Your Happy Hour - Doing Business with Creatives

Episode Date: April 18, 2025

Welcome back to Your Happy Hour with Friday Feels!In this episode, we chat to Landii Yolandi who is a South African dance-pop singer-songwriter and a creative for the creatives. Landii opens up about how music was her therapeutic outlet, pathway to healing and now her passion and artrepreneurial career as she helps artists face the challenges of the creative economy through collaboration, consistency and resilience. Check out her course coming soon!What is your creative outlet? Friday Feels is all about having those honest conversations, the power of community for personal growth and taking those actionable steps towards being our authentic selves.Thanks for tuning in! Keep it raw and real out there xYHH is produced by swartkat.co - captured via riverside.fm & shared via rss.com.

It's the Friday feels and we're back with your first sip of the weekend. You're now tuned in to this week's episode of Your Happy Hour. I'm your host Nicole Carmine and it's amazing to have you here joining me this week as we uncover the truths about being a human and a working professional. What are you up to this Friday? Well whatever it is, this moment is just for you. A very big welcome back to the Friday Feels, your happy hour this Friday. And it's the second episode of our theme we are unpacking doing business with.

And this week we're taking our discussion a little further with a very special guest that I'm excited to chat to today. And we're focusing on the business of being a creative. So a very big welcome to you, Landy, a very big friend of mine and also a singer-songwriter and someone who is very big in content creation and the creator economy as it's growing at the moment. So it's such a privilege to have you on as an artist but also someone who's building your entrepreneurial ventures in the world which we are excited to hear more about.

Just really big welcome to the Friday Field Space and your Happy Hour podcast. I remember when we chatted a while back, you were saying that everything you do is as a creator for the creators and creatives. I think we align very much on that, which is awesome. Tell us a little bit about your journey. I mean, I know you're a bit more personal. For the people out there, tell us a little bit how you got to being in singing, how you got to being a creative. Was it always something you knew you wanted to do? And how does the doing business with creatives, how's it working out for you?

I always really had a passion for collaborative songwriting and my journey has been me firstly you know creating music for myself then I went into a space where I've been writing for other artists as well and that has been so rewarding for me because I get to take this idea that I have and you you know, pitch it to these artists. I got to write for David Gresham Records for their music artists recently. And it's such a beautiful thing to be part of something bigger than yourself and to really add value to help these artists grow. And I have been, you know, chatting to a lot of artists and also helping them with content

creation because a lot of, especially music artists and creatives in general, they are so good at creating art and with their craft and they are brilliant with that. But to market that is something very different as well and can be super challenging for artists that are very creative. So I help them with that because if you believe in your art so much, then you should want to shout on the rooftops, tell everyone about it and the best way to market it to promote your music or to promote your art is through social media. So I've definitely seen the pros with regards to marketing through that and you know also

marketing through that and also do content for different brands and UGC and I have some really exciting things in the pipeline which maybe we can sneak peek at that later. Yeah I think that's really awesome that you are as an artist with the understanding of what that is, helping other artists. So what is it like doing business with creatives? Is it challenging in the way that people stereotype it out there or is it not? Yeah I think it can be challenging but I think it depends on who you're working with and your work ethic as well. I think if you have a collaborative spirit then it's super beneficial and especially with songwriting you know

you can't view the song as your baby or as your product you have to think what is the best for the song it's not about me it's about the song so if you you know think this is great but someone else you, you know, suggests something. You have to have such good instincts and understanding of music or of your art that you need to say, OK, no, but what this person is saying, that's actually a better line, you know, in the verse. Or maybe you'd be like, no, let me stand and fight for this line to keep it here because there's a reason, there's a method in the madness. And being able to communicate that without offending the other writer for example, it takes a lot of

communication skills and people skills, people management skills as well so it can be challenging but it's a beautiful thing collaborating with and working with creatives and doing business with creatives is such a beautiful thing and so rewarding. And you know, for example, I was writing with this incredible artist, his name is Rain, really incredible songwriter and music artist. You know, we were writing and I said a line. And the lyric idea that I gave was not the idea that we ended up putting into the song. But when I said this lyric idea, it sparked inspiration for the final lyric idea that Juvenchie gave. So I said lyric idea and Rainn's like, let's not do that.

But that's giving me an idea of what if we said this. And the reason why I got this idea is because you said that. So it's like this beautiful connection. And then I was like yes that's the line. My line was like 80% there but that's a hundred percent the line but he would not have gotten to that lyric if it was not for me saying my 8% okay line if that makes sense. Yeah absolutely and I mean as a songwriter too I can really appreciate that and And we've done some songwriting together, which still needs to see the light of day and very excited

for that. But yeah, I think collaboration is really, really important in doing business with creatives. And you can't really use a lot you can do on your own, but in your own energy. But I think it's the magic happens when you with people and you open and you're transparent like you say and communication becomes so interesting and so Inspiring in so many ways. So did you always know that you wanted to be a songwriter? How did you stumble into music? How did that happen for you? Yeah, so I actually first started with singing when I was a kid And then when I was in high singing when I was a kid.

And then when I was in high school, when I was 14 years old, I got diagnosed with cancer. And I found that songwriting was very therapeutic for me. And it was a way where I could escape and I couldn't really express, you know, in like speaking words, like the trauma that I was going through with Hodgkin's stage two cancer, but I could write it down and I could write it in song and songwriting really helped me through that very, very difficult time when I went through chemo and you know, I got bullied at school school I would spend my lunch breaks at school in this little room in our high school where there was a piano and I would just you know write music and it was so healing for me and now every time I'll go to chemo I would listen to music and as I'll remember I was sitting

in chemo and I was listening to the song and I was like wow I want to write a song like this like I want to write songs that make people feel how I feel right now. I feel so inspired. Even though I'm in pain, I feel inspired. So I really want to inspire people with my music and really just help other people, whether it be through music or through content creation or through networking and speaking to different artists like that. I really have a very big heart for artists and I see the power of music. Oh well, you got me quite emotional there as you were explaining your story. I think that's really beautiful and thank you for sharing that.

I'm grateful that you found music in the time that was difficult for you. And that's what music is to me. It's a universal language of love. It's healing, sound healing. We had someone on recently, Amundine, who does some sound healing. And yeah, I think it's the fact that you can share your voice. And we also had Amanda Leit on here recently, who was talking about the voice as an instrument and how you vibrate.

I think it helps to have music that can activate things in your body and heal you in that way. I could say inspire. What was the journey after that? Then you decided that you wanted to make music. I know you went and studied at Berkeley but from South Africa if that's correct. Yes, I studied at Berkeley College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts in the states. Such an incredible college, really learned so much and got such great connections there and I majored in songwriting and minored in vocals. I have collaborated a lot with artists there.

It was really incredible. That's awesome. It's such an amazing place to study music, and especially the American influence. I think that's something that South Africans haven't quite felt yet. Maybe it's coming more and more to the surface now. How did the journey play out for you from then? I mean, I know that right now you're building your beautiful brand

and you're also doing some content for other creatives. So what keeps you busy each day? Like what does your day look like as a creative and a creator? It's really been so many different aspects of music from that moment. I dive quite heavily though into marketing after I studied, worked in the corporate setting with marketing. I think corporate is not for everyone, especially if you're a creator, but I definitely learned

a lot and got great connections with working with a tech startup and it was really cool. But right now, every day is pretty much different but I definitely try to write at least one song per day and just get the creative juices going and sometimes I have studio time because I'm currently working on a brand new single. So the single is called Gentle Reminder. So it's basically a song that I wrote what I would say to my younger self basically. So it's a gentle reminder to my younger self like if I had like my nine-year-old self standing next to me like what what I say to her. So it's definitely a really vulnerable song and very emotional. It's been one year in the works and I feel like I'm finally ready to actually release it and it's a lot about healing and about growth and self-development. So I'm very

excited about that. And then I'm currently working on a music marketing course, which is going to be up very, very soon this year. It's called For the Artist. It was designed by creatives and it's for other creatives. So basically designed by creatives and for other creatives and it's to truly help you level up your music marketing to get more eyes and ears on your art and then converting those eyes and ears into loyal fans and then monetizing from there because the reality is that in

2025 especially it's not enough for example in the music artist space it's not enough just to bring our great music. You have to be creating a community. You have to be creating a loyal fan base. And that's why I want to help other people is to create loyal fans for their art and to believe in their art and be able to market that in a way that is engaging and that is current as well. And you know, I look at the different trends and I I have some calls every week with Different artists one-on-one zoom calls and I help them with their content

I evaluate their content and they do an Instagram audit analysis and I Give them content ideas and help them with editing their videos to mark their music or market their arts And then I also create you to see videos for brands, you know, content creation and everything. So it's a bunch of different things but everything is creative even with content creation, it's creative, you know, social media is a creative outflow of who you are as an artist. So yeah. Oh wow, well you're doing a bunch of things. It sounds really exciting. And I am specifically excited because I feel like a lot of that plays into what I'm needing

right now. And I totally feel that out there, you know, as a singer, songwriter, as an artist, it's the industry's changed completely. And it's so difficult. And you have to be creating community, speaking, doing more performances, having great social content. Everyone has actually now got their own little newspaper, I think. It's like nobody's reading, buying the newspaper. Everyone's kind of just scrolling through everyone else's articles and magazines rather.

So I think that's awesome. And I'm curious, so obviously you as a creative and you work with creatives, and I know that you've were saying that your journey hasn't been easy through different ways of living. But what has been that thing that's kind of pulled you through? I know music is probably one of those, but is there something that you feel is like a mantra or something that you've always told yourself or heard from somebody else that is, that you can recommend to our audience? Yeah, definitely. There's actually been a mantra or piece of kind of advice that I've been hearing from a few people that I look up to. And they've

all kind of been saying the same thing. And I'm just like, well, maybe I should take this advice and listen to it because it's quite golden advice and it's really helped me on my journey. And I believe it's gonna continue to help me. But obviously I have a very strong family structure, friend structure, and they kind of just tell me, oh, don't give

up, just like keep on going. But what was really profound is that my producer, Daniel Barron, he was telling me that you literally just have to be consistent and you should not give up. And he explained that, let's say you release a song, it might not blow up, it might not do well right now, but in a few years, like the song could blow up. Like you never know these days and especially with that TikTok, you know, there's a song that was released seven years ago and now it's blowing up on TikTok. You never know it like don't lose hope on these songs, never delete songs or delete content. Like it's, it's going to have a ripple effect one day and just keep on releasing

music, keep on writing, never give up. And yeah, I think that was just super helpful for me because it's very easy in this industry to get discouraged, especially when you put so much work and blood, sweat and tears into your art. And then, I don't know, like five people listen to it or like you get 200 views on a video it can be discouraging but I mean MrBeast the biggest YouTube ever he also started on zero subscribers everyone starts somewhere and you can't compare yourself to anyone else because this is your own journey and this

is your own path, your creative path that you choose and seek. So the mantra is just don't give up, just keep on going. I love that and maybe I also needed to hear that today. Thank you. It's a pleasure. Because it is tough, you know, you pour a lot of your energy into it. I was recording, yeah, I was recording a song yesterday and now being in South Africa and it's been so wonderful. And we were talking about people making music and I was like,

no, but it's a labor of love, you know, and hopefully that will change. And I'm sure it will as things turn around again and the industry finds its feet in a new normal of, you know, streaming services and what that means for artists. But yeah, I think that's really awesome. And you know, I think consistency is key and really in anything in life. So thanks for sharing that. And so now as you journey through your consistent meandering of being a creative, what is in store for you? And like a year from now, where do you see yourself going?

Oh, wow. Yeah, I definitely see myself. I definitely see myself, I really want to direct my content to really reflect my music even more. So I think my content is going to really evolve a lot. My songs, if you actually look at it, it's very self-development coded. It's very much about, you know, glowing from the inside out. If you look at all my songs, I mean, that girl, it says drinking water, skin is glowing, that's the lyrics.

And then if someone was a song, there's literally say it's glowing inside out, glow upside from a change within. So it's very much focused on that. And I feel like it reflects my life. And I like to add affirmations into my songs. So I love to actually record some of these affirmations and I'm planning to do that to put it on Spotify as well. And in talking form, because I have it in my songs. For example, one of my songs I say an affirmation, which is blessing magnet, whatever I want want I have it, I'm a

luxury, grateful, loved and healthy. I literally sing that so when people sing to my songs they're actually singing positive affirmations over their life and you know I really want to also make that more intentional and you know just getting more involved with that and having the music marketing course and I would like to make a UGC course as well to just help other people and do a workshop. It can be online as well but also a physical workshop where I invite creatives and we network and we do that. So that's something that I'm planning also in the pipelines for this year and next year and also to just release some more music as well. Be

consistent with that. I'm very excited for Gentle Reminder and I know that it's going to really be healing for other people as well because the song has been healing for me and it really has taken a whole year for me to be like okay I'm ready to show this vulnerable side of me through my music. But it's a sacrifice that you take to get your art out there and also to help people through your art and everything because you never know when this person could be listening to this and it could actually be super helpful for them. And yeah, I'm creating an ebook as well, some digital products as well, some merch.

And I also have some live shows lined up for this year and next year, some festivals. So I'm excited for that. Yeah, a bit nervous, but I'm excited. It's going to be good. I love that. I love that you've got all these amazing plans. So do keep us updated and we will definitely obviously tag everything on the social so people can follow along.

But it's just it's amazing that you are following your dreams, you know, and I think just following your joy within and sharing that with the world. I had never really thought about your songs, but they are very much affirmative, you know, they're very affirmations, which is amazing because manifestation, what you put out there is what happens in your reality. So I think that's really incredible and I really am looking forward to hearing your new song and sign me up for your marketing course because I definitely need some of that in my life as well. So I wanted to take this quick moment and topic of marketing just to give a spotlight on our partners which is Riverside, FM and RSS.com. So in the

spirit of content creation, podcasting and creating cool content, if you are a live streamer of sorts or looking for a cool platform to capture your audio and your video, then do check out oversightfm and rss.com and thank you to them for offering our audience a wonderful discount. Please DM us at fridayfields.co if you're looking for some discounts and we'll send it your way but thank you to them that we are able to host these conversations like today. And then I wanted to give a quick shout out to what we do Lundyy, is the people, places,

and spaces of the week. That is really something we come across in the week that it might be a person, a place, or a space that has the feels, the Friday feels. Today's shout out goes to Vidae Cafe. Being back in South Africa, I just have such appreciation for their coffee, for their vibe. I miss them overseas. I cannot wait for VE to open in Paris. Hopefully we can make that happen.

So thanks to you guys for being just awesome and having great coffee out in the world. I wanted to move into a quick little section as well, which we call our gems. And these are just moments we've had this week, which are maybe something was difficult, maybe you learned something, maybe, you know, something that came up for you or just an experience. So I'll start and you can share if you want to. This week, I've really learned the value of slowing down in order to speed up and really giving myself a space to release and close a really long chapter.

I've been back here and busy fixing up my house and packing up a little bit as I finally kind of make the move and not just travel, really go and live overseas now. So it's been bittersweet in that way, but just been able to kind of take a moment and reflect on that and it's been wonderful. So time with family and obviously recording some new songs which I'm excited about. So those are my dreams. What have yours been this week? Wow I absolutely love that. I mean I really connect with that and just being present I think you know it's really been very important for me. Being in the moment, it's so easy to constantly worry about the

future or, you know, to think about the past, past regrets or even, but I've really found so much peace in slowing down, but also being present and just soaking up the season of my life and this moment. And I'm so excited for you as well for your next chapter and that you're also taking time to you know surround yourself with people that love you and that you are adding so much value to society as well I mean this process is incredible and I'm really just so thankful to be your friend and to connect with you. Thank you. That's really kind. And that's such a nice gem as well from your side.

Thank you. We're glad if people can enjoy this and keep doing this. I think as we were saying, voicing is so important. So on that topic, I wanted to quickly ask you one more question before we go into our last little segment. And that is, I'm sure people who are listening and hearing that you're a singer and songwriter and are wondering kind of what is your process of songwriting so can you maybe just take us quickly through what that looks like? Oh yes definitely it kind of changes

sometimes but I love lyrics I love words I love poems as I love words, I love poems as well. So usually I will start with a theme. I say, okay, it's, you know, on my heart that I need to write about what I'm journaling in the moment. You know, so at the time when I was writing Gentle Reminder, I was journaling about my childhood. I was writing Gentle Reminder, I was journaling about my childhood, I was journaling about being compassionate and kind to myself and I kind of have this photo. Let me quickly get it. It's over here. So this is a photo of me. I'm very cute. This is when I was a kid obviously.

So I've written on here, bad self-talk, remember her. So whenever I feel like I want to speak badly of myself, like oh I'm so fat, I wish my skin was clear, I wish that. I say oh, would you say this to this little girl? You know, would you say that to your little sister? Would you say that to a kid? No you wouldn't. So remember her that when I'm speaking badly of myself, I'm speaking badly of this kid and she doesn't deserve that, you know. So it was kind of when I was journaling and so it's whatever on your heart board. But sometimes I also hear someone say something and I'm just like, that's a good song lyric idea.

And then I write it down. I actually don't write it down. I just type it into my phone and into notes. I have a folder called songwriting and then I do it like that and then sometimes I will immediately be so inspired by it. I will just come up with a melody like with Jen's Reminder. I got the lyrics first. I wrote the lyrics first and then I came up with the melody of the lyrics and then I got chords. I produced a little demo track of it and then I came up with the melody of the lyrics and then I got chords I produced a little demo track of it and then I send it to my producer and I say do you think this has potential he's like yes it has potential we go in and record it then I record final vocals harmonies back vocals and that's it I

mean I record if someone was a song in one hour sometimes songs take a bit longer but if it flows and it's also a really good thing. I know a lot of people start with chords and then they do melody and then do lyrics but it depends on you as a writer. I just I absolutely love words and lyrics. I'm a lyricist at heart. I have to push myself to really work on melodies. Sometimes my producer, Daniel Barron, he'll be like, oh, what if we went up with this melody? And I'm just like, yes, help with the melody. Thank you. So that's why I love collaborating, writing with other artists, because a lot of the time I'll write the lyrics and the other writer will help more with the melody. So then I kind of

and the other writer will help more with the melody. So then I kind of do that. So that's the process about it. I like to get the theme of what I'm writing about. So I'm writing about my younger self. Then I like to write the title first. I say, okay, I want to call it gentle reminder, because first of all, like you don't really get songs called that. And it's such a cool title. It shows everything that I want to say in a song. And then I'll write the chorus first because that's everything that you want to say. And then you just puzzle pieces, which is the verse and the pre-chorus and the bridge.

That's the way that Berkeley has taught us to write. They say theme, title, chorus, rest of the song. And it's very important to get to the singing as fast as possible. Long intros are outdated now. So you start the song as soon as you can. My intros are very, very short. They're a few seconds.

So, yeah. Okay, that's really interesting. Thank you for taking us through that. It's a pleasure. I can feel like- I think for whoever wants to get into songwriting, that's awesome. And a nice little tip there. So thank you.

And then I have one more question for you and that is our segment called The Stack. And it's basically our reading list and you know, if you have any books maybe lying on the pile you haven't got to or that you keep rereading or that you just love and you'd like to recommend, We'd love to add it to our list. So I want to ask what is in your stack, Landi? Oh yes, I actually have no music related books but I love self-development books. My favorite book of all time. I've read it so many times. I recently reread it as well. It's Atomic Habits by James Clear. So I really do enjoy that

book and I also love all of Lewis Hayes books. She has beautiful books about healing and about self-love and self-development. I've read all of her books that she's written and I collect them and I just think she's incredible in the way that she expresses and communicates growth and you know evolving as a human being so I would definitely recommend that but your atomic habits if you haven't read it you should definitely add that to your list. I love that thank Thank you. Thank you. Actually, so many people have recommended that one on here. So we're going to keep adding it and keep promoting it because it's a great book. So thank you so much. Pleasure. And that's really, thank you. I want to say to people out there listening,

I wonder what you're wondering about when you think of doing business with creatives and what that's like. And maybe you're a creative that's hiding and you're ready to come out and you want to contact Lundy, I know you'll always be open for people who want to connect with you. So we'll share all your details on the socials for people to reach you and get in touch around your marketing and your courses and songs. And yeah, thank you so much for coming on today and just sharing so openly about your journey. And we're so excited to see what comes for you in the future as you

keep doing business with creatives and being a creative in your own right. So thank you for keeping going on and holding the fort. Thank you so much. Yeah, thank you so much for having me on your part and it was really such a cool conversation. And yeah, anyone can reach out to me, very active on my DMs, Instagram, Landy, at your Landy, oh, at Landy your Landy, and then TikTok at Landy underscore your Landy.

So you can definitely reach out to me there and join the waiting list for the music marketing course. It's really gonna be incredible. Putting a lot of great insights and resources on there for creatives. Thank you, we look forward to it. Happy Friday feels. If you haven't just yet, follow Friday feels on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and LinkedIn.

You can share with us all your feels this week by tagging us at fridayfeels.co and you can also find the website at that handle. And now as you ease into this weekend, take a moment, celebrate who you've become, what you've overcome and what is yet to come as you do the crazy and cool things that you do as the authentic you. You know the truth about life and work is that it's hard, but the beauty is this global working experience that you're in while we are in it together. So keep connecting, empowering and inspiring this week.

And of course, keep it raw and real. Until next time.