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Hey, I'm Jon.
And I'm Becky.
And this is the We Are For Good podcast.
Nonprofits are faced with more challenges to accomplish their missions and the growing pressure to do more, raise more and be more for the causes that improve our world.
We're here to learn with you from some of the best in the industry, bringing the most innovative ideas, inspirational stories, all to create an impact uprising.
So welcome to the good community. We're nonprofit professionals, philanthropists, world changers and rabid fans who are striving to bring a little more goodness into the world.
So let's get started. Oh my gosh, there's so much joy in this room right now.
Jon, it's ungettable-get-list day, you know, the hype and the energy we have for those. And we brought an artist in today who is jamming out to our music and is already offering to create a cover for the We Are For Good intro song? Oh, my gosh, I hope that you are buckled up friends because we have Monica Yunus in the house. And she is what not only one of the most beautiful artists out there inside and out. I mean, her creativity, her voice is absolutely world renowned. But I'm here to tell you what she has done with her values with her heart with the things that she cares about. That is actually an even more beautiful story. So I gotta like backup and share the story really, really quickly. I hope everybody listening knows about our ungettable get list. We put this thing together. It is a ridiculous, cheeky, irreverent Google Sheet like google doc online that we post publicly of people that we would love to visit us in our community. And on this podcast, you're going to know a lot of those names. They've got stuff like, you know, Michelle Obama, Lady Gaga on there. People like Monica Yunus, who creates an organization like Singing for Hope, who is literally creating a better world through the arts. So let me give you a little bit of background on her. She's leading voice and the artist is citizen discussion. She is this incredible soprano who has performed at the Metropolitan Opera she has performed in Spain, in Bangkok and Guatemala, all around the world with her incredible voice. But that's not really how she shows up. She uses this gift in her voice to channel values and things that are important to her. Like things like making arts accessible to all. And we just love the human that she is how she shows up. But But I have to say that Sing for Hope is just this incredible organization that's mobilizing artists and service to benefit their communities in need. And they present these creative projects. And the first one I ever saw was the Sing for Hope pianos. If you've ever seen these videos, they're viral.
So cool.
Aren't they? I mean, they're painting pianos in the middle of massive communities and small communities. And people literally walk by and they just play and people gather and they soak up the beauty of the art in the piece and the togetherness, and then these pianos go to maybe an underserved school or a place that really needs an arts boost. It's just, if you could take that that's what Monique is doing. She's channeling her art into so many cool and unique ways. She I'm sorry, I know you need to come on and talk here, Monica, but I'm a fuse of about you. She created an AIDS Quilt song book, she has created a children's music album called Legion of Peace featuring musical portraits inspired by Nobel Laureates. I mean, this is outside of the box, thinking of the way to pair your art, what you can bring to the table with the causes and the philanthropy that moves your heart. And I just want to give a shout out to one of our amazing community members, Evan Wildstein, who is in the arts community, he saw Monica on our ungettable get list and flexed everything he had to send about 42 emails that led to Monica. That is the spirit of this community. Come into our house Monica Yunus, graduate of the Juilliard School and daughter of a Nobel Peace laureate. We are so excited you're here.
Gosh, I this is making my week. You guys are awesome. And I'm just I'm thrilled to be here and thrilled to be on such a list. And I swear if you just reached out it would have said yes, absolutely. So here I am.
Don't get me and my Instagram
just ask, right
that's the beauty of this community is we want all of the touch points to get to you because people are passionate about connecting other people to good. And the thing is, it's not everybody can get to a Michelle Obama, not everybody can do what Lady Gaga has done, but everybody can do something. And the fact that you're leveraging your platform, internationally is something we just want to camp out on today. Understand you as a human, understand your heart understand this amazing, amazing organization. So let's back it up. We got to bed way way up, back the training. We want to know about little Monica. Oh, you want to know? How does like a supreme operastar? Like how taught us about being born and raised you were born in Bangladesh to New Jersey tell me
No, it's such a such a direct path, right. So. So I was born in Chittagong, Bangladesh, actually in the in a in the Hill Tracts of Chittagong, Bangladesh, my mother and father were in Bangladesh, my father was teaching at Chittagong University, and my mother was there and pregnant with me and I was born there. And that they, my mother came back to the states say they divorced. And she came back to the States with me. And we landed in New Jersey where her family was and I grew up in this very multi CultI environment where my mother was Russian, she was a product of of displaced people after World War Two, my grandparents one was from Ukraine, one was from Russia, I grew up speaking Russian and grew up in the Russian Orthodox Church with that music and singing with my grandmother highly influencing me. But I don't look particularly Russian. So the other half of me is from Bangladesh. And of course, my father, who's a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Muhammad Yunus and his work, I just have had this, you know, it's interesting to look back. So question like, you know, what did little Monica do? Little Monica was in the back of her friend's car, and singing at the top of her lungs, and the friend's mom being like, can you keep it down back there? That was me, you know, I was singing to the birds in my driveway and just always wanting to perform always wanting to use my voice. I don't think I knew that I would use it both metaphorically, and you know, and on a stage, but that's kind of it, I feel very lucky to know that that was what I wanted to do from the get go. And now today, I have a seven year old son and he's constantly singing. And so a lot of that is like coming back to me. And just knowing that you can't keep a voice inside. And when you are allowed that space, allowed that opportunity to make a little noise and sing your song. It's a really beautiful thing. And I don't take that for granted.
I mean, what a beautiful story. I just can't imagine what your dinner conversations were like growing up, you know,
while there was a lot of very, very stern Russian grandmother telling me to finish what was on my plate. So there was a lot of
grandmothers and
grandmothers right there putting more food on the plate and telling you to eat it. So yeah, there's that
Oh, my word. But I mean, take us to the next chapter. I mean, you have this really incredible human being that's cultured so incredibly from the beginning. Take us to the start of seeing for hope. I know it has roots in the 911 tragedy, so maybe you can connect the two.
Absolutely. So you know, little Monica grows up and still connects very strongly with singing and wanting desperately to pursue music and I ended up doing my undergraduate degree at Juilliard and on the first day of my graduate work there actually art 911 happened and I remember very clearly getting on the subway going to school having watched a plane hit the second tower on my on my television, and getting on the subway and going okay, I'm going to school that's what I have to do I had was in a daze like all of us were, and I got to the school grounds, at which point you know, a security guard who I'd known for years because I've done my undergrad there till asked me for my ID and told me to go home. And I you know, in the days after not many people know this but Juilliard shares a city block with firehouse that was among the first responders and they lost 12 men that day. And in our grief, in our collective grief, my co founder and I, Camille Zamora, both students at Julliard at the time. We got together we gathered some friends, we said, let's just go sing for them. You know, what can we do? Let's go make music. This is such a hard time. At that moment. They were still waiting for people to come back. Unfortunately, no one came back. But in those days after it was a gathering spot and so we brought Music. And we brought our hearts and we brought our empathy. And that was sort of a catalyst for how sync for Hope was, was grown. You know, we had many, many conversations of, you know, what do artists do in these moments? You know, what do we do? What role do we play in the discussion of being a citizen of being a human of being an empathetic human in these very difficult situations. So not knowing anything about nonprofit, knowing only that, you know, we really wanted to use our voices we set about the sing for Hope journey. And it was, you know, it's been a 16 year journey. And today, we do one of the country's largest public art projects, the sing for Hope pianos. If you went to our website today, you see over 600, sing for Hope pianos all over there. They're being brought to schools, hospitals, eldercare facilities, and we really like to say that they're a tool for our toolbox of making art for all accessible art for all available and really just engaging in that creativity. I think, you know, today, there are a lot of things that we could be down about, there are a lot of there's, there's so much division right now, art is one of the ways that we can have a conversation, have an opportunity to see one another as humans and to see a way forward. And that's where that's on so many different levels.
Wow, I just, I just honestly am visualizing, like the heaviness in that fire station. And how the world's preeminent you know, artist, come into that space with the most beautiful voices sense of love and community. And what a moment that is, and that is what I think I mean, everybody on this podcast knows I love the arts, I was raised in the arts and such. I mean, I don't think you can be in some of this work as a creative without having just an appreciation for what the arts are.
Absolutely. We all have that moment. You know, you all we all know the song that's gonna get us through a hard day, we all have those pieces of art that are meaningful to us. And I think it it goes to a cellular soul level of why humans need to connect. Why in this time of the pandemic, where, yes, maybe there were wonderful things about it, that we got to stay home and have more time with family, you know, but there were also really difficult times about it, obviously, you know, not just not being able to be in community, because we need that opportunity to be in community. And I think that's why the arts are so significant, because they are the sort of glue that one of the very strong glues that can keep communities thriving, can keep communities in conversation, whether you agree or not, can keep communities in a discussion about what do we want next? And I think that's what's so important. One of my one of my peccadilloes, if you will, is when people say well, why you know, why the arts? Why did the arts matter? And to me, it's a really easy way for people to connect you know, it's an it's an incredibly direct path for people to see oh, you know, you you might not agree on anything you might agree on an artist you might agree on a song you might agree on a piece of artwork that that is sort of the the hearts direct path to another heart.
Amen. It's like the ability to connect, but also to like transport you, you know, and access the power of art. And I just think we were traveling this summer, and we were in this like quiet garden just walking along. And there was this family that was traveling together, obviously. But they were harmonizing and seeing in this like portico and it's like people just gathered and stopped. And it's like, it's like we were all just transfixed and they were speaking a different language than we were. And it was just like a powerful uniting moment. And I just think of what you can offer in the way that you interrupt the normal flow of the day to drop this in. It does give people respite, and it gives them a safe place. Like it's such a beautiful mission, you know, and I can see how you've been so transfixed on bringing it to other people. Well, I
know that moment, exactly that moment that you're talking about, where you just see how something like that can affect people. And you don't know where they're coming from that day. You don't know what kind of day they're having. You don't know, in a concert hall. You know, if you walk out on stage and there are 600 people in that audience, how many of them have had maybe the worst day of their lives, the best day of their lives, the everything in between, but by the fact that you are gathering by the fact that you are allowing people an opportunity to collectively listen to the same tune no matter where you are. Regardless of whether or not it's a stage, you know, that's a sophisticated stage, whether it's the street, whether it's, it's, again, it's that connection and spontaneous community making that I think is so vital, and so needed today. Because we, we need that opportunity to see each other as humans.
I agree. And I just, I love this conversation so much, because we believe community is everything. It's literally the final core value of our company. And we love to bring in people who can interpret that in so many different ways, because we talk so much about digital community, because we're all not in the same physical shape. But wow, if you can get into the same physical space, you know, and there's something more magical that happens, because you can touch it, you can see it, you can smell it, you can hear I mean, it's just you have all the sensors, sensory parts going. And I just, I want to compliment you about your programming. And I want you to like, talk to us about all of your incredible programs, of which, of course, you know, John, I'm going to geek out just a little bit because our education program is called, don't throw away your shot. And for anyone who loves Hamilton as much as my children, and I do, who are the ones singing and screaming it at the top of our lungs in the car, I want to know about these programs and how people can tap into sing for hope.
Absolutely. Well, that's, that's, that's the fun part of the conversation, right? So yes, we have lots of different programs. And I should say that, you know, the pandemic has thrown so many different challenges to so many different organizations, and ours was not one that skipped up. Everything that we did before the pandemic was in person, you know, when we went to an elder care facility, we were there physically, the artists was there with their violin, or they were there with their magical fingers playing that sing for hope, piano, all that had to stop during the pandemic, needless to say, so gave us what I'm calling now an opportunity, an opportunity to rethink what it means to be in community, right, because we still need that opportunity to speak to one or the other to see one another. So like everyone else, we developed digital community, we did develop things like open arts, you know, opportunities for artists to provide little concerts via zoom. And that was sort of our way of, of connecting with eldercare facilities, because at that point, you know, there was no way that we could go inside those facilities if we're doing so how could we bring it to them? So it was all about bringing these these wonderful musical performance happenings to community and watching that chat blow up, oh, hey, do you know this song? Do you think you might be able to play this arrangement? So that was one large pivot and a very big learning for us? Because of course, you know, I always say, I'm kind of the I'm not a digital person. So the fact that I can get my Zoom working, the fact that I could get my way to the top. I'm proud of myself. I made it. But you know, we still have we still have team meetings sometimes where we're telling our colleagues, you know, hey, you're, hey, you're on mute, you're on mute. And that's kind of a little, it's, yeah, we were all there. Right. But it's funny, because that's kind of how we felt right? We all felt muted, didn't we? We all felt in a way, this kind of muted connection. And so how were we going to transform our organization to highlight the fact that we still needed that connection, and we were going to figure out ways to do it. So that was one of our programs. Another one of our programs, which you mentioned, Becky, don't throw away your shot. That was actually a project that was we're very proud. We were one of 30 organizations selected by the CDC Foundation to inspire vaccine confidence. And our proposal was that we could do the through the arts. I love it. So you know, some organizations did, you know, poster challenges? We wrote a musical. And we called it don't throw away your shot. And we had actors who would accent it so smart
and cheeky. Yes, yes.
Thank you. Lin Manuel.
Picked up out there, man. Well, you're gonna get we'll get list. Okay.
Shout out. Shout out to the one and only. But yeah, we wrote this, this piece, we had a fantastic writer, songwriter. And the piece was set in a lunchroom. And it was, yes, it was to develop vaccine competence, but it was also to explore what it means to make choices. And so we had a lot of success in bringing that online to many schools and to the schools that we could bring it in person. It was a little production that had a workshop after after the presentation to kind of talk about what that means, you know, what does it mean to make choices. So that was that was our don't throw away your shot for Rahm, we have a sink for Hope Lab that is touching the lives of 400 young people in this Amani school in Mount Vernon, New York. We are in development of a sink for hook choir. We have an incredible opportunity to bring young voices together of different ages. And in fact, our launch this summer was that the United Nations, we brought 70 We brought 70 young people to sing our sort of flagship song called Dream Big speak loud at the United Nations in the General Assembly for the high level political forum. That was sort of a mountaintop moment for me, because we also created a sink for Hope piano that has the sustainable develops painted on the CMTS. Yes, awesome. SDGs are wrapped on the synchro piano and that piano no look at the United Nations. And we are hoping to activate that in the months ahead. But very exciting because, you know, we as an organization, align ourselves with specific Sustainable Development Goals. For us. They are healthy cities and communities, quality education, good health and well being. And the last one, which is partnerships, we're all about partnerships, we are all about creating change through the arts in these different ways. And aligning with those SDGs allows us an opportunity to kind of set our markers high and aligned with the global community that that comes around them. So I talked about education, I talked a little bit about our programming for elders, and we're very excited that we're now getting back to being in person with those communities, which is fantastic. We also are looking to bring the sing for Hope pianos back large and in charge, we've had a couple of partnership opportunities we brought them. Ironically enough, during the pandemic, we had an opportunity to bring them to a completely new city. So we brought this thing for her pianos to Los Angeles and Beverly Hills, and 17 sing for her pianos were just recently placed in 17 different schools, complete with ribbon cuttings, and performances around each one of those very different each one is different. Each one has a, you know, an artist of vision for what they put on that same for Hope piano, so very exciting that we were able to do that in a different city. We are also working with an artist partner in Europe, he has created a sync for her piano in the German town of Firth near Nuremberg. And that was a sing for Hope collaborative sing from piano collaborative with Ukrainian refugee children. And with this artists leading the charge, so he was able to do workshops, the honoring of your own legacy. Absolutely. It was very, very, very special to me. And we're working on a few more in the weeks ahead, actually. So lots of programming. It's It's funny, sometimes when I start to talk about I'm like, yep, we did that. We did that. And now, okay, now, how do you sort of coalesce all of that into, you know, one brief mission statement? And for us, it's our fault. How do we infuse the arts and for you know, for me, that's saying, I'm a singer. But for so many different people, it can be your your artistry, your creativity, can be expressed in so many different ways. And we're always really just so happy to see how people bring their creativity to different to the different communities that they're in.
And I just want to say, like, create a visual for everyone. If you don't know about these, like as your resident marketers disguised as fundraisers, like, the the branding, the joyfulness, I mean, they're, they're rainbow painted, they're splatter, they're yellow, they're, apparently they have S, G's written all over them. I mean, it is literally like a billboard. And you use that billboard so smartly, and humanely and the joyfulness that comes from it in the sense of belonging that's baked into it, like start, that's the first visual before anybody ever plays. And that's what I think is so cool about what you do. It's not just the music, I
love that you're using the word belonging, because that is something that is alongside the arts, you know, what does it mean to be creative? You know, what's the metric for that? What's the metric for belonging? How do we measure that? How do we measure joy? These are the things that we sit around our sort of our team table and say, you know, what tells us we're on the right path. What tells us that we are actually creating community. And I think that sense of belonging and, you know, you mentioned In this earlier, you heard a family singing and spontaneous community happened. And I think that's something that's really important to remember like, how does the art call to as wide a community as possible? And what does it mean to belong to that community? Particularly when we talk about, you know, sustainable cities and communities? What does that mean? Especially now, I think we have an incredible opportunity to reframe that, and say, okay, that means that, you know, on any given evening in my small town, there's something happening, and it's a call for people just to be together, there doesn't have to necessarily be a town meeting. It just is something where people feel safe, people feel welcome, and people can enjoy being together.
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Everyone matters, you know, and that's our first core value here. And I think I'm just so taken aback because there's a place for someone to plug in at your mission at literally every level, from like the most bypasser. To a creative, that it's hard to find ways to activate artists that have passion, you found ways to connect them and give them a place of belonging, and all the way up to major gifts. I'm sure you have all those needs to where did this wiring come from? Like, take us back, you started this as a nonprofit from the ground up. I mean, take us back, like what inspires you and what have you kind of learned as you've scaled the infrastructure of this mission?
Well, I have to say first is my shout out to my sister, and my partner in all things, Camille Zamora. I could not have built this organization without her and she would say the same thing if she were on here as well. We have a tremendous amount of respect for one another, and we complement each other's strengths. And we take each other's weaknesses. You know, like, sounds like a partnership, right? Like any good partnership, and that is really, at the heart of it. I think that you know, we joke all the time that we fight clean. And when we disagree, we all right, well, usually, we we are both Sopranos. And we we both survived Juilliard. So there's, there's there's that story too. So. But it's, it's, you know, we have had an incredible working relationship. We are women lead, we are artists lead. And it's not something again, it's just not something I take for granted. Nothing that we built. You know, we always say that we're like, we're just so we're so lucky. We have each other because I think that we've built upon each other's strengths over the years and and been able to brainstorm and I remember being I have notebooks after notebooks of ideas. How are we going to do that? How are we going to do that? And every year, I think it's super important to us to kind of look back and go, Okay, we did that we set that goal, we made that goal, we did not make this goal. What about this? What are we looking forward to? And what are the things that we can say this, this worked really well, now we have to sort of retool and get to the next level. And I think that's exciting. And that 16 years and the fact that I can say that is exciting to me, it's exciting to to share that with a team. You know, right now we are, you know, we have all kinds of learnings that we've had because of the pandemic. And we're trying to sort of put all of those learnings into play and into strategy and that's, that's an exciting time for us.
I'm just so proud of you, and you keep learning and listening and, and I feel that like that symmetry between the artist always learning always getting better always perfecting their craft. I mean, that is so much aligned with nonprofits just always trying to listen like trying to iterate trying to improve programs trying to stay modern and relevant trying to connect with the right people. And it truly is a journey. I just commend you and Camille and You know, I just think about a lot of people that are in our community right now. And so many of them that we know dearly and love and are applauding, are trying to start their own foundations right now or their own nonprofit. Yes. And I'm just like, what would you tell them? What would you say to them? What pieces of advice would you give them as they're kind of walking through the murky early, you know, days of trying to get that set up,
we took a lot of meetings with a lot of people. And I think, you know, one of the things, my best advice is to look around and see if something is out there that is similar to what you're thinking of starting, and then go there and see if there's a way to plug into that. See, if there's a way to learn from it. I don't necessarily believe that there's always a reason to start your own. That's not to say that that's not the path for you. I'm just saying as a starter it you know, from from the get go look around and see what's out there. In those initial meetings we've had we had everything from I don't get what you're doing. I really don't have to, what is it that you're trying to do? What Okay, yeah, weekly, exactly. Oh, this, this will never work. And then other people were like, I get that, here's how I think you should tweak what you're trying to get out. So the communication aspect of it was something that hit us really hard. At the beginning. You know, we went through tons of notebooks, trying to figure out what our mission was going to be so that people could get it. And that's something that we work on still, I mean, the mission is not going to change, but maybe how you communicate it, maybe how you decide to present it, who's your audience? Who are you talking to about? It isn't an artist who really gets what, you know, what we were trying to set out to do? Is it a funder? Who has maybe different different words that would strike them in a different way? Is it a community partner who has little to no budget to execute on that? So that, you know, I would say, try to listen to people who are out there in the field of what you would like to get into? Or in the field of what you want to start?
Does that make sense? Oh, my gosh, does it make sense? It's so much sense. And I loved it from the beginning, like your gut. And this has been the same like you knew what you wanted to do. But you've been real open handed for how that takes shape? And that's a real sweet spot to be Oh, God.
Yes, that would be my other advice is just ask for help, you know, ask for help. And the way you ask for help, is by being open and humble about it. And then thanking people. I'm constantly surprised stewardship one on one is surprised at how much people don't necessarily then say, you know, oh, I really appreciate that. Thank you for that. You know, that's something that is really important, you know, because people don't, one thing that you can never get back is time. And if somebody's taking their time, you know, to advise or to, to be a mentor, I think that it's it's just a nice thing to do is to
I think that's absolutely going to thread into this question, because I mean, we look at the partnerships that for hope has been able to, you know, bring together corporations and municipalities. I mean, what is the secret sauce? Do you feel like in cultivating those magic, partnerships and relationships
have two parts one is failing quickly. And you know, if you know that it's not going anywhere. It's okay to sign up. It's okay. Yeah, timeout. It's all right. It's okay. Not everything that we put out there, it gets picked up. And that's okay. And I think that comes back to being to sopranos who get lots of rejections. You know, I mean, we not we know what it means to be you're
like Teflon at this. At this point. It's
like, oh, that didn't work out. Okay, moving on, you know, you just get up faster. And some of those like those some of those initial conversations were I don't get what you're doing, this will never work. Those were hard, you know, because you're putting your heart out out there. And you're saying, but, but I do think it's going to work? Well. Okay. Well, let me go back to the drawing board. I did not communicate that effectively. Here's what they didn't get. So let me make sure it's baked in the next time around. And as far as partnerships, same thing, who's your audience? What is it that they want to get out of this? You know, because everybody has goals, everybody has their key performance indicators. So what language can you speak? I speak, you know, the language of partnership. Okay, great partners understand what partners need for for their side. And so I think we've been able to have successful partnerships because I like to think that we have made people's job easier to do to to deliver on what their promises, regardless of what it is. And as long as you're in alignment with that, then it makes sense. And that's how we approach partnerships to win. Whether it's, you know, an eldercare community and we're going in We're saying, Listen, we have music. But you have tastes that, you know, we want to know about what do you want to hear? Actually, it's not about just going and saying, I'm going to, I'm going to present whatever it is that is on my playlist, so to speak, turn it off, you know, it's
great. Like, get in there and go do some labelling. Yeah, it'd be great. Yeah, it's
gonna be great. How about maybe, maybe they don't like opera. That's okay. You know, I've run into those people too. That's fine. We have, you know, instrumentalists, and we have people who can play all kinds of music. So it's, it's about that partnership. So I'm going into somebody's community space. And I'm asking, Hey, I want to be part of your community, what will make that easy for you to be part of your community? What it is, what do you need, that's really important, not only does that give agency to, to the partner, but you know, you're respecting them, that you're coming into their space. And that goes for whether you're in a school, whether you're in a, you know, marketing, communications relationship, you know, it's it. It's interesting to me how many different partners we have, and the different kinds of language tools, communication tools that you need to use to, to make sure that those partnerships are as fruitful as they can be?
And doesn't it just feel better to know that? Sure, that way, absolutely. It just feels better on both ends. And to me, that's the difference between pitching and partnering. You just saw that right there. And there's an equal benefit. Everybody comes to the table with something everybody gets to take something away, and it feels better. That is the evolution of what I'd love to see a nonprofit. And so Okay, I got to ask this question, because we just had Sarah Abelson, on who runs just this wonderful impact agency out of West Hollywood. And we were talking about the role of celebrity and philanthropy and how to use your platform for good. You use your platform for good Monica, it's why you've been on the ungettable gutless since it was first created. So talk to us about how you channel that talent, and that philanthropy into ways that just build empathy, connectivity, equality, we would love for you to just talk about your philosophy on that, and why you chose to lean into it because we want so many others to do the same thing.
Absolutely. I think, you know, for Camille, myself, we just knew that we had several goals for how we were going to use our gifts. And one of those gifts is singing. And another is just the connectivity. I like to think of us as the sort of pied pipers of artists, and we're leading this happy, happy little band of artists into communities. And, you know, we've all been on those zoom calls where there's like, no energy, and everybody's sort of like waiting for the
no one turns on their screen.
Nobody turns on their screen, and
then they don't turn on your sideboard. I
know. So we are the people come on, we're like, Hey, how's everybody doing today? You know, and you just, you want to get to know them. And it's, it's genuine. And so I think that we've gotten really good. And we have remained very passionate about what it is we do. And so it's easy to then share that passion with other people, because they just get it. And I don't know, maybe I don't know how much more I can say about that, honestly, because I feel like we've been so lucky in finding our people who are like, Yes, I get that. And when we find somebody who's like, No, I don't really get that. That's okay, too. And that's why that's what I say, you know, fail quickly. Not everybody has to be in your Bhandar you know what I mean? Like not everybody's in the band, and that's okay. It's really okay. I think it's, it's about finding the people that really are true and passionate about what it is you're doing, and then get them on your board. Let them get them to a point where they're able to also get other people on board.
I mean, I think passion. It's kind of like kindness we talked about a lot, too, is like can be a great disrupter because people are magnetic to just have passion. You can get excited I get about excited about sports if the person I'm talking to is that enthusiastic about sports, you know?
Sure. John wouldn't undersell it. Speaking
of sports. We have a wonderful new relationship with the amazing Mets foundation. What and they? Yes, and they have
major league baseball. I'm telling you, it's passion. I'm teasing. I'm teasing. Keep it No, that one.
That's the one winning like the
Mets foundation is amazing,
amazing Mets foundation They are dedicated to community. They love to sing for Hope pianos, and we are creating a special sing for Hope piano for the mats. And we will it will be at that City field. And we will also create one for the Brooklyn Cyclones. And so that's coming up next season. We are thrilled. We're going to have our youth choir there to kick it off. It's going to be pretty incredible
on my coke. That's a game I will turn it off. Let's do it.
There you go see? Music community what I mean what what more do you need baseball and music? Like? Yes, we love it. So very grateful to them very excited about that. And I just can't wait.
Can we get the Mets Foundation and the Met to do Oh, like the arts? That's amazing. Love it. Yes.
Conversation. We have full hearts. We have huge smiles on our faces. Because we're talking so much today I think about philanthropy and just like the greater bigger, beautiful sense that there's a lot of ways to show up and just show love to other people. We talk about philanthropy everyday on the podcast, is there a moment in philanthropy, it can be big, small, that stuck with you, Monica, and you've gotten to be witnesses so much.
Absolutely. I think there's a, when I was little, my mom used to take me to eldercare facilities at the holidays and we would sing holiday songs together. And I just remember that it has stuck with me my whole life. And I just have a soft spot for the elders in my life. And I always have my grandmother and I was very close, I sang with her in the choir. And there was something very humble about that act, it wasn't like we were giving, you know, weren't writing a big check or anything. But I was I was taught early on to give of oneself. And that was something very special and something that stuck with me. It's something that no matter where I'm performing, I take with me on stage, because there is a beautiful energy exchange, when you're standing on stage and you are giving of yourself whether you're playing an instrument or you are, you know, talking to an audience, your energy is connecting with this large group, and then they give their energy to you. And it's just this beautiful human cycle. And I think that's, that's when you stand back and go, Is this really happening? This is great. And so it becomes sort of this multi layer, right? There's the art that's happening. Maybe you're talking about some thing, you know, some very philosophical topic, maybe you're singing the most exquisite Mozart Aria, maybe you're playing incredible Bach, maybe you're at a rock concert, and it is just like rocking your soul. All of that is just a sort of an excuse to feel you're most human and you're most actively engaged. And I think that's, that's, I love those moments. So that moment for me, as a little kid being on a quote unquote, stage, I would add it I'm sure it was an cafetorium very small. And, you know, most people around me were in wheelchairs. I don't know if they've had any visitors. But I just remember singing and suddenly the energy in the room changed. And I'm sure it wasn't because I was some great little tiny singer. It was because I was there and I was connecting. And you know, people need that. And so I think that that, to me is a core a core value for myself with a capital S is just how do we connect with people? For me, it's through my artistry. How does one make a difference in what in the world? And I think when people hear the world word philanthropy, they may think that it's financially financial engagement, but I don't think it's that I think it's it's, it's finding what you're passionate about, and then going and seeking a way to be of service. And that's, I think that's very human. I don't think you need to be a philanthropist. You don't need to be any kind of special person. You just are a human. And you see a need and you try to figure out a way to help that in whatever way you can.
I agree with you. And I love that you brought it back to family and to just that early lived experience as a child and I've never done this in 320 episodes, but I have been thinking about this story the entire time. You've been talking and I have to share it. Because, you know, we're from Oklahoma City. And, you know, I in I lived in Oklahoma, I've been to talk a lot when you're in toggle. What? Oh, yeah. One of my closest friends is from Tunku. Rhodes.
I know, I know. Well, I
was 15 years old when the Oklahoma City bombing happened and I heard it felt it. It was a very close incident to our family. We ended up losing a very good friend, member of our of our church. and my mother has been the music director at my home church for 30 years. And when that terrorist attack happened, she got a piece of music sent to her as a gift once someone in the choral community found out what happened, and it was literally called chronicle of hope. I mean, there's similarities to sing for hope and chemical of hope is crazy. And it is one of the most beautiful songs by Joseph Martin, that was created. And they loved it so much they performed it at this individuals funeral 911 happens. And my mom and her church ended up sending copies of that Anthem, to every Lutheran Church who lost a member and 911. That's not where the story ends, someone from one of those churches love that piece of music so much that they went and tied it to the fence at 911. And one day, and I'm backing up to the story, my mother goes to a sort of choral concert. This is fancy, Nancy, my, my mother, the soprano, the arts lover, who taught me everything about loving the arts. And she gets to meet Joseph Martin. And she says, I want to tell you what this piece of music has meant to the history of my church of our family of our community, of the way that it's awakened and healed other communities. And it's even been on this fence at 911. And he goes, you're the one. I can't believe you're the one. I walked past that. I saw my music there at ground zero. And I had no idea who put it there. But I thought the connection of what those songs meant to 911 to the Oklahoma City bombing in the way that it comes in to heal. And I just keep thinking about that story. And, and I remember how an on my mother was like telling me that story. And I remember hearing going, what are the chances but to me, and this is like my soapbox, I will just step on for a hot second. The arts are so unifying. They are deeply powerful. And they bring people together like no other. And so I just want to say to all of our friends working out there in Ulta arts and culture right now, which on a side note has had the highest turnover rate of any sector within nonprofit during the pandemic. I want to say it's over 30% of turnover in the Arts category. We see you, we value you. We are rooting for you. Keep going because your work deeply matters.
Yes, yes. And yes. I love that. Thank you for sharing that. Thank you for sharing that. That's so incredible. And it is, again, it's just it's manifesting. I mean, there's something, there's so many of those moments for searching for hope, where, again, it's kind of a wild, crazy idea, like, Okay, we're going to put pianos and parks and public spaces, and we're going to ignite this creative arts movement. And when it starts to happen, or Well, where are we going to put ADA pianos? We're going to do that in New York City. Oh, I know, we'll just talk to this person, that person will just give us space in New York City. I mean, they're just so many. I mean, but that's what happened. And that happened that happened. So it just Yeah, I I'm fully in the manifestation of how things come together for a greater influence. Now I'll step off my little soapbox to stay on.
We have to stay there. If we're gonna change the world down there. Shout it out. You know, Monica, we end all of our podcast conversations, asking our guests to give us a one good thing. It could be a life hack a mantra, quote, something that you could offer up to the community to kind of awaken and inspire them today. What would be yours,
be good to yourself, you know, because if you're not taking care of yourself, you're not going to be able to go out there and be your best self. And I think that people today have a hard time doing that. But there are parents out there. There are people who are working two and three jobs out there. Also trying to find their passion. And I think it's okay to rest. And it's okay to be good to oneself. It's like putting on that oxygen mask. And I have a very hard time with that because I want to go go go. So I'm saying it as much for myself as I am for everyone else. I do think that we've all collectively been through so much. And it's time that we pay a little bit of attention to our ourselves. It's okay to do that. Especially in the nonprofit in the space where you are very We often thinking about how to make the world a better place. So how do you how do you take care of yourself to in that process?
I mean, the care in this conversation, the way that we feel cared for and the way that you've kind of shared your story today, it's just been such a boost. Thank you for coming into this house. And we want to connect everybody to your mission and to you. And I'm sure you've been added to a lot of people's ungettable get list today is they've, they've discovered you for the first time. Around the ways where you show up online so people can connect and follow along with everything that's happening. Oh, yes,
please. I love that. Yes, please. So
I tell us what sing for hope. Nice. What is it out right now?
Oh, my gosh. Okay. So we are creating creative arts movement. So get involved. And again, that doesn't necessarily mean through your donations, although we will happily take them to. We are if you're in New York, on a weekly basis, we have awesome musicians that are playing at Moynihan train Hall. That's a new, that's also a new program of ours. I can't believe I didn't even get through all the programs. But yes, we're going to hand train Hall providing glorious music. Come say hi, on Instagram. I'm at Eunice Monica, y ou en us Mo and ICA please follow us at Sing for hope. S I N G fo r H O P E. We're also on Facebook saying the number four hope. So get in touch. Check out our website for sure. We have 600 pianos that you can pour over and each one is different. We are developing ways in which hopefully you can bring the sing for Hope pianos project to us or town. It might be a little bit of what while but I'm putting it out there in the universe because I talked a lot about manifesting so I'm putting it out there. Can I give you a way to do that right this moment? No, I cannot. So I'm being very transparent. But circle back. circle back. Exactly. Exactly. And if you're in New York, check out the sing for Hope pianos. Again, they're they're all over the place right now. There's one this week actually, we're at 28 Liberty on the pickleball courts. So we've got to sing for Hopi out there. We've got music going on. And yes, check us out online please.
i This exceeded the hype and the hype was I before you came in you are a treasure of a human. I'm so grateful you are in the world doing this work. I'm so glad that you have seven year old son who is soaking all of this up watching his mother just go rock this lifetime. Keep going please. No, we're rooting for you.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And if you're in LA, Camille and I are the artists in residence and sing for Hope is the company in residence at the Wallace Center for the Performing Arts. So check us out in Los Angeles. We have three performances over the next year. One is October 12, I believe. And then we're at the Wallace doing a fantastic cabaret December 13 And we are premiering a long last opera by the female composer Pauline VR doe on March 3, and that's all on the Wallace website Wallace Center for Performing Arts but we are the artists and residents and it's gonna be an exciting time to come check us out
Monica unis.
You're amazing. Keep singing get on YouTube, fall in love with Monica's voice because we know you've you've fallen in love with her as a human being
John, thank you so much going.
Thank you. Thank you.
Hey, friends. Thanks so much for being here. Did you know we create a landing page for each podcast episode with helpful links, freebies and even shareable graphics. Be sure to check it out at the link in this episode's description. You probably hear it in our voices but we love connecting you with the most innovative people to help you achieve more for your mission than ever before. We'd love for you to join our good community. It's free. And you can think of it as the after party to each podcast episode. You can sign up today at we are for good.com backslash Hello. One more thing If you loved what you heard today, would you mind leaving us a podcast rating and review? It means the world to us and your support helps more people find our community. Thanks friends. I'm our producer Julie confer and our theme song is Sunray by Remy Borsboom
