Meet Connie Cheng | Artist, Musician, Designer

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

Hi Connie, do you have some perspective or insight you can share with us on the question of when someone should give up versus when they should keep going?

This question comes up often and I have attacked it from many angles. Ex: who do I want to be? How important is this to me? Is continuing going to teach me more than another pursuit? What do I gain if I “win”? What do I really want out of this?

Ultimately I want to make sure of a few things:
1) I do not want to fall into stupid traps.
2) I do not want to let myself down.
3) I do not want to waste my time.
4) I want to be on the path of getting what I truly want.

Some example of stupid traps = looking to impress people who do not care about me, and who I do not care about, doing things because I need to compensate for something I am insecure about
**caveat: if there is an insecurity I need to address, it is worth pursuing, but the task must be facing it directly, and not a tangential task that is more of a skin colored bandaid versus a true antidote. Ex: exercising versus trying to make more money to buy exercise classes **

Letting myself down = not doing the best I could for something I cared about. Not paying attention to something that was important for my goal. I think it all boils down to knowing I could have realistically done better and failing to do so.
**nuance: of course there are limitations, and the fine line for me has always been understanding when there was more I could have done, and when there was nothing I could do. **

Wasting my time = quite similar to letting myself down – spending a lot of time doing things with an end goal that is not true to what I want or need. And sometimes I do this because I fell into some stupid trap, which is usually generated by my core fears.

I want to be on the right path = identifying my 3 core values, what those look like in reality (who, what, where) and what I need to get there. This is easier said than done, and I believe it takes a lot of thinking and organizing, but the goal is to be integrity with what I truly want and need.

To conclude, I think knowing when to keep going and when give up can be difficult question, whether we’re talking about work, personal or social matters. The answers aren’t always obvious. The variables are not always clear. And making the wrong decision is part of the learning experience. I can only hope that I make better decisions as I mature in life.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I think what sets me apart is my smorgasbord of interests and my inability to get away from them. I have really tried to focus on just music, or just painting, or just designing, and I really can’t- for many reasons. I am continually excited everything I do and I’m proud of the pu-pu platter of skills I’ve accumulated. I double down where I can.

Today I’m somehow a creative professional and it feels awkward for me to say that because everyday there are instances where I don’t know what I’m doing. I think any creative has a laundry list of things that were hard for them, and a long list of things they learned.

My personal hero’s journey in the arts has been about coming into my own. Knowing what I wanted, what I liked, what I was naturally inclined towards and owning it. This actually took a lot of personal work. That was harder than the technical work. In other words, it’s harder to get to the gym than it is to do the exercise when you are there. Staring at a painting that is in trouble, or sitting at the keyboard before a song brings up a lot of challenges. First, my personal fears are laid out before me, and it is hard to go through those weeds because I don’t know if I’ll make it on the other side successfully. Then, all my anxieties and the thing that person said that bothered me start swimming. There is so much resistance. Overcoming that resistance was really the name of the game I think. It required me to remove a lot of the muck that was holding me down.

Creative life is confusing. You’re constantly evaluating what’s right and wrong for you. This is also an industry where people have a lot of opinions. Or even worse- NO opinion. It’s a very choose-your-own-adventure game. What you put in is often what you get.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Since I currently reside in Orange County, many of the spots would be there. There are tons of great restaurants of all cuisines and bars with delicious cocktails. I would definitely find out where some jazz friends are playing in town (OC or LA) and take the visitor to see some local music. Lots of great musicians playing on any given night, and it’s so much fun to go to a little wine bar and engage in live music or get some good pasta and watch a show. Maybe during the day we can hit the beach towns and by the way, all the best beaches are in Orange County. Laguna Beach is fun for all its galleries and little alleyways. Tons of night life and music there too.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
There are a lot of people who have given me love, support, and mentorship over the years. One person I’ve never mentioned publicly (because he’s so private) is my manager of 7 years, Jeff. I started working for him in my early twenties, in a constant state of stress and confusion with low confidence. I’m not sure he knows what a big impact he had on my life, but he really guided me along in work and in life. His friendship helped me develop a stronger sense of self, and he’s counseled me on many professional matters in my adult life. He’s only ever encouraged me to do what was best for me, and has taught me a lot about working smarter not harder.

Another great person I have a lot of love for is Elena Gilliam- a fantastic jazz vocalist here in the LA area. She was one of the first people to make me feel like I could sing. I was always told that I was untalented and singing was just a silly dream for me, so for someone like her to take me seriously, mentor me, and give me some experience performing was and is very special to me.

One more is Brian Clemens, a pianist also in this area. He is one of my closest friends and has listened to perhaps my every grievance and piece of neurosis since I began my musical journey, and I greatly appreciate him for it!

Website: fondnessknocks.com

Instagram: @fondnessknocks

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/conniecheng1102/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC84VNe-36wrNA5-huBl1opA