Meet Pooja Mistry

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

Hi Pooja, how has your background shaped the person you are today?
I was born and brought up in Surat India where at a young age, my parents played a key role in helping me discover my passion and skill for music. Even before I had realized my own affection for music, my parents identified my hidden talents and natural inclination towards music and helped to kick start this journey.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
At the age of ten, my parents asked if I was interested in learning music & singing and encouraged me to enroll in classes to learn classical vocals and instruments. I spent the next five years at the Gandharv Mahavidhyalay Bruhad Gujarat Sangeet Samiti learning classical vocals and my instrument of choice, the harmonium.

In 2015, I moved to the USA to pursue (and eventually complete) my M.S. in Civil Engineering from California State University (CSU), Fullerton. During my time at CSUF, I was asked to perform at the annual Indian Student Association (ISA) cultural show. Up until this moment, I only sang for fun or with friends during karaoke nights so naturally I was not accustomed to performing in front of large audiences and felt a little anxious. With the encouragement of friends and family, I decided to move forward and agreed to perform and would go on to perform at the annual event for the next three years; Two as a student and in 2017 as an alumni. These performances started to build my confidence and I began to garner attention of the local community putting me on the map as an artist, performer, singer and musician. In 2017, I came across a post on social media for an opportunity to showcase my talent at the International Indian Icon competition. What really caught my attention was the panel of judges and one judge in particular, Mr. Bappi Lahiri. I simply could not let an opportunity like this pass and was excited to take part in a competition judged by one of the icons of the Bollywood music Industry. I would go on to win 2nd place in the competition but more rewardingly, I got the opportunity to sing and perform with Bappi Lahiri. This really gave me the confidence to continue performing and continue to build relationships with other artists.

Some of the highlights of my career include but are not limited to:
– Perform on stage with Bappi Lahri.
– Perform at the Anaheim Convention Center for over five thousand people.
– Perform yearly Navratri/Garba events spanning 10 days for the past 6 years.
– Write and produce my own songs.

I have learned so many things throughout the years as an artist. It is never easy to perform and work with different artists/organizations and one thing you have to accept is that there will always be some challenges when you are new and not well known. It is so easy to feel defeated by an audience that just doesn’t seem to understand or appreciate what you are trying to do. Never lose confidence in your craft and do not be afraid of a little hard work. I would say the biggest piece of advice I would give to any aspiring artist would be to network with other artists and put an emphasis on building relationships with them. I have been incredibly fortunate to find local artists with similar goals and ambitions as myself and after six years working with them we have become like family.

I am excited to perform at venues that host large crowds and really enjoy performing when the sound set up is on point and the band is playing well. It is my dream to perform one day at So-Fi Stadium and Madison Square Garden. One day I would like to perform at the White House Diwali party dinner which the president organizes every year during Diwali. In addition I would like to sing in front of our Indian President Narendra Modi Ji.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Here are the places where I usually take people who visit me who’s visiting the LA Area for the first time. I am a food lover and I like to explore new places so here is my list.

IN DOWNTOWN LA

1. The Broad Museum
2. Grand Central Market
3. Last Book Store
4. Angels Flight
5. Crypto Arena as I would like to take people to a Laker game. It’s iconic and a once in a lifetime experience for many.
6. So-Fi Stadium
7. Grammy Museum L.A Live
8. Getty museum/ Getty villa
9. Warner’s Brother Studio VIP Tour
10. Huntington Gardens/Library/Museum
11. Santa Monica Pier and Griffith Observatory
12. The Hollywood Sign View

IN BEVERLY HILLS

1.Greystone Mansion – it’s one of my favorite quiet places. Famous filming location now public park, and an old mansion once owned by the Doheny Family. It’s super cool.
2.Rodeo Drive of course; And take them to Beverly Wilshire hotel (it’s gorgeous, also the pretty woman hotel!)
3. I think for a tourist, this is something cool – the Cheesecake Factory on Beverly drive is the ORIGINAL Cheesecake Factory! Very different experience than eating at the one at the grove
4. Mr. Brainwash art museum is also super cool for fun art.

RESTAURANTS/ FOOD PLACES

1. In N Out
2. Killer Noodles
3. Gracias Madres Newport Beach/ West Hollywood
4. Malibu Farm
5. Corn Man In LA for a midnight adventure
6. Sababa Falafel in Anaheim
7. Choco fruit in Anaheim for some dessert
8. Bottega Louie in DTLA
9. Bacio Di Latte at Westfield century city, LA
10. Perch – drinks for the view

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would like to say a big heartfelt thank you to my parents for all of their unconditional love and support. Thank you for seeing my love for music and encouraging me to pursue music and being there every step of the way. I would like to shout out and thank my music teacher Heena Dave who has been teaching music for the last 25 years at Sangeet Samiti Surat. I would also like to thank Sanket Mohan Patel with whom I had my first professional stage performance. Thank you for trusting me and giving me the opportunity to perform with you all over the USA. Your confidence in my ability to sing and perform has truly helped me grow as an artist and I acknowledge I would not have performed at over 250+ shows all over the United States if it were not for you. And lastly, I would like to give a big shoutout to my husband who is a music lover and supported me from day one since we met to do more in my music career. Without his support I wouldn’t be able to achieve what I have achieved today.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/music_station.pooja/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/poojaeuphony/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@poojamistry24

Other: https://music.apple.com/gb/artist/pooja-mistry/1509735402

Image Credits
TATVAM PRODUCTIONS HOLLYCAL PRODUCTIONS INC. CAMROOF PHOTOGRAPHY