Meet Yadiel Casillas | Chief Operations Officer at After School Music Academy

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

Hi Yadiel, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking.
I personally view every decision as an educated gamble or a calculated risk. On one end, you want to minimize risk by knowing as much as you can but on the other end, there’s an opportunity cost penalty for not acting in a timely manner.

I chose a fairly risky career early on becoming a musician and music educator. I jokingly call it “living life on hard mode”. I knew that my unorthodox approach to teaching would lead me down a hard path. Fortunately, time proved me right and now I have a leg up in the space.

In my current role as COO for ASMA, I asses risk to reward. Nothing is guaranteed in life, it’s all a game of probabilities. What I have learned is you can control both the cost and scope of the risk. Low cost and a smaller scope is a wiser decision. No matter the outcome, you’ve minimized your cost and collected data that will reduce the risk when you scale.

To quote John C Maxwell “Fail fast, fail often but always fail forward”

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 am the Chief Operations Officer of After School Music Academy and owner of Indicoda.

When I was growing up, I was always the youngest in my class. Being an late 80’s baby, there wasn’t as much help as there is now. I knew my brain was different from a very early age. It took me a minute to understand something but once I did, I’d never forget it.

I faced a lot of challenges growing up but my one refuge was music. I played at my local church in Puerto Rico and started gigging in my teens. I learned that I had a knack for teaching on a missionary trip to Colombia. From that point on, I decided that I wanted to help students fall in love with music the way I did.

In 2017, Hurricane Maria struck the island of Puerto Rico affecting everyone’s livelihoods including myself. I left to the mainland and gigged my way to California where worked with Riverside Arts Academy and met a lot of likeminded people.

I met David in 2022 and instantly felt a connection to his vision and mission. With schools not only LA but all of California, I work to spread the joy of music to every child.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Honestly, most of my friends are musicians so it starts with a drive up the PCH enjoying the beautiful coastal vibes with the windows down. From there we’d go to Mofongos in NorCal for some Puerto Rican eats and end up at some point in Roxanne’s for either some live music or a good ol’ jam sesh.

LA has so much to do but I personally love the spaces between to catch up with the people I care about.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Experience is the best teacher, but it doesn’t have to be your own. I owe my success to those that came before me, those that took the time to mentor me, those who were beside me in the trenches and those who trusted me enough with their dreams goals and aspirations.

Especially my wife Analieze, she deserves the most recognition for putting up with my hyper focused self.

Website: https://Afterschoolmusicacademy.com

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yadiel-casillas-3811804b