Meet Cheryl Pawelski | Record Producer, Omnivore Recordings Co-Founder & Co-Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Cheryl Pawelski and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Cheryl, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
To me, taking chances and risks live on the same side of the coin as knowing your fundamentals, relying on your experiences and expertise, and drawing on skills and talents you’ve developed. The other side of that coin is being careless, thoughtless, impulsive or ignorant. If you’re careful, and consider all your options while knowing your stuff, risk is greatly reduced. That having been said, no one I know has a crystal ball, so you never quite know what tomorrow is going to bring. I think you just have to be confident that whatever tomorrow does have in store for you, you know you have the tools to deal with it. Considering risk has been important to my life and career, but has manifested itself mostly in the lack of the fear of failure or making mistakes. While making a mistake or taking a risk can be uncomfortable, you truly don’t learn anything or go anywhere without them. So knowledgeable risks, learning from mistakes and letting losing/failing be a motivator, those are big keys for me.

Please tell us more about your career. How did you get to where you are today professionally. What are the lessons you’ve learned along the way. What do you want the world to know about you or your brand and story?
As a record producer in the making, it was very difficult to find a path to my profession. As a woman, that pathway was non-existent. There was no representation to be found, pre-internet and pre-21st century, of women doing what I do, so I felt my way towards it. I had to become inured to being passed over for jobs or not heard in the jobs I was in, while maintaining the passion and emotional core attachment to the music that forms the basis for the job I actually do. Anyone that works in the entertainment fields knows quite well that they can’t take being laid off or ‘made redundant’ personally, but there’s also a public-facing part of the job that makes it especially painful when a perceived failure occurs. It’s not unique to the profession, but it’s no less real. Maintaining optimism is really what gets you through. Three things I’ve learned along the way that inform my work on a daily basis: 1) Always do what you say you’re going to do and 2) Look for every opportunity, especially in mistakes you make and own them 3) Finally, you gotta learn the rules before you can break them – don’t learn that one the hard way!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’d certainly head out to Malibu for a day, either go hiking or walk Zuma. Shop/hang at the Malibu Country Mart, hit Geoffrey’s for Sunset dinner, maybe stay overnight at the Malibu Beach Inn. Another day, I’d hike the San Gabriels early in the morning and get above the fog line. Grab dinner at Union on Union after maybe a day at the Huntington. I’d visit some friends in Santa Monica, lunch at the Lobster at the pier and grab some dinner at Élephante Beach House (Brussel Sprout salad is so great!) and definitely take in a show at McCabe’s. Speaking of shows, hopefully something cool would be happening at the Ace or Disney Hall downtown and if it’s summer the Greek or Hollywood Bowl are absolute musts. That would give us the opportunity to grab a glass of wine at Vinoteca maybe before dinner at Little Dom’s. Wouldn’t miss the old Hollywood moment to dine at Musso & Frank before heading over to the Troubadour. Finally, casing the record stores is a must, so Rockaway, Record Surplus, Atomic, Amoeba (when it re-opens) and Freakbeat all require a visit and large deposits of cash in exchange for audio delights. I hope it’s all still there in the post-virus world. There’s so much more too!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
First and foremost, my wife Audrey. She’s my unfair advantage. Certainly all of Omnivore who are at it day after day with me. They all crack me up and are as crazy and passionate about music as I am.

Website: http://omnivorerecordings.com
Instagram: @cherylpawelski
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cheryl-pawelski-4119976/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CherylPawelski
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cheryl.pawelski
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/OmnivoreRecordings
Other: Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheryl_Pawelski

Image Credits
Greg Allen, Nina Johnson, Cheryl Pawelski, Audrey Bilger