4. How I Became A Commissioned Songwriter

In this episode, Cinnamon Denise shares her inspiring journey of becoming a commissioned songwriter for Sigma Lambda Gamma National Sorority, Incorporated. 

She recounts the creation of the official national song for her sorority (Sigma Lambda Gamma National Sorority, Inc.), which she initially wrote in her car in 2016. 

Despite a non-linear path, the song gained significant traction among sorority members, ultimately leading to its use in official events. 

Cinnamon Denise highlights the importance of 

• negotiating fair compensation,
• expresses pride in her contribution to the organization, and
• encourages listeners to connect with her on social media and concludes the episode with a rendition of the sorority's national song.

Listen to "Sigma Lambda Gamma" on Spotify | Apple Music  

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Transcript

Hey, music executives. This is Cinnamon Denise. That's Cinnamon like the spice. Denise, like Denise. And today I wanna talk about my path to becoming a commissioned songwriter. Now, this song that you will hear at the end of this episode is the official national song of a large organization, an organization that I'm proud to be part of Sigma Lambda Gamma National Sorority Incorporated. Now the thing that happens is there is a path, and there's not always, it's not always straight is the thing. You think, I'm gonna write a song, I'm gonna sell it, and someone's gonna, you know, someone's gonna buy it, someone's gonna pick it up. And sometimes I.

That is the case, but that wasn't my story in this instance. I wrote this song in 2016 in my car, and I was feeling passionate in the moment and I was in my car sitting in Atlanta traffic, Hey, hey, hey, Atlanta traffic. And I said, I'm gonna go home and record this song immediately. And I knew it was something beautiful and I recorded it and shared it with my sisters, with my sorority sisters.

And when I tell you the song exploded, they loved it. They loved the song and it did have passion in it, and the things that I talked about it in the song were relevant to the time and they're still relevant today. Eventually time passed and every time our founder's day would come around on April 9th, the song would resurface and someone would say, can this be the national song?

Can this be the national song? Why don't we have an official song and someone, someone would tag me and say, this should be the official song. And we cycled through literally years of time. And so this was not an overnight thing. This was not a quick thing. This is fast forwarding five years later to the 30th anniversary of the founding of the organization, and I was asked to perform the song for the founder's day.

Of course I agreed to do so because I love my organization, I love my sisters, I love my line sisters. Shout out to my beautiful three line sisters. And of course, I agreed to sing the song, so I went on to the organization's national Instagram page, went on live. Sang the song, said a couple things, and truthfully, I was terrified because I never go on Instagram Live, which is just a whole nother episode, I'd say.

And afterwards I got a call from the executive director and she said, we want that song to be our national song. And I was one shook because I had never spoken to the executive director and I knew obviously who she was and I knew everything about her because of, you know, doing research and learning, but I was not expecting that, and that was a true gift.

That was one of the most beautiful things to hear from the executive director of an organization that has thousands of members and I'll tell you what. One of the things that I'm proud of that I did not do is say, okay, I said, these were my exact words, y'all. Yes, it can be the national song, but it's gonna cost you, it may cost you a lot, it may cost you a little, but it's definitely gonna cost you.

And she just laughed and she said, okay, well how much, you know? And um, we, we led and had more discussions about what the organization was looking for, what I wanted, and we negotiated what was fair, y'all, we negotiated what was fair for both parties. And at the end of the day, we were both happy and I'm so honored to be the songwriter of an organization that will go on for what I hope to be hundreds of years, and gain notoriety in a positive light for curating great events, curating great camaraderie within the organization, an open mindset, and all the things you would hope that a sorority and organization where you call the individuals your sisters to be y'all. That is the end of the episode. That's all I have. I wanted to come on here and just say that that was the process of that.

If anyone wants to listen to it, shout out to any sisters that are listening. I love my SLG and y'all can find me at Cinnamon Denise on Instagram, and that's my YouTube channel. My Facebook, I do respond to every single message, so feel free to reach out to me and here is the track. That is the Sigma Lambda Gamma National Sorority Incorporated national song with love, music, and yoga.

Peace. 

She walks with her head held high. She speaks with conviction and pride. She knows how it feels to cry. She’s every woman.

She stands out because she is distinct. She'll fight for her integrity.

She is you and she is me. She’s an SLG, an SLG 

April 9th, 1990.