Latest / The Thriving School Podcast with Jenni Awesome / Music, Loss, and Perseverance with Sharmila Joghi
Transcript
- Jenni Awesome: And welcome back to the Jennifer Awesome podcast, where we have conversations with people who are making a difference and inspiring others to live with purpose, possibility, and heart. Today's guest brings together two worlds that don't often meet, but when they do, they create something truly powerful. I'm excited to welcome Sharmila Yochi, a pop singer-songwriter whose passion for music is matched by her dedication to helping people. With academic degrees in social work, Sharmila understands both the emotional and human side of life. And she channels those experiences into music that connects, inspires, and tells meaningful stories. Welcome to the Jennifer Awesome Podcast. I'm so excited to have you here today. Sharmila: Thank you. Yeah. Jenni Awesome: So so tell us a bit about yourself. You've got a s a social work degree, you're a pop singer, songwriter, like you've probably lived a pretty interesting life. Sharmila: Yeah. Yeah. I I write my own songs and pop music, yes. And I also have degrees in social work and well I started in my childhood with dance lessons. Jenni Awesome: Okay. Sharmila: jazz ballet. I took dance lessons, jazz ballet lessons for eight years and And then later I started writing my own songs and took vocal lessons, voice lessons, yeah. Jenni Awesome: Very cool. So you started as a dancer. You have a a love Sharmila: Yeah. Yeah. Jenni Awesome: for music is what I understand. Sharmila: Yeah. Jenni Awesome: Okay. And so then you got into singing songwriting. Sharmila: Yes, exactly. Jenni Awesome: So tell me a bit about that journey. How did you get into writing your own songs? Sharmila: I was always busy with the music and the dancing and and and music and well the music just often popped up in my mind. The mil melody and the lyrics. Yeah, that's how I started writing and and performing, yeah. Jenni Awesome: Very cool. How old were you when you when you wrote your first song? Sharmila: I was about well in my twenties, yeah. Yeah. Jenni Awesome: Nice. Nice. So they they just you're you're you'll be doing something and all of a sudden these melodies just kind of pop in your head and and the lyrics follow. Very cool. Sharmila: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it talked in my in my mind, yeah. Yeah. So Jenni Awesome: That's Sharmila: and I I'm from the Netherlands and I also performed in the US and I was the opening artist for boy band Otou. Do you know that? Jenni Awesome: wow. Yeah. Sharmila: Okay. Yeah. Jenni Awesome: Very cool. So what what was that experience like? Sharmila: Yeah, that was great. It was in 2018. And yeah, I was with my daughter at the time. And but my daughter passed away, okay. But we traveled together to the US and we had a great time there, yeah. So Jenni Awesome: I'm I'm glad it was a great time. I'm very sorry to hear that your daughter passed away. Sharmila: Yeah. Jenni Awesome: Do you do you wanna talk a a little bit about that? What Sharmila: yeah, she w in t two thousand twenty, she was very sick and yeah, so yeah. Jenni Awesome: Yeah, I'm I'm very sorry to hear that. it's never Sharmila: Yeah. Jenni Awesome: never an easy thing to go through. Sharmila: No, no. Jenni Awesome: So have you by chance written any songs for her in in as part of your process? Sharmila: Yes, sure. Yeah. I wrote a few songs for her and soon to be released. Within a few weeks a song will be released for her and the song is called Golden Heart because she always had a golden heart. Yeah. Jenni Awesome: I love that. I'm looking forward to hearing Sharmila: Yeah. Jenni Awesome: that. Where so where do you where are your songs released to? Like are you on Spotify, Apple Music? Where where can people find you? Sharmila: yes on Spotify and yeah it's released everywhere Spotify iTunes and but only my song Burning for You Club mix and I also have a music video from that song and yeah my other songs too from the past, Respect Your Body, DNA damage and I've been writing new songs lately. all new songs and I'm working on that and yeah, soon to be released. Yeah. Jenni Awesome: That's amazing. So I I'm a musician myself. I play the piano. I can sing. I Sharmila: Okay. Jenni Awesome: I get so stuck on the idea of writing music, going through the process. Like I can come up with lyrics. My husband is great Sharmila: Yeah. Jenni Awesome: at at melodies and songs, but what is that whole songwriting process like? What what steps do you go through? Sharmila: often it o pop up in my mind and often I start with writing the chorus. So Jenni Awesome: Mm-hmm. Sharmila: it has has to be a catchy melody and lyrics and and then I work it further out the verses, yeah. Jenni Awesome: So do you do you also play around like on a piano or a guitar to kind of help you figure out the the notes? Sharmila: no, no, I don't do any type of thing that no. But my daughter she played keyboard and Jenni Awesome: Uh-huh. Sharmila: she composed her own music on the keyboard. And she was yeah, Jenni Awesome: wow. Sharmila: she did. And she was also she also wrote her songs just like me. So yeah, she did. Jenni Awesome: That's wonderful. Sharmila: Yeah. Jenni Awesome: So I wanna know a bit about your your whole journey. So you ended up getting a degree for social work. Sharmila: Yes. Jenni Awesome: So so tell us a a bit about that. What what did you do as a social worker? Sharmila: I worked in the children's homes, I worked in women's shelters, I worked with refugees, I worked with all kinds of people from all different Jenni Awesome: Mm-hmm. Sharmila: kinds of backgrounds. Yeah, I did. Jenni Awesome: And what what was what drew you to going into social work? Sharmila: Mm, because I wanted to help people. And yeah, that's the main reason I think, yeah. Jenni Awesome: So how how did you how do you go about helping people? Like what how how were you helping people? Sharmila: Yeah. How do I help people? I think from my own experience, my life experience too. Jenni Awesome: Mm-hmm. Sharmila: from that view I've been helping people and yeah. Jenni Awesome: Beautiful. So how how do you use do you still use like your social working skills, your ability to help people through your songwriting? Sharmila: I hope to do so, yes. And well I try my best to do so. And I have also wrote wrote a song human race. It's on YouTube. Shamila Online on YouTube and TikTok. And yeah, I'm singing Stand Up for the Human Race, so yeah. Jenni Awesome: I love that. I'm gonna have to go check that out. So Sharmila: Yeah. Jenni Awesome: you said you did dance when you were a kid and that that kind of helped open the door for you to be in music. Did you participate in a lot of music stuff through school or was it separate? Sharmila: not fiasco, no, no. It was separate, yeah. Jenni Awesome: Okay. So tell me about how important music is in your life. Sharmila: It is very important. It's it is how I express myself and yeah. It is very important. The music, the dance, the writing and also in difficult times with the loss of my daughter, I I write I write about everything and yeah. Jenni Awesome: It's it's powerful when when you get to that point where you're you know, you're writing your emotions out and to get to that point where you're able to put it to song, to put it to melody and and give it that extra power. Sharmila: Yes, yes. Jenni Awesome: So I know I grew up doing music in schools, participating in music. I did piano lessons, voice lessons, all all sorts of stuff outside of school too. So what Sharmila: Yeah. Jenni Awesome: are you seeing lately where kids have less and less access to music, dance, expressive writing? Sharmila: I think it's very important to st stimulate that, to teach children that, creative art and music and yeah. Jenni Awesome: Yeah, 'cause like Sharmila: Yeah. Jenni Awesome: like you said, it's how you express yourself. Sharmila: Yeah, exactly, yeah. Jenni Awesome: And so I could I could there's a lot of kids out there who don't know how to express themselves because they haven't been introduced to this avenue of music or dance or theater or arts. Sharmila: Yeah. Jenni Awesome: Yeah. So what is something that you're most passionate about right now? Sharmila: Most passionate. releasing new music and I'm busy planning to do to perform again because it's been a while that I did perform. About a month ago I did perform here in the Netherlands, but I'm planning to perform in other countries. So yeah. Jenni Awesome: Excellent. Sharmila: Yeah. Jenni Awesome: So what countries are you planning to go perform in? Sharmila: Well in Europe. Yeah. Jenni Awesome: Nice, nice. Sharmila: Yeah. Yeah. Jenni Awesome: Is there anywhere that you're most excited to perform? Sharmila: Well actually I would like to perform in Iceland, Yeah, Jenni Awesome: yeah. Sharmila: so yeah. Jenni Awesome: That would be amazing. Sharmila: Yeah. Jenni Awesome: Where where have you performed? I know you you said you were with Old Town, right, in twenty eighteen? Sharmila: Yeah, in twenty eighteen, USA, two thousand nineteen in New York and and Netherlands only. But I want to perform in London, UK and a few other countries, yeah. Jenni Awesome: That's amazing. So what is what is the for those people who haven't been able to perform on on a bigger stage, what is that like? Sharmila: Yeah, that is really a great feeling. Yeah. Really great feeling. Yeah. Jenni Awesome: What what's your favorite part about performing? Sharmila: also the interaction with the audience is great Jenni Awesome: Mm-hmm. Sharmila: and yeah. Jenni Awesome: Yeah, so what what is your show like? Do you have like light effects? How how do you perform on stage? Sharmila: well my new performances will be in memory of my daughter Tanisha. Okay, so I will sing songs for her and will show some videos where she played keyboard and things like that and where she was singing. Yeah, so Jenni Awesome: Have you incorporated some of her melodies or or lyrics into your own songs? Sharmila: no not yet, but she ha she wrote a certain song and I only remember a few lines of it so I think I have to finish the song and then Jenni Awesome: Mm-hmm. Sharmila: sing it because I don't have her voice with recorded I don't have that so yeah. Jenni Awesome: Gotcha. So as you've been going through this grieving process and and I know it's we never get over the people that we lose and nor should we. Can you tell us a bit about about the process you've been through? Sharmila: yeah, it is very difficult. actually my life in Holland has been very difficult well as a as a as an artist too but we got in some kind of trouble. Okay. Jenni Awesome: Mm-hmm. Sharmila: And in twenty thirteen I said that I'm an artist and I posted it on YouTube and then I got seriously in big trouble. Yeah. Jenni Awesome: Before we continue today's episode, I want to take a moment to talk about a mission that has become incredibly important to me. Every child deserves to grow up feeling safe, protected, valued, and free. Unfortunately, children around the world are being exploited and trafficked every day. And I don't believe we can simply hear about it, feel terrible, and move on. We have a collective responsibility to do something, to act. That's why I'm raising funds to support the fight against child trafficking and child exploitation and the organizations working to identify vulnerable children, rescue victims, and help survivors rebuild their lives. And you can do something. You Can be a valuable part of this mission and this work as well. You don't have to have thousands of dollars and you don't have to be an expert. You simply have the opportunity to decide that protecting children matters. Donate, share the mission, start a conversation, pay attention, use your voice. Because when enough ordinary people Decide that protecting children is our responsibility, extraordinary change becomes possible. If you'd like to stand with me, visit community.org backslash fundraiser seven three seven one zero two six. Together we can turn awareness into action, hope into impact. And create a world where children are protected. Protecting children is everyone's responsibility and it starts with us. Sharmila: So Jenni Awesome: For posting that. Sharmila: yes, exactly. Big trouble. Yeah. Jenni Awesome: Why? Sharmila: So I don't know. certain people and organizations they didn't want me to say such a thing, it was some kind of a taboo here. And Yeah, so I was censored and silenced for many, many, many years. Yeah. Jenni Awesome: I'm I'm sorry to hear that you went through that and it it sounds like you're you're able to reach out and use your voice again. So that's that is a good thing. Sharmila: Yeah. Yes. So yeah. Jenni Awesome: So it it sounds like you have a a strong sense of perseverance. You are leading the way through your experiences and and not letting things stop you. Sharmila: Exactly, yes. Yes. Jenni Awesome: So if if someone was in your shoes, if if they say that they were censored, not able to use their voice, what advice would you have for them? Sharmila: J to that they should tell the government who you are. Tell them, This is who I am, this is what I'm going to do, this is what I'm planning to do. And that's the way it is. Yeah. Jenni Awesome: Yeah. Don't back down. Stand up for what you believe in. That's what I hear you saying. Sharmila: Yeah, yeah, yes. Jenni Awesome: Excellent. what as you're as you were going through those those darker moments, what Sharmila: Mm-hmm. Jenni Awesome: brought you hope? What gave you the power to keep going? Sharmila: Always my daughter. Yeah. Jenni Awesome: Yeah. Sharmila: Because everything I did in my life was for the most part for her. And getting those degrees in social work I did it also for her, to give her a better life and yeah. And yeah. Jenni Awesome: Yeah. Sharmila: And also when she won't when she's not here anymore, I still continue the music because she's still speaking through me. Because people don't Jenni Awesome: Yes. Sharmila: know about her, but I have to show the world who she is, who she was. Yeah. Jenni Awesome: Yeah. Wow, I just knowing what you've been through and thinking that you can still hear what she's saying to you and that she's there to help guide you and she's made such this impact in your life. I mean, that's that's Sharmila: Yeah. Jenni Awesome: it's beautiful. Sharmila: Yes. Jenni Awesome: So when you're writing songs, what are what do you do if you experience a creative block? Sharmila: then I wait and then maybe a few days later I have more inspiration. And then finish I finish it when I have the inspiration. Jenni Awesome: Gotcha. So it so songs can take a while to write or or they could be really quick. Sharmila: Most often very quick. Yeah, because it comes from my heart and then I don't have to think about it, it just comes. Yeah. Jenni Awesome: Love that. what advice would you give someone who's afraid to share their gifts with the world? Sharmila: don't be scared. You have no they don't have to be scared. It's a talent and you should use your talents, yeah. Jenni Awesome: Yes, it's a gift from God and and he gave us those gifts for a reason. Sharmila: Yeah, and you should believe in yourself, yeah. Jenni Awesome: So what has music taught you about perseverance? Sharmila: a lot because it's music is very powerful and it is music and my daughter both that keep me going. So yeah. Jenni Awesome: what what would you say is one of the biggest challenges of being an independent artist today? Sharmila: Well the challenge that I had to face and my daughter had to face for just saying that I am an artist. Yeah, Jenni Awesome: Mm. Sharmila: as a woman artist, yeah. I didn't know Jenni Awesome: That that Sharmila: that it would be such a problem in this country. Jenni Awesome: Yeah, that it that kinda blows my mind that that was a problem for you. Sharmila: Yeah, a big problem. Yeah. Jenni Awesome: Yeah, I so how did how did you find out about that being a problem? Sharmila: Well well it is a really a big story. I'm busy with a documentary and a movie about it. Yeah. Yeah. Jenni Awesome: That's amazing. I'm so happy for you. Sharmila: Yeah. Jenni Awesome: That's cool. So so you're Sharmila: Yeah. Jenni Awesome: a recording artist, you have a a documentary going on about what's happened to you. Like I you must Sharmila: Yeah. Jenni Awesome: be busy. Sharmila: Yes, I'm very busy. And Jenni Awesome: So Sharmila: there's a trailer. There's a trailer for the documentary. It is on my YouTube and it is called it is called Ungrateful. Ungrateful. Yeah. Jenni Awesome: How did you get this documentary started? Sharmila: in two thousand thirteen my daughter and me made videos singing and she was playing the keyboard and we wanted to start and make a a documentary or a movie or a reality show, something like that. Jenni Awesome: Mm-hmm. Sharmila: And then well they stopped our us in our tracks and I was not allowed to do all these things. I was not allowed to say that I'm an artist and yeah. Jenni Awesome: So how have you stayed grounded while pursuing these dreams? Sharmila: yeah, it was f very difficult to stay but I don't know. I'm just strong and I continue always and with what I believe in in my dreams and yeah. Jenni Awesome: Yeah. So what is what is your your vision for the future? What what what do you want to see come out of of this, out of your music, out of the documentary? Sharmila: Mm just to reach people and to that it will influence them in a in a positive way my music and that that people will think about these subjects, that these things are going on also in Holland. Jenni Awesome: Mm-hmm. Sharmila: And yeah and Mm, people don't expect these things to to happen in a country as Holland. Jenni Awesome: Yeah. Sharmila: Yeah. Jenni Awesome: Yeah. So is there anything else that you know, maybe we don't understand that's going on in Hollands? Sharmila: Mm yeah, it has to do with racism a lot. Jenni Awesome: Mm-hmm. Sharmila: And yeah, racism is a big problem in Holland and institutional racism, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Jenni Awesome: I'm sorry to hear that. I I I still think it's happening everywhere, unfortunately. Sharmila: Yeah, yes. So Jenni Awesome: Well, we're we're getting close to our time and I wanna make sure that you have plenty of time to is there anything else that you'd like to share with us? Sharmila: no, I just continue with the music and to express myself through music and by speaking and even if I was censored and silenced, I continue speaking and singing. Yeah. Jenni Awesome: All right, and where where do we find you again? You've you've mentioned your YouTube, you're on all of the major music platforms, but what's your how do we contact you? How do we find you? Sharmila: Shamila online, on YouTube and TikTok, I'm not on Facebook, and Spotify and SoundCloud. Jenni Awesome: Excellent. Well, Sharmila: Yeah. Jenni Awesome: thank you so much for coming onto the podcast. You are an amazing Sharmila: Thank you too. Jenni Awesome: example of perseverance. I can't wait to check out your music and to hear the newest stuff that's coming out. Sharmila: Okay, great. Jenni Awesome: Thank thank you again. Thank you for listening to the Jenny Awesome podcast. We'll see you next time.