06/12/2022
Following your dreams.
Today I would like to share a little about me. For those of you who don't know, my name is Nina & before vanilla I had another life in another country.
Once upon a time, back in 2003, I was living in Japan teaching English on the Japanese Exchange Teaching programme (JET) in a town called Fukui. I had taught there for 3 years and was in discussions with my brother about opening our own English school when my contract ended.
But then, one night, I had THE DREAM. The dream where my mum's best friend came to me and asked me why I was moving to Tokyo. I replied to sing and to help people.
Now let's pause for a moment.....this dream of singing had been a life long dream since I was about 3 or 4 years old. Don't ask me where it came from but I connected with music in a way that I have never connected with anything else.
Fast forward to high school where I was learning piano and had a clarinet music scholarship and then completed a music degree at UWA.
But I was still too shy, too scared to really follow my dream to be a singer.
So when I had the dream that I was meant to move to Tokyo something awakened inside me in a way that had never happened before.
The following day, I knew, like nothing I have ever experienced before that this was something that I was meant to do.
I had no idea how I was going to make it happen but I just knew, utterly and completely, that I would.
My brother wouldn't speak to me for 2 weeks, my family and friends thought that I was crazy, but I knew that if I didn't do it now, I never would.
I started reading, researching, writing down dates I wanted things to happen and packed my bags & made the move.
Did I feel scared? Hell yes. Did I believe I could do this? Hell yes!
But here is the thing! Nearly down to the exact date I had written down, I got a job as a wedding singer, (introduced by a Perth singer in Tokyo who had lived next door to my bestie from high school.)
Coincidence? I call it the law of attraction.
This is a head shot from my singing days, where I performed at over 1500 weddings, recorded original songs, got sent to Hollywood and dabbled in TV commercial jingles.