Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Nefarious Merchant of Souls

Last night was a powerful night. I felt sick, weepy, empowered, inspired, angry, blessed, happy, and overwhelmed all in a couple hours. I went to a screening of Nefarious Merchant of Souls at Union Church in Seattle. It was a documentary on the global sex trade aka human trafficking. Iv'e always had a special place in my heart for this issue, but until last night never understood the vastness of it. The US Department of Heath and Human Services calls it "The fastest growing criminal industry in the world". That to me is shocking, because very few even know or realize that its going on! Even in your hometown. Seattle is considered a "hub" for sex slavery. It makes me sick to think that while I get dressed up and go downtown for a night on the town, there are woman being tormented and sold like merchandise right down the street. This film turned a light bulb on in my mind, and I'm sure just about everyone who saw this film.

Many girls and woman who find themselves in this industry, were abducted and "beaten down" physically and mentally so they are "ready and equipped" to do the work they were taken to do. This documentary showed it from so many angles. In eastern Europe in hard times, parents will leave their children in orphanages to go find work, traffickers prey on these young children, since no one will know their gone. They take them sometimes locally, sometimes far away and sell them. Many traffickers are ex drug dealers, but change to the sex industry when they see how much money they can make. The explain it this way: "When you see drugs, you only sell it once and its gone, a woman you can sell over and over, one woman can guarantee 7 years of income minimum."

In Southeast Asia parents will even sell their own daughters daily to make enough money to live. I am not a parent but I can't even imagine sending your sweet, trusting little child out into the hands of some corrupt man for a loaf of bread. I know most people looking in on that situation would agree.

I could go on for ever about the different real life HAPPENING stories that are going on, but honestly it just makes me fill with emotion.  The fact that there is only a small percentage of people who know about this issue, let alone doing something about it, is heart wrenching. I will not be a interested observer of this issue. It is SO EASY to feel something and then go back to your regular life, because its simple, comfortable, and theres no hurt. But the reality is this, there are woman, young children, and men out there who are living a life worse than a farm animal. They are beaten, abused, assaulted every single day. It certainly makes the complications in my day pathetic. I want to make a difference in these valuable human beings lives.
There are select screenings of this documentary all over the country, for people located in Washington there is one tonight and also tomorrow night in Kirkland. I encourage anyone reading this to take time out of there day to be aware of how you can help in this world. It can be stopped and I believe that transformation is going to happen in that industry. I hope I have some believers in that, to come along side me and make a difference.

Check out www.nefariousdocumentary.com for screening and information on this issue, as well as how you can help.

God Bless,
Tiffany

Monday, October 17, 2011

Live Shows

I finally took a couple days this weekend to relax a little bit. Its refreshing to take some time to rest and spend time with people you love! But today is Monday and its back to work! This weekend I went out to downtown Seattle, like always the people there keep you throughly entertained! It is sad to see how long gone some people are who live on the streets. I have lived in the Seattle area my whole life and traveled to various cities around the world, and Seattle seems to have the most homeless and mentally unstable people that I have come in contact with. It would be great to know how to make a difference in their lives, but it is hard to know what can be done. I have spent quite a bit of time in the city these last couple weeks because I am looking for good music venues to have shows at. I have made the mistake in the past of booking a show with a venue I didn't know much about, and regretted it. SO now Im doing my research, especially with local shows!

Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be many venues for my style of music. Seattle has a great Rock/Indie music scene, but pop is lacking here. Im hoping I can start touring to the LA area soon, but in the meantime I'm doing shows around the city of rock :]

My next show is going to be at the SeaMonster Lounge in the Fremont district of Seattle this coming Saturday Oct 22nd at 8:30pm. Its a really small venue/lounge but it will still be a lot of fun. Maybe I can find a great following of people who like pop music here in Seattle so I don't feel out of the local music scene. Otherwise I'm leaving this state and headed to the sunshine state! Maybe.

Till next time,
Tiffany

Monday, October 10, 2011

Incompetence

I have recently come back in contact with a person that I had purposely removed from my life. This person will stay anonymous, but since blogging is my "diary" you get to here ALL about it. This is a person that I have worked with in the past, an incompetent, horrible person that has made every effort to change who I am professionally, and personally. At one point it felt like this person "held" my career in their hands and that was a very vulnerable and scary place to be.

They actually made me second guess myself to the point where I thought giving up and "quitting" my career would be better than having to spend another day working with them. By the grace of God I was able to get out of the situation and have grown immensely in the months following. I have moved on to a whole new team of people, I'm in a place of power and joy in my career, and in my personal life as well.

The "name" had become a distant memory and something that I no longer needed to think about, or worry about. Unfortunately, I found myself needing music from this person that they had after over a year..STILL NOT GIVEN ME. Its amazing how all those negative emotions and feelings that I had left could come rising back after a 3 minute conversation with this person.

I had to spend some time reiterating the fact that this person NO LONGER had control over me, my career, my life, or my success, and NEVER had. Listening to them "brag" about their successes, and putting themselves as high as they possibly could to cover who they really were, made me want to punch this person in the neck ;) but also caused me to feel sorry for this person.

I have been blessed and have grown up to realize that the most important thing, especially in a working relationship, is to treat people good. To follow through with your promises, and to go above and beyond to make a change in someones life. I pray that this person will realize the value of life, and be able to move forward from who they've been. I know it seems funny that through that whole rant this is where I end up, but its TRUE. I believe that person was put in my life for a reason, sometimes that reason is as dark as the ocean at night, but sometimes I feel a peace knowing that I could not have grown to where I am now, without that situation to make me stronger. I handle situations powerfully, and  know now that NOONE can change who I am, and my success is NOT measured by the level that I stoop, or by any other human being.

Being who I am, and who YOU are is the most important thing.

-Tiffany

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

A rainy day

Today was pouring rain, and most would hate it, but not me! I have always loved the rain, the harder it rains the better. I've been doing this exercise tape (I know embarrassing, haha) called 10 minute abs and its kicking my butt! So as I write this I am stretched out on the couch trying to relieve my muscles of the pain!

One thing I have been really needing to do is do another photo shoot. My pictures are getting boring! I went and got my makeup done from my favorite place My Flawless Tan and Makeup this morning and then head off to my photo shoot. It was a really basic photo shoot but there were some great shots! Cant wait to share them, and see the final product.

I also just released my new music video Beauty of a Dream yesterday! So far there has been a lot of great feedback. It was a really fun shoot. That song is actually one of my older songs, but it seems to be a favorite even still. The song is very personal to me. Its a song about realizing that you can accomplish anything. That sometimes it doesn't seem like your getting closer to your dreams, or to a goal but thats part of the beauty, it surprises you with different paths than you make out for yourself.  In the beginning its noticing that what you desire and dream about is "bigger than you" but even still you can conquer it and accomplish whatever that is in your life. Towards the end, its about realizing its not that much bigger than you, when you dive in and put your all in to your dream. Its a really relevant song in my life, and was a topic I feel passionate about. I am clearly a dreamer and believe in the impossible and I wanted to let people see the reality of that in their lives.

Anyways I'm starting to ramble, theres just so much to talk about! Im out for now, and will be back to blog my journey soon, ciao!!

-Tiffany

Monday, October 3, 2011

Starting Out

Ive always found that my diary and release is writing music, but I'm going to try another way of documenting my journey in my music and in my life, through blogging! I have always wanted to keep track of everything that happens to remember, grow, and share my story. 

I have found myself  frustrated lately, being an independent artist I operate all of the business aspects of being a recording artist, and by the end of the business day sometimes I don't even have the energy to write and do the creative side! My favorite days/nights are the ones where I'm able to just lay in my "music cave" and write everything I feel. My "music cave" is my spare bedroom that I have turned into a music room, with instruments, recording equipment, and the dim lighting to inspire me. Thats where most of the action happens! There have been so many opportunities, and amazing doors opened in my career over these past few months, and everything from here on out will be documented via this blog :)