Life & Work with Sarah Aili

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarah Aili. 

Hi Sarah, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
When I think about where I am today as an artist, singer, songwriter, actor, and small business owner in Nashville TN; family and who I spent my earliest years with are really at the center of where I began. My childhood in Northern California was filled with art projects every weekend with my artist Mom and with my entrepreneur Dad, who owned a promotional advertising business, learning the shrewd business skills that made being a free agent with a purpose possible. Both are unapologetically creative, free-spirited, deeply loving, and incredibly supportive, which really set the stage for the woman I’ve become and how I continue to unfold. 

It was the stage in fact, through their encouragement, that I quickly discovered I was drawn to more than anything. Under the close and adoring eye of my paternal Grandmother, who was a singer herself and taught me the beginnings of vocal technique and that thirst for the stage, I participated in school plays, local dance & voice lessons which over time became regional theater productions and more serious vocal training. 

Well into my early years of adulting, California continued to be home to my journey into the Music & Theatre worlds, cutting my teeth on dozens of stages, learning my style in the recording studio, and song by song like the rungs of a ladder made my way as an actor, singer, and dancer in the Bay Area. During that time, and in all honesty ever since I’d come home after shows or rehearsals and dive into a project of one art/design form or another with all of the access energy that comes from the highs of the adrenalin rush that a live performance provides. 

In those kinetic early years, and through the example of my maternal Grandmother in being a businesswoman who was able to balance her professional and family life with grace, I became highly aware that mindfulness, conscious community, and intentional living were vital to my being. I do my best to live by this truth while creating and gravitating toward this in my every day and in the projects I jump into, even as I’ve branched out from stage and music work into writing, designing, and owning my own business. 

It was this solid core of support and the work I had put in up to that point that allowed me to make the jump to New York City and then Brooklyn, where I enthusiastically joined the “hustle”. I pounded the pavement and over time learned a heap about discernment, freedom, passion, choice, control, and to deeply value the person I was becoming. At first, I spent day after day auditioning for Broadway & Off-Broadway shows like it was my job. I took classes, I performed in black box theaters, famous music clubs, living rooms; I wrote shows, I wrote songs, I met people, I observed, I participated, I strolled the streets reading about other artists who had done the same. Anything I could do to saturate myself in the art of the city, I went for it at times at a breakneck pace. As all artist’s eventually do, soon enough I could feel my balance beginning to falter, and right around that time, I was introduced to 5Rhythms, a Movement Meditation Practice created by Gabrielle Roth, and fell in love with it so much so that I offer classes here in Nashville today. This span of time in The City was incredibly informative, also challenging, and at times inhospitable, leaving me feeling like I was wearing a pair of shoes that continued to shrink. 

Enter: Nashville, TN. I remember walking through the Nashville Airport for the first time, before I knew I was about to move there, and being in awe of the music that suddenly surrounded me like nothing could be more natural. There was someone on a stool with a microphone and a guitar singing a song at every bar, cafe, and gate waiting area. Every sign on the airport walkways was about music. It was everything I was missing from my beloved NYC that had been everything I wanted until it wasn’t. These two cities where creativity reigns supreme – count me in! Needless to say, with Nashville’s native landscape shaped with music and collective dreams, I fell in love. I found a cozy home in East Nashville and stayed. 

That was in 2013 and ever since, I’ve been writing and recording songs, singing in studios for myself and other people, playing shows, supporting other musicians, touring, and lavishing in the deep ties of being a part of the rich music community in Nashville. And though I thought I’d left theater behind in New York, in embracing the joy of being a part of this community it has lead to it budding once again very organically in my life. In addition to recording two solo & full band records here, releasing a duo project called “Aya & Leo”, I performed at The Nashville Repertory Theater in AVENUE Q. Not long after, I landed an original role in the world premier production of KNOXVILLE, a new Ahrens & Flaherty acoustic musical at Asolo Repertory Theater, in addition, found myself co-writing two different theater/music projects with well-known Nashville songwriters. In finding the balance here in my “hustle”, all the things I have worked so hard for began to truly blossom. 

Then came the Pandemic came which put the ultimate pause on performances and quieted the city – all of them. At first, like everyone else I lemented everything I was losing, only to find in this quiet corner, a huge amount of creative momentum for my design business. Funny to think that staying in one place for longer than you normally would actually offers more inspiration than you could ever imagine, and I’m so very grateful to have been given the space for it.  I ended up designing my home studio I had always envisioned. My second bedroom became an elaborately organized modular space where I was able to focus a range of design work, teach classes out of, and cement the foundation for what has now become Sarah Aili Designs. 

It has been these last two years of stillness that has continued to keep my well of creativity filling, and Sarah Aili Designs has expanded from Instagram sales to in-store availability in multiple boutiques in and around the Nashville Area. The shop at Sarah Aili Designs focuses on Home Decor and Wearable Art made from all up-cycled materials. Items include Infinity Scarves, Hand-Warmers, Earrings, Necklaces, Dreamscapes, Pillows, and Throws – for now. As the spirit moves me to make other items, I do! Exciting news: we are about to re-brand, so stay posted for more details on that! 

The truth is: I get to do what I love, and I truly love what I do! My husband, who is an artist and songwriter as well, and I still adore some good ol’ pickin’. Though on the guitar is great fun, but what I’m talking about is at Antique Malls and Vintage Shops of any kind. When we are on the road together, we play the shows we’ve booked and pick through scraps of history in between. He searches for vinyl records and I search for pieces to re-purpose and weave into our home and my design work. Keeping myself creative and curious for the joy of it, versus just for productivity, keeps me finding new projects time and time again. 

Here’s the thing I know for sure: an artist is an artist. The creative process does not stop and definitely cannot be neatly placed in a box called X for anyone else’s clarity and comfort. As an artist, I’m always creating something, I literally can’t help it. Whether it’s making and performing music or plays, designing a custom cashmere throw for a client, decorating our home, cooking a meal, singing with friends, or even setting up my yearly tax record and receipt collecting binder – it can all be art! My life, by design! 

Right now, as a visual artist, my focus has landed on collecting discarded threads from countless walks of life that come in the form of sweaters and up-cycling them into something new. When someone purchases one of my infinity scarves or throws or set of hand-warmers, it’s because it speaks to them somehow and expresses who they have become, or it just makes them smile. Perhaps it’s with a piece of material they have provided from a loved one that allows them to transform a past story into a new one. It’s really no different than writing a song. I’m creating a new story with these threads, and I couldn’t be more excited to see where this all spins me next. 

With two new original singles set to release this year, more Sarah Aili Design orders than I can produce in a week, I’m thrilled to be headed back to Asolo Repertory Theater this Spring to pick up where we left off in the world premier performance of KNOXVILLE, written by Ahrens and Flaherty, directed by Frank Galati and Choreographed by Josh Rhodes. I get to be dance captain to boot! 

So here I am today, right in the center of all that I’ve studied, participated in, and envisioned. Music, Theater, Dance, Design, Business, Love, Family, and a whole lot of Gratitude. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. 

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I’m not sure how to respond to this prompt but to say that like everything, the road traveled, less or more, has a fair amount of both smooth and bumpy sections. Without that bit of imperfection, I’m not sure what art would mean, or life for that matter. If everything were smooth all the time, perhaps we’d fall asleep, like a baby does in a car on a drive. But hit the breaks too hard or run over that jagged stone in the middle of the road and the baby wakes up full of vocal expression letting you and everyone else in earshot know that something has gone terribly wrong. Both are valuable, ever-present, and an undeniably integral part of the journey. SO yes, it’s been smooth and yes there have been struggles. 

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I talk a lot about this in the first portion of this interview but to re-cap and expand on that a little bit more: I’m an artist, a singer, a songwriter, a writer, an actor, a dancer, designer, and small business owner in Nashville, TN originally from California and by way of New York City & Brooklyn. 

If I had to rearrange the above mentioned into an ordered list, I’d say I’m a singer first, actor second, artist third, designer, writer then dancer. Right now, in design, I’m about to launch a new brand where we focus on creating space from an authentic place. There are workshops, one-on-one coaching opportunities, one room to entire event design consulting as well as a shop that offers Home Decor and Wearable Art made from all up-cycled materials. “Threads that tell a story.” 

What I’m most proud of and the thing that sets me apart from others is my love for and capability to blend the art forms in a tangible, accessible, and successful way. I have a momentous design business that continues to grow and expand, I’m writing two shows, I have music out there that I’ve written and recorded that people all over the world listen to, I am about to release two new singles this year, and be part of the original cast for a new Broadway musical. Not to mention dancing whenever I get the chance and loving on my super wonderful community of friends and family. Life is good! 

Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
Just-keep-going! Honestly. That’s it. 

Do not focus on perfection or try to prove yourself to anyone. Rather, find what YOU love, most likely through trial and error (which I like to call solid wins), and then do that thing. And then do that some more. Once you find that groove, that space in the center of your pocket of truth, more and more opportunities will appear for you to say YES and do what you love in ways that you have never imagined before. It’s not magic. It’s momentum. YOU have to be the one who generates it. And since that’s true – why not let it be AUTHENTIC. 

Only YOU know what YOUR passion and purpose is. When it’s right, you’ll feel it – it’s undeniable. So let yourself have some stillness, some chaos, some flow, some time to find it. Let it be and it will let you be. Dare to dream – first! DREAM-FIRST! And from there, then create! Then you’ll have it. Do that over and over and over and over again. BE-DO-HAVE -> in that order only. 

Contact Info:

• Email: sarahailimusic@gmail.com
• Website: www.sarahaili.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarahailiofficial/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/SarahAili
• SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/sarahailimusic
• Other: https://youtu.be/8BKoHPpit5Y

Image Credits
Lucky 55 Productions
Sarah Aili