120: Alaura Lovelight: R&B artist and Feminist Trailblazer

<span style="font-weight: 400;">This week I’m excited to welcome Alaura Lovelight, an American R&B singer, writer, and producer, who joins me to discuss her experience in the music industry.  We open the conversation by talking about the treatment of women in the music industry, a career space that scrutinizes women’s bodies more so than their music, and Alaura urges women to stop compromising their values for the sake of views or popularity.  She looks up to the likes of Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, Lana Del Ray, and Beyonce as role models that she tries to emulate.  </span> <span style="font-weight: 400;">Alaura goes on to discuss how it was only after a life changing throat surgery that she really started to contemplate her love for music, noting that she didn’t know herself beyond music, and that led her into a deep depression.  When I ask her about advice she’d give out to people in her position, she notes that she wishes she had a female mentor, that she’s learning to let go of more control when it comes to her music, and that she actually feels reborn since she changed her name. To close out this episode, we talk about her experience coaching young girls, where she feels connected to her younger self in each of the girls, and she’s grateful to be able to pass on her advice.  </span> <p><strong><br /> The Finer Details of This Episode: </strong></p> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Alaura’s early music development</span><span style= "font-weight: 400;"><br /></span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Her mother’s creative and musical influence</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /></span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">How women are treated differently in the music industry</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /></span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Trailblazers in the music industry that inspire her</sp