When music transforms lives, the melody lingers on long after the song ends. This episode is a testament to that, as we sit down with the incredibly talented Ana Maria, artistically known as 1301. She deftly weaves her Colombian heritage and the rich influence of her salsa-singing mother into a narrative that beats with passion and purpose. Together, we traverse her mission to amplify the voices of the youth through the power of songwriting, and the poignant tale of her young protégé, 'V', whose journey through music becomes a beacon of hope and self-expression.
Embarking on a quest for identity can be as daunting as it is exhilarating; Ana Maria is no stranger to this path. She takes us through the winding roads of her artistic exploration, touching on the echoes of self-doubt and the shadow of a family legacy. The breakthrough comes in sharing her soulful songs with her mother, marking a momentous step towards claiming her voice. The name 1301 isn't just a moniker; it's a symbol of rebirth and a declaration of an artist staking her claim in the world with authenticity and poise.
The digital stage is vast and unforgiving, yet Ana Maria's resilience shines like a guiding light for artists navigating its choppy waters. She opens up about the trials women face in the industry and the raw honesty that one-take recording sessions bring to her music. The support of a virtual tribe becomes a fortress against the trolls that lurk online, reinforcing the importance of community and gratitude. As she invites you to join her on TikTok and Instagram, it's not just a call to follow—it's an offer of kinship, a shared journey through the power of music and the belief that we can all play a part in crafting a more harmonious world.
When music transforms lives, the melody lingers on long after the song ends. This episode is a testament to that, as we sit down with the incredibly talented Ana Maria, artistically known as 1301. She deftly weaves her Colombian heritage and the rich influence of her salsa-singing mother into a narrative that beats with passion and purpose. Together, we traverse her mission to amplify the voices of the youth through the power of songwriting, and the poignant tale of her young protégé, 'V', whose journey through music becomes a beacon of hope and self-expression.
Embarking on a quest for identity can be as daunting as it is exhilarating; Ana Maria is no stranger to this path. She takes us through the winding roads of her artistic exploration, touching on the echoes of self-doubt and the shadow of a family legacy. The breakthrough comes in sharing her soulful songs with her mother, marking a momentous step towards claiming her voice. The name 1301 isn't just a moniker; it's a symbol of rebirth and a declaration of an artist staking her claim in the world with authenticity and poise.
The digital stage is vast and unforgiving, yet Ana Maria's resilience shines like a guiding light for artists navigating its choppy waters. She opens up about the trials women face in the industry and the raw honesty that one-take recording sessions bring to her music. The support of a virtual tribe becomes a fortress against the trolls that lurk online, reinforcing the importance of community and gratitude. As she invites you to join her on TikTok and Instagram, it's not just a call to follow—it's an offer of kinship, a shared journey through the power of music and the belief that we can all play a part in crafting a more harmonious world.
Speaker 1:
My name is Ana Maria. I also go by 1301. That's my artist name. My business is technically my music, but I also started off by teaching a lot of younger people how to song write, how to actually embrace their feelings, how to embrace their emotions, and that's kind of how it branched into me making my own music. I started off by just doing it while I was managing some other kids I mean, I used to manage young adults and so they expressed their interest in music. I said mine as well. It kind of blossomed from there. It's really weird, but, you know, like Pachina, really interesting, pretty good.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, that's amazing. How did you get started with music? Is that something you've always dealt into as a child?
Speaker 1:
Oh yeah, so my mom used to be. She used to be a salsa singer back in Colombia, so she started all the way from there. So ever since we were young, I've always done like little things on the side. But what I realized is that I never had my own voice until now. So recently, when I started helping other people understand music, helping other people understand what they're supposed to do, how to put their own emotions into their music that's what I realized I was like you know, I'm proud of none of this myself, so mine as well, taken into my own hands. I've done demos for people. I used to do gospel demos. I used to do a lot of other music. I used to just do things for other people and I thought that's time for me.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, absolutely. I love that. And how did you get into helping children? I know you helped some of them that are in rehab. Is that correct? How do you feel that music helps them?
Speaker 1:
kind of heal, yeah. So in this day and age it's really important to understand that everybody's changing. Before it used to be just kind of stick your head into work. If it works, it works out and you could do music on the side. Now people are trying to do music more as a full time. They're trying to harness that, do whatever they can. It's not necessarily to go viral, but you see a lot of more people like bring up their music. There's a lot more songwriters. There's a lot more people who are just like I'm just going to pick up an instrument and it finally works. So that's kind of what I started off with.
Speaker 1:
It started off with one of my lovely employees. I'm going to call her V for this one to keep her nice and confidential, but it started off with V. She was a person who I looked up to so much because she had a really rough childhood, had a lot of problems. Her story mimicked a lot of what happened with mine, especially at home, and she would always look at me. She'd be like you're always singing, you're always doing this, you're always like, whatever she goes. I really love this artist, I love your voice, I love this, I love everything about music, but I can't do it. It's like why can't you? And she's just like I don't think I have the words. It's like you have the words. So we used to sit every time that we'd have a shift together and it was a little short shifts because she was only like 17 at the time. So she, the little short shifts that we had together after school, she'd bring me her journal of what she was thinking She'd be like I don't know.
Speaker 1:
And I feel like this Lana Delverie song is really, really great. I love Lana, she's being beautiful. I love Lana, but she's like I love this Lana Delverie song, but I there's something missing. And I was like okay, let's try it this way. And this is the method I use with a lot of people Find an artist that you like, you don't have to copy them. That's the biggest problem Cause once.
Speaker 1:
But I started by copying. So copy them, take a little bit of their song, change a few words to make it more like you. And then I was like okay, come back next week. She's just like okay, I have this. I made this. I think it sounds a lot better. Why didn't you listen? I used to listen to her. Whatever. We changed the whole song by the end of the month. She's like okay. And she's like I have this tune stuck in my head and I was like good, hum it to me, let's go, let's make it crazy Between customers between everything. It was, you know, winter, we didn't have that much time because of snow and everything, so it was like hum it to me. So we started writing and everything she goes, I think I had it.
Speaker 1:
So she started writing, writing, writing, and then she tried to make an attempt and she ended up in a facility. So she ended up for her mental health. I got a call from her parents. Everybody was just like, hey, listen, she's not okay, can you reach out to her? So I was texting, texting, texting. I didn't realize the severity of it at the moment, but what happened was, you know, and I'm tapped, got pretty serious. But when she got out, I literally would text her every day. I was like, hey, listen, I know it's weird, but between her and I would like to say this her parents knew me, so I also had her parents number as well, but I was talking with her. I was like I hope you're okay here. These are some things that I think about. You know this is what helps me through. You know, let's try to make something out of it.
Speaker 1:
She got out, she goes. I started reading through your messages and some people used to send me things like you know, really nasty stuff, because they knew I couldn't respond. They used to send me things of like I guess you're, you know, doing fine, they're like leaving me behind because they didn't fully understand. And when she got out, she's right better. She invited me over to her home. I talked with her parents and they're like hey, listen, if you could just work with her a little bit more, I said, perfect, let's do this. I worked out with. I was like let's do a whole change. So I cut her hair, everything we had like a full.
Speaker 1:
When I talk about like a girl moment where it's like in the movie montages, where it's like you don't know what you're doing, yes, you're doing clown makeup, you know, because you want to shower it off, but literally it's just we're doing clown makeup because why not? And we're just sitting there and we just looked like two goofballs and she left and she was so much happier. And her parents call me. They're like thank you, you can't, you can't get her to come out of her room. She wasn't okay.
Speaker 1:
She used to FaceTime me too and there's lots of things I cannot tell you how much I love her, so much. She is so special to me and I can talk for eons and ages. But she texted me like a month after that and this was a few years ago. She texted me a month after that and she said I got to feel my friends to me started garage. I can say she's like we're starting a garage band, I can't wait. And she's like we haven't released anything yet, but it's fun to kind of just sit in the garage for just an hour a day after school and just mess around with instruments. And I was like it's freeing, isn't it?
Speaker 1:
She goes yeah, I've written so many things I don't think I can actually produce them and I was like but that's okay, you just record them into your phone sometimes and you'll see what happens. Just save them. They're just for you. You've got to start making music. And this is what everybody tells me Make music for you. It doesn't matter what people want to hear, because if you make stuff for other people, then you're just going to get lost and the big part of music is keeping yourself in there. You want to hear yourself Lana Del Rey. You can hear her voice, you pick it out and you're like that's one Right there, that's one.
Speaker 1:
I want nothing more than her. All her music sounds like her, and so that's when I said listen, if you want music, yeah sure you might enjoy an artist a lot, but don't forget you. And she goes. I haven't I found who I am. She's making a lot of changes. She went through like a really bad heartbreak and she's like I don't know what to do. Let's go. Let's go, this is just content. Let's go Like it's just, it's just making it from the beggin, like we're just filming everything, everything's gonna go, and then I don't know that.
Speaker 2:
That's a powerful story, from going like somewhere super dark to having the confidence to Start a band to share that music, being a garage band, like holy moly, like that. I honestly feel like you really were like a saving grace just coming in and you know everybody would want to, that you know in their life and like, do some clown makeup sometimes why?
Speaker 1:
not right why not? Sometimes you need to just Rake a color across your face. Yes, sometimes you just need somebody to look at you and be like needs more green, something you want to look a little full, juggle it, let's go.
Speaker 2:
Yes, love it Absolutely. And now tell me a little bit about your story. Like growing up as a kid, everything is how you got to this point.
Speaker 1:
Okay. So as a kid, I was surrounded by musicians, so surrounded by music, surrounded by everything, but I Never really felt I had a voice, since everything was always back of singing stuff like that. I was ashamed of my voice for a while because I guess I couldn't find who I wanted to sound like. And only recently I'll tell you this happened in 2022, in December of when I actually started bringing my music forward. But I had gone through a lot of people saying, oh, you sound so beautiful, you'd make really good music, you should do this. Oh, my goodness, I want you to sing whatever, whatever. But I always felt like it's, it's, it's missing something. Yeah, and for me, like I don't want to throw myself into something when something feels empty, because it's not worth it, because then that passion that you have just loses itself. Because, yeah, you could have a hobby for a minute. And then you know you're really, really excited, really great, you buy all the stuff and then you make one thing. You're like, ah, now what? So you're stuck with all these. You know all the little air-dry clay and 12 mini figurines. You're like, all right, he's just gonna get in the trash. So Well, I wanted to be a stand-up comedian I wanted to be. I used to do shows around here too. I Wanted to be a stand-up comedian. I wanted to be a model. I delved into a lot of things. I wanted to be somebody.
Speaker 1:
But then I realized, you know, and my mom, she always pushed, she's just like listen, you do it because I know you're gonna do great. She was here, she came to DC, she's been doing. You know, she used to do shows. She used to drive me along to the shows too, because I got to see, like, how production works. I got to see how she was like warm-ups, costume, makeup, everything. It's great, it's to be surrounded by it and at some point, like you, start realizing, okay, is this what I want to do?
Speaker 1:
So I fell in love with all the theater and the makeup and the acting and the Whatever's and I thought it was gonna be an actress. I thought it was gonna be, you know, a stand-up comic. I thought I was gonna be somebody who was just on screen and that was it. You just knew me as who I was and then Got into a really long relationship. It didn't work out, but through that I realized I found my voice. I Realized, you know, this is what I sound like. I started singing to myself and I was like, okay, you sound a little different, usually do it you okay. Like I used to have to like tap on the mirror and be like you okay. But I actually hid myself from that moment. So I produced, I had a song produced.
Speaker 2:
Why did you hide?
Speaker 1:
from your mom, cause you know, when you grow up with somebody who's so influential, she was in a big band called Aceh in Colombia, so she was in a huge band. I've known producers my whole life. I've known people who are just up there, who've made it from nothing, and those are the people that I was surrounded with. So, me being kind of like piggybacking off of that, I was like, ah, I gotta prove it to her. I gotta prove it to her, cause like, yeah sure, if I said I want to sing, she'd be like, great, let's go Everything, what do you want? Just, I'll get you everybody. And I was like I don't want that. I want to start it because I want to, I want to struggle through it, but also because that way it's me and I get to make the stuff I want to hear. I used to and I hid the songs because they were a little angsty, but I hid them and I remember it was like not until a year after where I said, hey, I actually started making music and I showed her and we both cried in the kitchen and it was something she goes, I tried. And I was like I wish she'd say I didn't know what you think Cause, like you know, you tell your mom a story and she picks a particular song. You said you want to which friend and doing what? And you said I called you. You said you were in a house. Oh my goodness, and I'm sitting there and I'm like I, I just want to make music. But yeah, that's great. I haven't stopped since.
Speaker 1:
And just being able to help people help other people just find something else, and me having to hide it, I think is what makes it so personable, because I understand the fact that sometimes you want to keep things behind a closed door. I don't go by my new name. I don't go by my name on my platforms, cause if you search on a Maria, there's a billion and one. But I wanted to start off with a name that was new, that was fresh. I saw it on the back of a license plate and I said I'm not gonna slash through it. So it's a one, three, one, three oh one. So without the slash, everything like that, but one, three oh one, because you put a dash through it. It's a new month, a new day, it's a new start.
Speaker 2:
So yeah, I love that. Now I know you wanted to change your name. Tell me a little bit about marketing, Like what are some tips you could get to some of our listeners who are trying to make marketing happen for their business or for themselves? What would that market into If?
Speaker 1:
you're in music. Don't tell them you're a woman. Okay, but, really what happens is I found a lot of struggle going by, like, if I say my name and it's really interesting, I've gotten to meet a lot of really great people, but like the moment I pull up that I'm like a person of color, the one I pull up that I'm Latina, I'm Indian, like they're just like uh-huh, oh wait, you're both. I am both.
Speaker 2:
So you said like, oh yeah, and then I was like Anna Singh. Oh, that's different, but yeah, that's my mix.
Speaker 1:
That's my background and so I've also been influenced by a lot of things. I used to Bollywood, dance and everything. So it's like I've got that past, I've got this future and it's amazing because I'm just bringing everything into one place. Oh, the culture, oh yeah. But the biggest thing is that I've realized the struggle of just being a woman in the industry. I've had so many people. They'll get on Zoom calls with me and it'll be Zoom call whatever. And I had a guy go.
Speaker 1:
So do you know what it means to play music live? So I'm like, okay, I'm going to go and I'm like I record all my songs in one take and he'll go. But do you know what that means? I'm not even reading it. I record all my songs in one take. He goes your producer could mesh things together. It sounds all good in the end, but who do you want to sound like? I have my own. Did you not listen to the stuff I gave you? I was like everything's done in one take, everything's done at like a 3 am that you wake up from a dream and you're like I need to make this that kind of thing, that surge of adrenaline. That's everything's made by. He's just like I sat there and I was like you don't. Oh my goodness, that's rough, it's horrible. We face it every day, kind of.
Speaker 2:
Even in the photography world it's so used to being a man behind the camera and it's very male dominated especially, like all that. But this is a woman business, so we're trying to break those little barriers. But no, I love that. And for marketing, do you do any videos online?
Speaker 1:
I do so. I make TikTok videos.
Speaker 2:
That's where I started getting interest for something that got 5,000 followers, so as of right now, still a very small but still very good Halfway to 10, halfway.
Speaker 1:
But I started doing that, I started going live. That's usually what I do because it gets the chance for people to get to know me. I realize the problem that I have is that I don't like recording so many things because it feels artificial to me and for me. I love getting these interactions the real thing, like we get to talk, we get to laugh, we get to cry together Not the thing I cry, but but we get to have a good time. And it's the fact that you get to. I'm not losing a bit of myself, because I want people who get to meet me and with me going on trips and everything like that. People are going to see me and the same person who get on that screen is the same person that's going to say hi to you, the same person that I'm going to be. I may not make it famous, I may not make it big, but the best thing is that I'm me.
Speaker 2:
That's such good advice Because I know one thing people try to do is make a bit of a persona online and then when you meet them online this can go for business owners or anything and it's kind of like oh, you're not, like you are online. So it's important to be true to yourself, even when you are online and in person, so that it matches.
Speaker 1:
It helps with the burnout too, because if you're just you and the moment you wake up and you're like you should be tired, yeah, you can be this. Yeah, I mean hell. My followers have seen me cry Like ugly cry and it was like they've seen me ugly cry. They've seen me struggle. A lot of them helped me get my new apartment because I was just almost suffering but it was like I couldn't get out of like a place. And they've seen me when I'm happy.
Speaker 1:
They've seen me when I'm struggling, and it's not that I need anything from them, but it's the fact that they're here and they've shown me so much support in a way that I couldn't fathom from strangers on the internet essentially and it's always good because that's you know and I've gotten trolls before too. So I've gotten people trollin' me. I've gotten people nasty comments, horrible things, it's, it's horrible. How do you handle that? The best advice was to ignore it, but kind of, when it's somebody's continuously popping up, I've gotten doxxed before too. So I had to like find For listeners who don't know what doxing is.
Speaker 2:
What is that? Is that, when they like, find your information and like, we'll leak it out?
Speaker 1:
Yes. So doxing is when people find the information they might find like my full government name. I remember the person who did that. They put my full name, my address, and they had started putting my phone number and people on the chat kind of figured that this person was a troll and that they were trying to rile something out of me. They started calling me like you know, absolutely horrific slurs. They started saying that you know I was fat ugly, everything. I can deal with those comments. It's fine. I can deal with the fat ugly.
Speaker 1:
But the moment that you start putting like my parents' names out there, you started putting like their locations where they are. That's when I cut it and I had to. I was. It was the worst time. It's like the worst feeling I've ever had, but I only experienced it once because then I learned Not too long ago for you, but I learned how to understand it. I have moderators who they filter through my comments. They know what I like, they know what I don't like, they know who's been causing a ruckus and things like that. It's horrible.
Speaker 2:
That's insane. I'm sorry that you went through that.
Speaker 1:
Oh, it's okay. Honestly, it's the little steps to. If something keeps on getting you in your way, that's how I know it's going to be great, oh my goodness Noted.
Speaker 2:
You know what I'm saying. You can't.
Speaker 1:
No, it's not even the give-up. It's like, even when I have a horrible day, I believe energy all around us. We're connected to everything. The biggest thing is when you're having a really bad day. I always think somebody else needs a really good day. When I'm having a really good day, somebody else is having a really bad day, so you got to be really thankful for all your emotions just because, yeah, okay, this might be a really really bad day, I can't make it better. But what gives me joy is somebody else needed a good day. Somebody else needed to have that smile, something good happen to them. So that's what gets me through the day. That's scary.
Speaker 2:
That's a good tip. And now just to wrap things up here, if you could leave one message for our listeners, what would that message be? It can be in regards to music, life, family, anything in your heart.
Speaker 1:
Well, I'd love to say something about life, but I haven't even lived all that yet. That's something great. But a big thing for me is just be happy with who you are. It's hard, it's hard to get there. I'll tell you this it's hard to look in the mirror because at some points I can't look at myself in the mirror. But sometimes you just need to take a look at yourself, understand that. You know, everything's your reality. Your perception is your reality, and whatever you want to perceive yourself as you will make it happen. So if I keep on thinking to myself, you know I don't know if you watch anime Some my favorite, my favorite quote is you know from one piece, luffy, I'm going to be king of the pirates.
Speaker 1:
And that's my motivational speech, because it doesn't matter what you're doing. Your perception is your reality. I'm going to be king of the pirates. That's it. I'm going to be king of the pirates. There's no other way. I'm going to do everything I can to get there. I am going to be king of the pirates. That's the best thing. You look at yourself. It sounds crazy, because why? But it's not even putting your own dreams. It's not like I'm going to be the best photographer out there. I'm going to be the best. This because then you're setting yourself with that limit. So make it up. I'm going to be the unicorn princess of the absolute world. I'm going to be the king of the pirates. That's the best thing, and that's what I say to myself, and that's I. I repeat it. I scream it in my car sometimes and I shouted at the universe because it fills me with this. You know that determination, that second wing. You know everything. It might get smashed down, but yeah.
Speaker 2:
I love that. That's so good. I really admire your passion. It really feels good and I have like this little sparkle in your mouth.
Speaker 1:
I love it. That's something that I've never. That too, I mean, how it never lose that childlike wonder either. Because you know, you see a lot of people and they're just jury. They're like I wish I could have done this. I wish I could have done this in my past. I wish I could have done this.
Speaker 1:
Do it, have that wish in your eyes, do it. Just. It doesn't matter what people think of you, because your perception is your reality. If you think you're the funniest person in the room, don't let nobody tell you different. Okay, it doesn't matter, you're not gonna see them again. Unless you do, but you're not gonna see them again. You weren't mean yeah, it's those kind of things, right Again, you're just gonna do it. It's that gusto, it's a lust for life. It's that, the fact that we're gonna be here. We are here, we are making a difference, no matter who we are, and just I'm gonna bring it like it's. No matter women, men, anybody, it is us. We're on this earth right now. We're meant to change it. We're the new generation of everything. It doesn't matter what we're doing, because it's just gonna be the best, no matter what.
Speaker 2:
Thank you so much for being on the podcast. Thank you for sharing your wisdom, your story and just Last question here when can people find you and where can people get some help from you as well? Who's going through it and would like to seek out some help? Absolutely.
Speaker 1:
The best place to find me? Can I come to the camera? Yeah, best place to find me is usually gonna be TikTok this one too. I love cameras and everything, but best place to find me is usually gonna be TikTok or Instagram. I do respond to my Instagram DMs a little bit more because I can have a little bit more of a personal conversation, but if you ever find me on live, it's kind of where you can reach out. I love to help people. That's what I was put on this earth to do and you know, might as well spread a little bit more. You can find me at the official 1301 and that's on most of my platforms, and so from that,
