lot of stuff, don’t you?
“My car; both of my websites.”
“What do you offer in exchange?”
“Wild WE membership. Voice lessons. Marketing and publicity consultations. Housecleaning, if I need to!”
Through the Wild WE and all of her other activities, Ja-Naé Duane has successfully branded herself as a singer who knows everyone, gets things done, and attracts audiences—and she conducts, maintains and nurtures all of her activities and relationships, both personal and professional, with an eye to creating networking opportunities, new ways of thinking, and just plain fun.
Sounds like international superstar material to me.
For more information about Ja-Naé Duane and the Wild WE, visit www.ja-nae.com or www.thewildwe.com.
Mezzo-sopranos Imelda Franklin Bogue and Ja-Naé Duane met at an audition and got along famously (helped, perhaps, by the fact they were auditioning for different roles), and a few months later interviewed each other on the same day. You can hear Duane’s interview of Bogue for Wild Women Radio on the Web at www.thewildwe.com or through Imelda’s website at www.imeldafranklinbogue.com.
