May 27, 2025 • 43 mins
Artist Esther Anaya's life reads like an epic movie script—but one grounded in the gritty reality of sacrifice, unwavering determination, and the power of a childhood promise that changed everything.
At just seven years old in Monteria, Colombia, Esther made a solemn vow to her father that she would never quit playing the violin. Little did she know how severely that promise would be tested when, at thirteen, political violence forced her family to flee their homeland. Arriving in America with just a small bag of possessions and her cherished violin, Esther faced a new world without knowing the language, five family members sharing a single room, and the cruel sting of mockery from classmates who equated her limited English with limited intelligence.
While her parents cleaned houses to make ends meet, they somehow scraped together $50 weekly for violin lessons—a sacrifice that still moves Esther to tears. Through rejection letters, uncertainty, and the heartbreaking discovery years later of an unopened scholarship offer that might have set her on an entirely different path, Esther forged ahead. Rather than following the expected classical route, she revolutionized her approach, blending electronic beats with virtuoso violin skills to create something entirely new.
The payoff came in spectacular fashion when a collaboration with Snoop Dogg caught the LA Chargers' attention, leading to a DJ residency performing for 50,000+ NFL fans—a dream she had specifically visualized on her vision board. Today, Esther continues expanding her musical horizons with upcoming European tours and revitalizing her non-profit organization providing instruments and musical education to children worldwide.
Her message resonates far beyond music: "Rejection becomes redirection." The obstacles, closed doors, and detours weren't failures—they were divine guidance toward the unique path where her talents would truly shine. How might your own setbacks actually be redirecting you to something better than you originally imagined?
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ryan Sharrott (00:12):
welcome to real people, real life well, esther,
thank you for coming on mypodcast.
I really appreciate you comingout.
I know you guys have beentraveling a lot, flew in from
Dallas and drove the three hoursor two hours to San Diego, so
thank you so much.
I really appreciate it.
Esther Anaya (00:30):
It's so worth it.
Ryan Sharrott (00:31):
So Esther, world-class violinist, LA
Chargers DJ in front of tens ofthousands, 50,000 people getting
the crowds pumped up.
You're all over YouTube, Fun towatch, Very inspiring.
But it didn't start that way.
Esther Anaya (00:52):
No, I wish.
Ryan Sharrott (00:55):
You have an interesting story.
You started in Colombia.
Let's talk about that.
Esther Anaya (01:01):
Yes, I am from Monteria, colombia.
Not everybody knows where it is.
It's a small town in thenorthwest.
Ryan Sharrott (01:08):
Is it near Bucurromanga?
Esther Anaya (01:10):
No, it's not close .
It's closer to the CaribbeanSea, so it's like a couple of
hours from Barranquilla,cartagena, so I'm more closer to
, like you know that area.
Okay, so I grew up there withmy whole family.
I come from a musical family.
My dad is passionate aboutmusic, but he never pursued
(01:32):
music because he was like I needto support my family, it's my
passion, but I need to work, andso I grew up with like a
mentality of like being amusician.
It's like a passion, but it'snot something you pursue because
you're going to be broke.
Ryan Sharrott (01:46):
Very, very common perception, right, you know?
Oh, be an artist, do music, butbecome an attorney or something
that pays the bills.
Quote unquote.
Esther Anaya (01:56):
Totally.
And you know, I think that, see, my dad is someone so talented.
Growing up, like I was likethree years old and I was like
literally like singing with him.
That was like three years oldand I was like literally like
singing with him.
That was like my favorite hobbyJust watch him make music and
sing.
But at the same time, seeingthat like frustration of like I
wish I could do it but I can't.
So I feel like that was like myfuel growing up, like I was
(02:19):
like you know what I want to belike my dad, but I actually want
to pursue music.
And when I turned seven yearsold, I remember my dad.
We were watching a movie and itwas a beautiful movie of an
orphan playing the violin on thestreets, supporting her family.
It was like eight kids and shewas just playing on the streets
(02:40):
and that's the way how she washelping her family, um, every
day to make money.
And I impacted me a lot becauseI was like in the same
mentality of like oh, you'regonna be broke, but she's making
money doing music and it soundsso beautiful and it's such a
beautiful instrument.
I was like I love the violin.
I fell in love with the violinwith that movie and I turned to
(03:01):
my dad and I go, daddy, I want aviolin please.
Ryan Sharrott (03:06):
And he's thinking , oh, when they first start
playing that thing, it'shorrific.
Esther Anaya (03:11):
Terrible.
Ryan Sharrott (03:12):
It sounds horrible, my sister tried to
play the violin and it was anightmare.
Esther Anaya (03:17):
Oh, oh, my God.
Everybody like they say like oh, I quit violin after you know
two months because I couldn'tkeep up with it.
The sound was terrible.
It's normal, it's part of theprocess.
My dad looked at me and he said, ok, I'll get you a violin.
Like a couple of weeks later hegoes to Medellin and he comes
back with a violin.
I remember it was the happiestday of my life.
(03:39):
I was so happy.
I didn't think my dad was goingto give me the violin, but he
shows up with the violin.
Ryan Sharrott (03:45):
And how old were you?
Esther Anaya (03:46):
Oh my God.
Then I was six and a half, Iwas going to like turn seven.
It was right before my seventhbirthday and I remember he gave
me the violin.
He looked at me.
He said OK, I'm going to giveyou a violin, but you have to
make me a promise.
I was like you will never quit.
And I said I promise you, dad,I will never quit.
(04:06):
And I always remember that day.
That was the happiest day of mylife.
My dad gave me the violin, butat the same time he made me make
a promise to him.
And he put me in classes.
I remember my mom would take meevery day after school to
conservatory and it was like avery strict regimen and I was
(04:29):
very frustrated sometimes.
I don't want to practice.
Being honest, as a kid, youhave so many distractions.
You want to be outside playingwith your friends and everything
.
And it was always in the backof my head I'm like, I want to
be playing and I would bepracticing and crying.
My cousins tell me that They'mlike.
I want to be played and I wouldbe practicing and crying.
My cousins, my cousins tell methat they're like.
Do you remember when you usedto practice the violin and you
(04:51):
would be crying in the windowwatching us play and playing the
scales.
(04:56):
I promise my dad.
Esther Anaya (04:58):
I won't quit.
I want to go outside and play.
It's hilarious.
I had forgotten about that, butthen when they remind me, I'm
like you guys, you'll be cryingand watching us play and I was
like, oh my God, don't tell methat, but it was so worth it.
It was so worth it.
Those were like the firstmemories I had of music and the
violin with my father and myfamily, until there was a point
(05:20):
in our lives that you know fastforward a couple of years in our
lives, that you know fastforward a couple of years.
My dad used to work in politicsand was very, very involved in
just making things better, youknow, in any way possible, but
very political Right, involvedmy whole family.
We had like a background ofbeing involved in helping the
communities, helping like littletowns and people just like you
(05:41):
know kind of like get like abetter life in a good way.
And there was a guerrilla atthat time that it was a lot of
conflict with the government.
There was a lot of things goingon and that affected our family
in a major way.
We had a lot of family membersbeing kidnapped, some of them
got killed because of propertiesand because of like differences
(06:06):
of thoughts and thinking andand they were just mad that we
were very our family was veryactivist in that aspect.
And my dad comes home Iremember that, you know, fast
forward a couple years, uh, Iwas about 13 years old.
My dad comes to the house andhe says we got to leave the
country 13 years old.
(06:28):
Yeah, and you know I'm like Ihave my friends here.
I was, we were living inBarranquilla at that moment.
I was going to Casa de laCultura, so I had a very like
beautiful surrounding of likemusic around and my family, and
you know I didn't have anybodyhere in the United States.
(06:49):
But my dad comes and he says,like you know, we got to go.
And I'm like why?
And he's like, well, becauseotherwise I'll get killed.
(06:57):
Like that.
Esther Anaya (06:58):
I mean, my family was very, very straight up.
We always they were very honestwith everything growing up and
were very, very believers in God.
And at that moment we felt thatthe best decision that God was
putting in our hands was theability of leaving the country.
And my dad said I am going tograb everything you have and I
(07:18):
am going to bring you guys tothe United States and we're
going to ask for a politicalasylum and we'll start all the
United States and we're going toask for a political asylum and
we'll start all over as long aswe're all together.
Ryan Sharrott (07:29):
And was your family doing well in Colombia?
Esther Anaya (07:32):
Yeah, we were middle class, we were good, we
were comfortable.
My dad used to work for the ICA, so it was the veterinarian and
so he was.
You know, it was very well offin that aspect and my mom was a
stay-home mom.
She, her purpose was just tomake sure that we were just
studying and, like you know thatupbringing that was very like
(07:55):
nurturing and we just hadmother's day.
Ryan Sharrott (07:57):
mothers are extremely important.
I think that's one of the mostimportant jobs making sure that
stability with the family.
So, dad, this key figure inyour family and in society, says
to his family and a 13-year-olddaughter we're going to leave
and we don't have any friends,we don't have a business, we're
(08:27):
basically going to plead to theUnited States government for
asylum because of all theviolence that was happening.
Esther Anaya (08:32):
How scary was that for you, oh my God.
So that was probably thehardest moment of my life
Uncertainty, you know, like youdon't know what's going to
happen.
I don't know the language.
I, honestly, I always lovedEnglish, but I've never really
paid attention to Englishclasses and I'm like now I
really need it.
I'm like I'm moving to acountry I don't know any English
(08:52):
.
I regret not paying attentionto English classes.
I was like and I am never goingto see my family that's what I
was thinking.
I'm never going to see mygrandpa, my mom, everybody.
I was like, what am I gonna do?
And my dad.
And then you know, as a kid youalways have your things growing
up that you cherish, you know.
And my dad was like you're nottaking anything.
(09:13):
Only take one thing in oneluggage, of course a violin.
that's my one thing in my oneluggage, one bag of luggage and
your violin yeah, and at and atthat moment, I was like I grew
up very de-attached to anythingthat is material.
Ryan Sharrott (09:31):
Materialistic yeah.
Esther Anaya (09:32):
Because I grew up attached and then taking it off.
I'd take it off and we keptmoving cities and I never really
realized why my dad was movingcities every two years until we
he literally said, oh, we got tomove.
And I was like, oh, it had todo with that, like he was being
threatened in every city.
(09:53):
So every two, two years, wewill move out.
And I just thought it wasbecause but it was just part of
something was building up foryears and we were, uh, something
was building up for years.
Wow, and we were blessed enoughthat none of us got killed
while being there and it was adecision that was made at the
right time, god's timing, and wemoved to this country and I
(10:14):
remember that I was trying to bevery positive and my everybody
in the family, we were justtrying to be positive as long as
we have everybody together.
But imagine someone placing in adifferent country.
Like we're all immigrants, allpeople that have come with you
know their families andeverything were placed in the
United States and it's like,okay, figure it out.
You don't know the language,you don't know nothing, but it
(10:36):
started all over again and, um,and my mom and my dad had to
clean houses.
They started from zero likethings.
My mom never worked and she isa very hardworking woman and
they were cleaning houses.
They did so many things.
I remember we used to go play atchurches on the weekends and it
was my dad, my two brothers andI and we would go play at
(10:59):
churches and they would give usofrendas Ofrendas it's like a
gift and with those gifts wewere able to get food on the
weeks and everything.
It was that type of experiencethat I was grateful to know that
there was communities likechurch and so much support of
(11:21):
other people that were willingto help and angels.
I feel like those were angelsthat got placed in our lives.
But I was very sad because Iwas like I'm never going to see
my grandma.
I'm never going to see mygrandpa, all your friends too
completely.
Ryan Sharrott (11:34):
You know the worst with growing up.
People would, especiallymilitary people.
They'd be in your school oneyear.
They're gone, but they're stillfor the most part.
Some would go to othercountries, but they're moving
different areas within theUnited States.
They're born understanding thelanguage.
My wife came from Mexico around13, 14 years old and speaking
English as well I would be.
(11:56):
I don't know that I could learnanother language.
I've had the hardest time withit.
But where did you guys when youcame from Colombia?
Where did you land in theUnited?
Esther Anaya (12:06):
States Downey.
Ryan Sharrott (12:07):
In Downey yeah.
Esther Anaya (12:09):
Downey was the city that we arrived.
First, we had one aunt that hadmoved a couple of years before
because of the same reason.
Because then she was like I'mnot going to put up with this,
I'm leaving, cause.
Then she was like I'm not goingto put up with this, I'm
leaving.
And um, you know her, her casewasn't as hard as ours, but it
was like she just made thedecision right before it got
(12:30):
worse.
And um, and we got to Downeyand we lived with her in one of
the rooms, so it was like thefive of us living in one room.
Uh, yes, it was after me havingmy own room.
It's like, you know, it's goodto know that, like in life you
have, you know, you could behere one day, you could be here,
and it's just the mentality andappreciating the things that
(12:52):
you have around.
Like I was so grateful that myaunt let us stay there and that
we were all together.
At the end of the day, that wasthe only thing that mattered to
me.
You know, when I got to highschool, I faced a lot of
rejection.
You know, I didn't know anyEnglish and, believe it or not,
there's a lot of racism outthere and, and I was made fun of
(13:14):
when I would try to speakEnglish, it's like, oh, like ha,
ha, ha, ha, because I didn'tknow how to pronounce it.
You know, and you know, it'stwo mentalities that you could
have.
I remember I used to just laughat myself too, because I was
like you know, and you know,it's two mentalities that you
could have.
I remember I used to just laughat myself too, because I was
like you know what, if I don'tspeak, I'm never going to like
learn it.
And if people are laughing atme but probably funny, haha,
I'll laugh too.
But you know, it kind of like,you know, affects you quite a
(13:36):
bit knowing that there is likestill like.
Ryan Sharrott (13:46):
You know kind of like racism out there and they
assume because you don't speakthe language you're dumb, yeah
or uh, you know you're less.
You know my wife dealt withthat.
She was a high level mathperson all the size straight a's
when she was in mexico.
She came here she didn't speakenglish.
They just put her in theremedial classes because, oh she
, she can't be that smart, butshe just math was easy because
it's a universal language, right, so she could do all the math
and everything.
But yeah, she dealt with thesame thing and it's unfortunate.
(14:09):
It's kind of a human condition,right?
People when they'reuncomfortable with somebody they
get they'll push their ownfears.
Esther Anaya (14:17):
Yes.
Ryan Sharrott (14:18):
Onto them to make themselves feel better Totally.
At what point you know you comehere, you don't speak any
language.
You're sharing this house,everyone in one room, completely
different life, another country.
At what point did you start torealize dad made the right
decision?
Oh my.
Esther Anaya (14:36):
God.
Ryan Sharrott (14:42):
Because you had to think at first.
Why did you do this?
Esther Anaya (14:43):
to us and you're too young really to understand
the bigger picture.
Yeah, totally, I, you know, Ifeel that a couple of years out,
right after that, because I, Ihad resentment also, you know.
At the same time, you know, I Ijust did not quite understand
when my dad made the decision.
But, um, I just like you know,I just feel that the fact that I
will wake up and I have my dadalive, it was more than anything
(15:05):
.
I could not imagine my lifewithout him, you know, and he's
the fuel of why I do music.
And even more when we moved tothis country, because seeing how
much they sacrifice cleaninghouses and doing anything they
could do to pay for my musicclasses every week, like that,
was one of the first things theyfound.
They didn't know English, butthey figured out to find a
(15:29):
violin teacher for me.
Yeah, so I had a violin teacher.
Her name was Ingrid Chun andshe used to play for the
Philharmonic of Los Angeles.
And see, my parents alwaysbelieved so much that, no matter
what, they would give me my 50dollars every week for my
one-hour class of violin and mydad would take me after work and
(15:54):
drive me to Temple City.
And I was in high school, I wasstill in high school and then I
would go, I would take my class, come back Seeing those things,
I was like this is a privilege.
(16:06):
True sacrifice.
Esther Anaya (16:07):
Yes, it's a privilege to still have my
parents alive together and tobelieve so much in what I am
passionate about and what I lovethat, no matter what is going
around in our families and allthe odds and the circumstances
and we it's not like we had themoney to, but it was so much of
(16:28):
a sacrifice that I, until theday of today, that's one of my
biggest fuels.
Ryan Sharrott (16:34):
They understood what you, at the beginning, you
said.
You know, I never was reallyinto materialistic things.
I never had enough time in anyone place to really accumulate a
whole bunch of things.
Your parents taught you thisthings.
Your parents taught you thisand by showing you what was
important, you're nurturing youreducation, learning, building
(16:54):
on your passion.
I'm sure they never complainedabout giving you the 50 bucks.
I guarantee you it was hardcleaning houses back in the day.
They weren't making a lot ofmoney.
That was probably a day's worthof work.
You know to clean a house.
But here you go, keep doing it.
You made me a promise.
The passion starts buildingwith this violin, right you
start.
(17:14):
When I watch you play.
You're one with this instrument.
I love watching musicians,artists, really good artists in
general.
They always say a really goodartist doesn't look like they're
trying.
You know what's a good actorversus a bad actor?
Right?
The bad actor just totally isover-exaggerating and trying to
really make you believe.
But the ones that are amazing,you just believe that they're
(17:36):
actually that person.
The musicians they go into likea trance.
Esther Anaya (17:40):
Yeah.
Ryan Sharrott (17:40):
When I watch you play, I just see it.
It's just.
I can just watch you.
You're like in this trance.
The music's flowing through you.
The audience is seeing it.
What does your dad think, beinga musician, when you go into?
I call it a trance just becauseit's almost out of body, but
(18:01):
the passion he sees in it, hemust just be overwhelmed,
overblown, emotional.
Esther Anaya (18:06):
Yeah, I think, you know, I think he's living the
dream through my life and weshare that passion together.
So it's like it's literallyevery time he watches me play
and everything I feel he couldsee deep inside himself through
it.
And, um, you know, music it'ssuch a big part of my life
because going through all myhardships was the only way of
(18:26):
releasing everything, like whenI would practice, I'm telling
you I go, I go cry, but I wouldstill keep practicing when I'm,
I was happy.
It was all in my practice timethat I will release my anxiety,
my, you know, hard times, angryor anything.
It was through music, creatingmusic, making music and
(18:48):
practicing.
So I feel so comfortablebecause I feel as a part of my
body and when I perform is theway how I release and that's the
way how I feel I could reallyimpact someone's life in a
positive way.
It was music.
It's universal language andit's like it's a way that you
could actually could connectwith people and that's how I
(19:08):
grew up.
I grew up connecting with music, connecting with my father, my
brothers and all of us throughmusic.
Practicing music together waskind of like worship, worship,
worship, worship to God.
How do you say worshiping?
Ryan Sharrott (19:21):
That's correct.
Esther Anaya (19:23):
Worshiping to God was kind of like our way of our
family coming in together andlike asking God for strength.
It's like help us pleasethrough these hard times that we
just don't have anythingbesides each other and you, and
on the weekends doing that.
So you know, it's a verypowerful tool, tool.
(19:51):
I believe god gave me music,the violin, and the talent he
has given me as a tool forhealing, for, you know, you know
, strength and uh, and impactingpeople's life in a certain way,
in a positive way always when Iwatch you play.
Ryan Sharrott (20:02):
Well, I'll step back from that.
You're classically trained.
People think of the violin.
They think you know classicalmusic.
You know, and it's gorgeous,very emotional.
You know movie scenes.
The violin comes out at themost sad scene.
You know when the person isdying of cancer or something.
(20:24):
You know.
You took this instrument andcreated your own sound, and
everyone needs to go ontoYouTube and check out Esther
Anaya and her videos, if youdon't know.
The sound is unique.
(20:45):
It's uplifting.
You're a dj, yes, as well, soyou incorporate this violin
electric violin into your djmusic.
Um, I was talking to youyesterday and, by the way, we
had a great time at dinner.
Yeah, my wife loves you.
(21:05):
That about you.
Esther Anaya (21:06):
I love her too.
Ryan Sharrott (21:10):
You brought the violin to the NFL.
That if somebody came to mebefore I met you and said, oh
yeah, violin in the NFL, I saidare you nuts?
Nobody in there, they're rockand roll, it's you know.
Bam bam bam.
You get out there, get theseguys pumped up, let's go beat
the other team.
Bam bam, bam.
You get out there, get theseguys pumped up, let's go beat
(21:31):
the other team.
You're in front of 50, 60,000people getting these people on
their feet with the violin andthe NFL.
Esther Anaya (21:39):
How did that come about?
Ryan Sharrott (21:40):
And how did you sell yourself on that?
Excuse me, mr Goodall Goodell,I'd like to play the violin for
an NFL football team all umgoodell, uh, like to play the
violin for an nfl football team?
Esther Anaya (21:53):
oh, my god, you know what?
Um, it was always in my dreamsto be performing at the sofi
stadium.
I even had a picture in myvision board of the sofi stadium
, what it was just recentlybuilt, and I did not know how,
but I said I will be there.
One day.
I love that um, and I have myprayer list and you know all the
best things that had happenedto my life.
(22:14):
I have worked really hard insecret and I have prayed a lot
for it and I have not had tochase it, but god has brought it
to me.
When I've been ready for thetime and the the Chargers was
one of them I did a song withSnoop Dogg, which is another
story I heard.
I ended up doing a song withSnoop Dogg and I took a photo
(22:37):
with Snoop Dogg in the studioand I posted on social media.
And the Chargers saw me ontheir social media, on their
Explorer page.
They hit up our team and askedif I was available to do the
draft day.
They would like for me to dj.
They had hired snoop dogg to dothe performance during that
time and it just all was insynchronization.
(23:00):
I was like what at the sofa?
I was like I told you I waslike one day.
I was so excited you don'tunderstand.
I was like this is a dream, astadium, I was like, one day I
was so excited.
You don't understand.
I was like this is a dream, Astadium.
I was like I love a stadium, myenergy is like stadium.
Like you know, I like to put ona show and everything else.
Okay, hire some dancers, we puton a show, a really cool show.
Ryan Sharrott (23:22):
Not too many people can do that.
You know.
To be able to work a stadium,that's another level.
I mean a lot of artists.
They'll do rooms of 200, 2000is a big room for most artists.
Here we go, get out there andDJ for the stadium.
Wow.
Esther Anaya (23:39):
Love it.
Yeah, I feel like, as an artist, you decide right what type of
audience you want to perform.
There's people that feelcomfortable and people that do
not not feel comfortable, do notever want to be a stadium, so
you know what I mean.
So it's like a different styleand and also the type of music
you make.
Every time I'm creating music,I'm like I imagine a stadium.
(24:01):
That's where I would love toperform these songs and perform
what I'm doing.
But in going back to the story,then I get hired to perform at
the charges in the draft day andit was so great, so great that
they offered me a DJ residencyand when that came, I cried and
(24:22):
I was so grateful.
I was like, wow, this is anopportunity I've been waiting
for many years of my life andhere we are.
Ryan Sharrott (24:31):
How was that phone call?
How was that phone call to yourdad?
Esther Anaya (24:34):
Oh my God, my dad, like you know what.
He doesn't really cry that muchin front of me, he doesn't
behind me.
And then when I turn, like hiseyes are all dry but red.
Ryan Sharrott (24:44):
Allergies, allergies.
Esther Anaya (24:46):
He was so happy.
He allergies, allergies.
He was so happy.
He was so happy.
My mom too.
I remember the first time thatI performed, my mom, my aunt,
they were all screaming fromlike the benches.
They're like, oh my god it's.
You know, I feel like he feelsit's worth them, all the
sacrifices, all the things thatthey did um and then, at least
someone in the family iscarrying on the dream that I'm
(25:08):
not going to lie.
I know each one of my brothers.
They wish they would pursuemusic deep inside and I could
feel it because they love musicso much.
But they went into engineering,they went into different
aspects and they have thepractical track Right, the
practical track.
Yeah, absolutely.
And they have the practicaltrack right.
The practical track, yeah,absolutely.
(25:29):
And uh, and then now, like youknow, they see it and they're
just so proud.
They're like at least someoneis carrying on that anaya dream,
I mean I love.
Ryan Sharrott (25:39):
You know, you mentioned something that I
strongly believe in, and that'syour vision board.
Um, we have my wife and I havea vision board.
It's right in our hallway.
It's like six feet across by,you know, four feet.
Esther Anaya (25:53):
Nice.
Ryan Sharrott (25:53):
Every year we put our goals in.
We do spiritual goals, physicalgoals, you know everything, I'm
a professional, but we have towalk by it every single day.
We actually changed the name ofit two years ago and called it
our success board.
Esther Anaya (26:10):
Nice.
Ryan Sharrott (26:11):
Because we decided we're going to meet 95
to 100 percent of this everysingle year and ever since we
started doing that, just likeyou did, it's a constant, daily
reminder of promises you made toyourself, promises you made to
people that you care about.
You made to yourself, promisesyou made to people that you care
(26:32):
about.
And it really you know, if youget it in your head, it becomes
reality.
And I think you know we tellpeople you got to do this, you
got to.
You can't let life happen byaccident because it's too random
.
Esther Anaya (26:46):
Yeah.
Ryan Sharrott (26:48):
You got to put in the hard work.
You cannot have a victimmentality.
You know you came to America.
This girl from Columbia family,basically a seek seeking asylum
.
You know getting some racismthrown your way, people assuming
because you didn't speakEnglish that well, I guarantee
(27:08):
you she won't ever make anything.
She'll be working minimum wagejobs the rest of her life.
You laughed.
You said okay, yeah, it hurts Imean, everyone's human.
But no, I'm still going to keepmy promise to my dad.
I'm going to keep my visionboard.
I I'm gonna keep my visionboard.
I love the story oh my god andthe, the fruition of that, came
(27:30):
true.
I mean, what was it likewalking in there?
I mean, you're just like, okay,this can't be real.
Somebody pinch me you know what?
Esther Anaya (27:38):
I walked that place like I belong here.
One of the things I've learnedin life, it's like even if I
still don't have it, I like togo where I want to be.
And before I always getsomething major, there is a
setback of many, many rejectionthings.
People might think like, oh,you know, she's a woman, she's
(28:00):
this da da da Pretty, you know,got this.
No, it's not.
It's even harder.
You know she's a woman, she'sthis da-da-da pretty, you know,
got this.
No, it's not.
It's even harder, you know.
And people have themisconception sometimes of not
being too qualified until youprove yourself.
So you have to do double work,like you cannot just be good,
you have to show extra like workethic.
(28:22):
Knock on, knock on doors.
Rejection comes, redirection.
Yes, it hurts, you know.
Okay, bye, you can't, we're notgonna have you anymore.
Or something like, yeah, ithurts so much because you start
doubting yourself.
When you start doubtingyourself, you think you're not
good enough.
And and why am I doing this?
And and then every time I hitthat like kind of like that like
(28:46):
wall in my life.
Um, one thing that have helpedme, it's calling my parents.
They remind me the reason why Istarted and you know, I believe
that in life you might not haveyour parents, you might not
have, uh, those type of peoplearound you, but you might have a
neighbor or someone, a friend.
(29:07):
You know that is not completelyfamily, but those are the
family that you could choose.
Always be very careful of whoyou have around.
I feel that it's very importantbecause that could help you
with moving forward or killingyour dreams, because if I would
have someone, I would be like,yeah, you're probably not good
enough.
You know what?
(29:25):
And they're everywhere.
Esther Anaya (29:26):
Try going into real estate better.
That would probably put me inanother, but someone that it's
like no matter what, keep going,push, keep going, keep going.
You could do this, you could dothis.
It's a big change and I'velearned to get rid of those
negativity in those peoplearound me that I felt sometimes
(29:48):
have not been the best advicegivers, because, as an artist
and as someone that has dreamsand someone that has gone
through a lot of hardship, wehave to understand that life is
never going to be easy and weall say this.
You need to suffer, and it'strue.
You need to suffer toappreciate that's how life is.
You need to suffer toappreciate the good times and
(30:09):
you need to go through sufferingso you can know and take value
on what are the best things tocome and being able to be an
example to other people andshare that with other people,
because there's a lot of otherpeople that are going through
the same situation and hearing astory here and an advice, it
might save them from taking thewrong road, the wrong decision
(30:33):
at that moment.
Ryan Sharrott (30:36):
The more successful that I have gotten in
business and personal adventure, the smaller my trusted friend
group gets.
You learn that the people thatare willing to look you in the
face and tell you the honesttruth, you know those are the
people that are valuable.
The setbacks, when lookedintrospectively, you know, are
(31:01):
actually what push you forward.
Yeah, are actually what pushyou forward Business is.
You know, one of the thingsabout the entertainment world is
it's called show business.
Well, people don't put enoughemphasis on the business part.
You have to be able to providesomething that is good for
business.
(31:21):
So a pretty face doesn't just doit.
You know a certain race justdoesn't do it.
So all these excuses peoplemake, it comes back down to how
much hard work are you going toput into it?
What can I do to provide tosomebody a good business model
and am I going to let them down?
(31:42):
Am I going to keep my promises?
Well, you learn how to do that.
Your dad taught you that one ata young age.
But getting out there and notmaking excuses, you know the
victim mentality.
We all come from a differentspot in life.
Some have a leg up, some don'thave a leg up.
You know different races,different countries.
(32:05):
The great thing about Americais it's a land of opportunity.
It isn't guaranteed.
You still have to do all thework.
We try to tell people failureis a function of success.
You don't know what success isunless you've experienced the
failure.
But you only truly fail if youdon't keep trying.
(32:27):
The hardest thing to do is whenyou make a mistake is to look at
yourself.
We teach people at my companybefore we look outward, look
inward.
Okay, can we do somethingbetter to improve what we do?
Absolutely that is exactly whatyou're doing.
Esther Anaya (32:43):
Absolutely, absolutely.
I feel exactly what you'redoing.
Absolutely, absolutely, I feel.
Life takes so many turns.
Let me share a story.
Actually, that happened to meright after high school, so I
always thought I was going to gointo classical music.
Right, my life right now is sodifferent than what I ever would
have thought.
(33:03):
Right, you grow up, playing'regonna end up at the philharmonic
exactly.
That's everybody's dream, right?
I deep inside knew it was not,but I didn't know how.
I was like.
I'm like nobody really like isa violinist performing artist in
the world, like, like you know.
Um.
So I knew I had to be acceptedinto a conservatory for
(33:25):
classical music.
So after high school I tried it.
I was at Colborne school.
I got rejected.
I applied also to Coastal LongBeach and we never got a letter.
Right, we never got a letter.
So after that I went tocommunity college.
I was like I'm not good enoughfor classical music.
What am I going to do?
(33:45):
I guess I'm just going to haveto study something else because
I'm not, you know, not going tomake it in that industry, in the
classical music.
But there were so many thingsthat always directed me to music
and brought opportunities to me.
I started playing the violinwith DJs for bat mitzvahs,
private parties and we'retalking about like right after
(34:07):
high school.
And then, you know, I startedmeeting people here and there
and I was still going to college.
I ended up studying business,right.
Fast forward, years later Ifind a letter about a year ago,
a year and something ago, in abox that my mom had given me
(34:27):
from you know many years thatshe had saved and she's like oh,
there's a box of like papersfrom you, your life that you
know you should go through themand put away whatever you want
to.
I found an acceptance letter ofa scholarship for Cal State,
long Beach, in the year that Iapplied for and my parents never
(34:48):
opened it.
But, my life would be sodifferent.
And at that time I thought Iwas not good enough and I was
not qualified.
But God's purpose was not forus not to open that letter.
I cried.
I remember looking at bed and Iwas like I can't believe that I
(35:12):
had a new scholarship and Ialways thought I was not good.
But God wanted me to be whereI'm at right now Doing the style
of music, edm, like, like youknow, not being able to perform,
uh, classical music andorchestra put me into a
different path and I was likeokay, I'm gonna take the violin,
like I want to be like Santanaof the violin, like take it into
(35:35):
a different perspective and adifferent style of music and
make it acceptable in differentgenres and get out of the box.
And I want kids to be oh, Iplay violin, I'm proud of
playing violin, not like I feellike a nerd so I gave up my
violin because everybody waslaughing at me.
No, I don't want people to feellike that.
Ryan Sharrott (35:56):
I want people to think violin is cool you know
you've made it so cool thatyou've got NFL fans out there
loving it.
Yeah, it's.
That's a crazy story, you know.
It's interesting is lookingback at all of the things you
know.
There's a saying that sayspeople plan and God laughs.
Esther Anaya (36:21):
Yeah.
Ryan Sharrott (36:22):
Because God has a plan for you that you don't
even know.
And where you're at with thisviolin music, your art, your
creating, it's you Just fromgetting to know you in this
short period of time, I wouldhave a very difficult time
seeing you in.
You know first, even firstchair.
(36:44):
You know playing your violinfor a bunch of silver haired
people.
You know I personally loveclassical music.
I know your dog is Mozart, I'ma huge Beethoven fan.
But you know it's weird tojuxtapose those two images.
I know you could do it, youwere trained to do it, you got a
(37:05):
scholarship to do it andsomehow it got put away with the
ValPak coupon saver, totally, Imean, what a different path.
Esther Anaya (37:17):
What different path.
It's crazy and you know thatfuels me.
So that's why I remember to theletter, I go back to it and I
say that letter that I neveropened those situations could
still happen they will happenyou know, and a rejection, a
door, a major, well many like.
There has been opportunitiesthat have not happened and it
(37:38):
made me really sad, but I know,at the end of the day, that the
dream that I have, it's going tohappen, not the way I want it
and the way I have planned it.
So I have to pivot and I have toknow and I have to train myself
every time to be even better,because there's space for
(37:59):
everybody, but there, at thesame time, there's a space for
you to be unique in your bestversion of yourself, and I feel
that I, every day, I could bebetter, and where you see me
today is not the same placeyou're going to see me.
I'm going to be improving,giving you know, my fans, the
best version of myself.
You know, putting more and moreskills into what I do.
(38:21):
I mean able to make an impact,because when I die, the only
thing people are going toremember is the music that stays
on my spot and my utagen.
So those are the things thatthey are going to be going back
to see everything.
You know, the music.
That's the only thing they'regoing to remember, right?
Ryan Sharrott (38:36):
well, and but the music is is a really
interesting medium, isn't it?
Yeah, um, we were talking last,talking last night.
I grew up in the 80s.
If I'm working in my yard I'llput on Amazon 80s music.
And it's not just music, I'mlistening to.
It's reliving feelings.
It's reliving old first loves,your first little adventure with
(39:01):
your buddies.
You know the school dance.
They really impact youemotionally.
It's not just some boom boom.
Oh yeah, another song.
I like that song.
That's a cool song.
People are going to do that withyour music.
They are doing that with yourmusic.
They're going to remember thefirst time they saw you.
They're going to remember howthey felt.
Maybe they were, you know.
Just think, god, my life's notdoing good right now.
(39:23):
I'm even getting bullied atschool or something.
They go and they go see you.
Wow, I didn't expect this.
Oh, I play the violin.
Whoa, I didn't know you can dothat with a violin, you know.
And then all of a sudden theycome home and they start trying
(39:45):
some of your stuff, and theywill try your, some of your
stuff and maybe get that sameinspiration and passion.
You know, an exercise that we doat my company every year is I
have my team write a betterversion of themselves at the end
of the year, and we always sayif we are the same at the end of
the year, we haven't improved,we haven't changed anything.
You know, there's a saying thatsays the only difference
between you today and five yearsis the people you meet and the
things that you learn.
If you don't learn anything newand you don't go out and meet
(40:06):
anybody new, you're just goingto be the same person in five
years.
That isn't God's vision for ourlives.
I mean, we are designed to growand experience and trip, fall,
scrape our knees, get back up,and that puts a smile on God's
(40:27):
face and it fulfills youinternally.
So, esther, what's on thehorizon for you?
What's up next?
Esther Anaya (40:36):
Oh, my God, so many things.
I have been working on a lot ofmusic lately, and one of the
things that I have learned ishow to find my sound.
You know, I released a lot ofsongs before that have directed
me to the sound I'm going tocurrently, and I'm excited
because I'm releasing one of mysingles, control, right before
(40:58):
summer.
A lot of more music, but thismusic I'm really proud of
because, you know, when you feelthat you have made so many,
it's like when you're cookingand you've made so many bad
cakes, or like for you are badcakes and you're finally this
one I could eat.
That's how I feel right now.
You know all the people I don'tknow how, but that's how I feel
, so I'm very proud of it.
(41:19):
A lot of collaborations, a lotof touring.
I will be in Europe this summer.
I will be in Mykonos, ibiza, sopeople are going to see a lot
of me, and I'm rebranding myYouTube, so I'm putting a lot of
sets, a lot of my DJ sets, sopeople could have more access of
my shows in a frequently way.
(41:39):
Even if you can't make it to myshow, go to my youtube, put up
one of my sets and just vibe toit and enjoy it.
Um, I feel one of my goals thisyear is reactivate my
non-profit, which um has been ina in a stop for last year, but
with uh asaf angels and beingable to, you know, keep
providing those instruments andmusical education to kids.
(42:02):
It's kind of like my ultimatedream, I would say, you know,
creating schools of music aroundthe world.
So reactivating that side of me, it's my major goal, alongside
with music, for this year, soI'm excited for that and of
course, and the los angeleschargers.
Ryan Sharrott (42:21):
well, you know, happiness, true happiness in
life is giving back to otherpeople, serving people.
I always tell you know, we doheating and air conditioning.
How is that?
Well, that just happens to whatwe do.
But we are in the relationshipmanagement business.
We just so happen to fixmachines.
Yeah, we put smiles on people'sface when they're uncomfortable
(42:42):
.
That gives me joy.
You put smiles on people'sfaces no matter where they are
in life.
You've given people theopportunity the kids, to
potentially achieve thesatisfaction and joy that you
found in music through yournonprofit.
Well, esther, this has been somuch fun.
Thank you, I'm so glad Skipintroduced us.
(43:03):
Skip, esther, this has been somuch fun.
Thank you so much for having me.
I'm so glad Skip introduced us.
Skip, as everyone knows, hasbeen on the podcast a couple of
times and I am looking forwardto watching your career blow up
even more.
Amen, and how God's going tobless you and thank you so much
for coming out.
Esther Anaya (43:21):
Thank you for having me.
It's been to bless you.
And thank you so much forcoming out.
Thank you for having me, it'sbeen such a pleasure.
(43:25):
You've been listening to Real People, Real Life.
Our passion is to have realconversations with real people
who've made it.
Real people who've made it whodid it on their own terms.
We'll be back soon, but in themeantime, catch us on Twitter or
X at RPRL Podcast and onYouTube at Real People Real Life
(43:49):
Podcast.
welcome to real people, real life well, esther,
thank you for coming on mypodcast.
I really appreciate you comingout.
I know you guys have beentraveling a lot, flew in from
Dallas and drove the three hoursor two hours to San Diego, so
thank you so much.
I really appreciate it.
Esther Anaya (00:30):
It's so worth it.
Ryan Sharrott (00:31):
So Esther, world-class violinist, LA
Chargers DJ in front of tens ofthousands, 50,000 people getting
the crowds pumped up.
You're all over YouTube, Fun towatch, Very inspiring.
But it didn't start that way.
Esther Anaya (00:52):
No, I wish.
Ryan Sharrott (00:55):
You have an interesting story.
You started in Colombia.
Let's talk about that.
Esther Anaya (01:01):
Yes, I am from Monteria, colombia.
Not everybody knows where it is.
It's a small town in thenorthwest.
Ryan Sharrott (01:08):
Is it near Bucurromanga?
Esther Anaya (01:10):
No, it's not close .
It's closer to the CaribbeanSea, so it's like a couple of
hours from Barranquilla,cartagena, so I'm more closer to
, like you know that area.
Okay, so I grew up there withmy whole family.
I come from a musical family.
My dad is passionate aboutmusic, but he never pursued
(01:32):
music because he was like I needto support my family, it's my
passion, but I need to work, andso I grew up with like a
mentality of like being amusician.
It's like a passion, but it'snot something you pursue because
you're going to be broke.
Ryan Sharrott (01:46):
Very, very common perception, right, you know?
Oh, be an artist, do music, butbecome an attorney or something
that pays the bills.
Quote unquote.
Esther Anaya (01:56):
Totally.
And you know, I think that, see, my dad is someone so talented.
Growing up, like I was likethree years old and I was like
literally like singing with him.
That was like three years oldand I was like literally like
singing with him.
That was like my favorite hobbyJust watch him make music and
sing.
But at the same time, seeingthat like frustration of like I
wish I could do it but I can't.
So I feel like that was like myfuel growing up, like I was
(02:19):
like you know what I want to belike my dad, but I actually want
to pursue music.
And when I turned seven yearsold, I remember my dad.
We were watching a movie and itwas a beautiful movie of an
orphan playing the violin on thestreets, supporting her family.
It was like eight kids and shewas just playing on the streets
(02:40):
and that's the way how she washelping her family, um, every
day to make money.
And I impacted me a lot becauseI was like in the same
mentality of like oh, you'regonna be broke, but she's making
money doing music and it soundsso beautiful and it's such a
beautiful instrument.
I was like I love the violin.
I fell in love with the violinwith that movie and I turned to
(03:01):
my dad and I go, daddy, I want aviolin please.
Ryan Sharrott (03:06):
And he's thinking , oh, when they first start
playing that thing, it'shorrific.
Esther Anaya (03:11):
Terrible.
Ryan Sharrott (03:12):
It sounds horrible, my sister tried to
play the violin and it was anightmare.
Esther Anaya (03:17):
Oh, oh, my God.
Everybody like they say like oh, I quit violin after you know
two months because I couldn'tkeep up with it.
The sound was terrible.
It's normal, it's part of theprocess.
My dad looked at me and he said, ok, I'll get you a violin.
Like a couple of weeks later hegoes to Medellin and he comes
back with a violin.
I remember it was the happiestday of my life.
(03:39):
I was so happy.
I didn't think my dad was goingto give me the violin, but he
shows up with the violin.
Ryan Sharrott (03:45):
And how old were you?
Esther Anaya (03:46):
Oh my God.
Then I was six and a half, Iwas going to like turn seven.
It was right before my seventhbirthday and I remember he gave
me the violin.
He looked at me.
He said OK, I'm going to giveyou a violin, but you have to
make me a promise.
I was like you will never quit.
And I said I promise you, dad,I will never quit.
(04:06):
And I always remember that day.
That was the happiest day of mylife.
My dad gave me the violin, butat the same time he made me make
a promise to him.
And he put me in classes.
I remember my mom would take meevery day after school to
conservatory and it was like avery strict regimen and I was
(04:29):
very frustrated sometimes.
I don't want to practice.
Being honest, as a kid, youhave so many distractions.
You want to be outside playingwith your friends and everything
.
And it was always in the backof my head I'm like, I want to
be playing and I would bepracticing and crying.
My cousins tell me that They'mlike.
I want to be played and I wouldbe practicing and crying.
My cousins, my cousins tell methat they're like.
Do you remember when you usedto practice the violin and you
(04:51):
would be crying in the windowwatching us play and playing the
scales.
(04:56):
I promise my dad.
Esther Anaya (04:58):
I won't quit.
I want to go outside and play.
It's hilarious.
I had forgotten about that, butthen when they remind me, I'm
like you guys, you'll be cryingand watching us play and I was
like, oh my God, don't tell methat, but it was so worth it.
It was so worth it.
Those were like the firstmemories I had of music and the
violin with my father and myfamily, until there was a point
(05:20):
in our lives that you know fastforward a couple of years in our
lives, that you know fastforward a couple of years.
My dad used to work in politicsand was very, very involved in
just making things better, youknow, in any way possible, but
very political Right, involvedmy whole family.
We had like a background ofbeing involved in helping the
communities, helping like littletowns and people just like you
(05:41):
know kind of like get like abetter life in a good way.
And there was a guerrilla atthat time that it was a lot of
conflict with the government.
There was a lot of things goingon and that affected our family
in a major way.
We had a lot of family membersbeing kidnapped, some of them
got killed because of propertiesand because of like differences
(06:06):
of thoughts and thinking andand they were just mad that we
were very our family was veryactivist in that aspect.
And my dad comes home Iremember that, you know, fast
forward a couple years, uh, Iwas about 13 years old.
My dad comes to the house andhe says we got to leave the
country 13 years old.
(06:28):
Yeah, and you know I'm like Ihave my friends here.
I was, we were living inBarranquilla at that moment.
I was going to Casa de laCultura, so I had a very like
beautiful surrounding of likemusic around and my family, and
you know I didn't have anybodyhere in the United States.
(06:49):
But my dad comes and he says,like you know, we got to go.
And I'm like why?
And he's like, well, becauseotherwise I'll get killed.
(06:57):
Like that.
Esther Anaya (06:58):
I mean, my family was very, very straight up.
We always they were very honestwith everything growing up and
were very, very believers in God.
And at that moment we felt thatthe best decision that God was
putting in our hands was theability of leaving the country.
And my dad said I am going tograb everything you have and I
(07:18):
am going to bring you guys tothe United States and we're
going to ask for a politicalasylum and we'll start all the
United States and we're going toask for a political asylum and
we'll start all over as long aswe're all together.
Ryan Sharrott (07:29):
And was your family doing well in Colombia?
Esther Anaya (07:32):
Yeah, we were middle class, we were good, we
were comfortable.
My dad used to work for the ICA, so it was the veterinarian and
so he was.
You know, it was very well offin that aspect and my mom was a
stay-home mom.
She, her purpose was just tomake sure that we were just
studying and, like you know thatupbringing that was very like
(07:55):
nurturing and we just hadmother's day.
Ryan Sharrott (07:57):
mothers are extremely important.
I think that's one of the mostimportant jobs making sure that
stability with the family.
So, dad, this key figure inyour family and in society, says
to his family and a 13-year-olddaughter we're going to leave
and we don't have any friends,we don't have a business, we're
(08:27):
basically going to plead to theUnited States government for
asylum because of all theviolence that was happening.
Esther Anaya (08:32):
How scary was that for you, oh my God.
So that was probably thehardest moment of my life
Uncertainty, you know, like youdon't know what's going to
happen.
I don't know the language.
I, honestly, I always lovedEnglish, but I've never really
paid attention to Englishclasses and I'm like now I
really need it.
I'm like I'm moving to acountry I don't know any English
(08:52):
.
I regret not paying attentionto English classes.
I was like and I am never goingto see my family that's what I
was thinking.
I'm never going to see mygrandpa, my mom, everybody.
I was like, what am I gonna do?
And my dad.
And then you know, as a kid youalways have your things growing
up that you cherish, you know.
And my dad was like you're nottaking anything.
(09:13):
Only take one thing in oneluggage, of course a violin.
that's my one thing in my oneluggage, one bag of luggage and
your violin yeah, and at and atthat moment, I was like I grew
up very de-attached to anythingthat is material.
Ryan Sharrott (09:31):
Materialistic yeah.
Esther Anaya (09:32):
Because I grew up attached and then taking it off.
I'd take it off and we keptmoving cities and I never really
realized why my dad was movingcities every two years until we
he literally said, oh, we got tomove.
And I was like, oh, it had todo with that, like he was being
threatened in every city.
(09:53):
So every two, two years, wewill move out.
And I just thought it wasbecause but it was just part of
something was building up foryears and we were, uh, something
was building up for years.
Wow, and we were blessed enoughthat none of us got killed
while being there and it was adecision that was made at the
right time, god's timing, and wemoved to this country and I
(10:14):
remember that I was trying to bevery positive and my everybody
in the family, we were justtrying to be positive as long as
we have everybody together.
But imagine someone placing in adifferent country.
Like we're all immigrants, allpeople that have come with you
know their families andeverything were placed in the
United States and it's like,okay, figure it out.
You don't know the language,you don't know nothing, but it
(10:36):
started all over again and, um,and my mom and my dad had to
clean houses.
They started from zero likethings.
My mom never worked and she isa very hardworking woman and
they were cleaning houses.
They did so many things.
I remember we used to go play atchurches on the weekends and it
was my dad, my two brothers andI and we would go play at
(10:59):
churches and they would give usofrendas Ofrendas it's like a
gift and with those gifts wewere able to get food on the
weeks and everything.
It was that type of experiencethat I was grateful to know that
there was communities likechurch and so much support of
(11:21):
other people that were willingto help and angels.
I feel like those were angelsthat got placed in our lives.
But I was very sad because Iwas like I'm never going to see
my grandma.
I'm never going to see mygrandpa, all your friends too
completely.
Ryan Sharrott (11:34):
You know the worst with growing up.
People would, especiallymilitary people.
They'd be in your school oneyear.
They're gone, but they're stillfor the most part.
Some would go to othercountries, but they're moving
different areas within theUnited States.
They're born understanding thelanguage.
My wife came from Mexico around13, 14 years old and speaking
English as well I would be.
(11:56):
I don't know that I could learnanother language.
I've had the hardest time withit.
But where did you guys when youcame from Colombia?
Where did you land in theUnited?
Esther Anaya (12:06):
States Downey.
Ryan Sharrott (12:07):
In Downey yeah.
Esther Anaya (12:09):
Downey was the city that we arrived.
First, we had one aunt that hadmoved a couple of years before
because of the same reason.
Because then she was like I'mnot going to put up with this,
I'm leaving, cause.
Then she was like I'm not goingto put up with this, I'm
leaving.
And um, you know her, her casewasn't as hard as ours, but it
was like she just made thedecision right before it got
(12:30):
worse.
And um, and we got to Downeyand we lived with her in one of
the rooms, so it was like thefive of us living in one room.
Uh, yes, it was after me havingmy own room.
It's like, you know, it's goodto know that, like in life you
have, you know, you could behere one day, you could be here,
and it's just the mentality andappreciating the things that
(12:52):
you have around.
Like I was so grateful that myaunt let us stay there and that
we were all together.
At the end of the day, that wasthe only thing that mattered to
me.
You know, when I got to highschool, I faced a lot of
rejection.
You know, I didn't know anyEnglish and, believe it or not,
there's a lot of racism outthere and, and I was made fun of
(13:14):
when I would try to speakEnglish, it's like, oh, like ha,
ha, ha, ha, because I didn'tknow how to pronounce it.
You know, and you know, it'stwo mentalities that you could
have.
I remember I used to just laughat myself too, because I was
like you know, and you know,it's two mentalities that you
could have.
I remember I used to just laughat myself too, because I was
like you know what, if I don'tspeak, I'm never going to like
learn it.
And if people are laughing atme but probably funny, haha,
I'll laugh too.
But you know, it kind of like,you know, affects you quite a
(13:36):
bit knowing that there is likestill like.
Ryan Sharrott (13:46):
You know kind of like racism out there and they
assume because you don't speakthe language you're dumb, yeah
or uh, you know you're less.
You know my wife dealt withthat.
She was a high level mathperson all the size straight a's
when she was in mexico.
She came here she didn't speakenglish.
They just put her in theremedial classes because, oh she
, she can't be that smart, butshe just math was easy because
it's a universal language, right, so she could do all the math
and everything.
But yeah, she dealt with thesame thing and it's unfortunate.
(14:09):
It's kind of a human condition,right?
People when they'reuncomfortable with somebody they
get they'll push their ownfears.
Esther Anaya (14:17):
Yes.
Ryan Sharrott (14:18):
Onto them to make themselves feel better Totally.
At what point you know you comehere, you don't speak any
language.
You're sharing this house,everyone in one room, completely
different life, another country.
At what point did you start torealize dad made the right
decision?
Oh my.
Esther Anaya (14:36):
God.
Ryan Sharrott (14:42):
Because you had to think at first.
Why did you do this?
Esther Anaya (14:43):
to us and you're too young really to understand
the bigger picture.
Yeah, totally, I, you know, Ifeel that a couple of years out,
right after that, because I, Ihad resentment also, you know.
At the same time, you know, I Ijust did not quite understand
when my dad made the decision.
But, um, I just like you know,I just feel that the fact that I
will wake up and I have my dadalive, it was more than anything
(15:05):
.
I could not imagine my lifewithout him, you know, and he's
the fuel of why I do music.
And even more when we moved tothis country, because seeing how
much they sacrifice cleaninghouses and doing anything they
could do to pay for my musicclasses every week, like that,
was one of the first things theyfound.
They didn't know English, butthey figured out to find a
(15:29):
violin teacher for me.
Yeah, so I had a violin teacher.
Her name was Ingrid Chun andshe used to play for the
Philharmonic of Los Angeles.
And see, my parents alwaysbelieved so much that, no matter
what, they would give me my 50dollars every week for my
one-hour class of violin and mydad would take me after work and
(15:54):
drive me to Temple City.
And I was in high school, I wasstill in high school and then I
would go, I would take my class, come back Seeing those things,
I was like this is a privilege.
(16:06):
True sacrifice.
Esther Anaya (16:07):
Yes, it's a privilege to still have my
parents alive together and tobelieve so much in what I am
passionate about and what I lovethat, no matter what is going
around in our families and allthe odds and the circumstances
and we it's not like we had themoney to, but it was so much of
(16:28):
a sacrifice that I, until theday of today, that's one of my
biggest fuels.
Ryan Sharrott (16:34):
They understood what you, at the beginning, you
said.
You know, I never was reallyinto materialistic things.
I never had enough time in anyone place to really accumulate a
whole bunch of things.
Your parents taught you thisthings.
Your parents taught you thisand by showing you what was
important, you're nurturing youreducation, learning, building
(16:54):
on your passion.
I'm sure they never complainedabout giving you the 50 bucks.
I guarantee you it was hardcleaning houses back in the day.
They weren't making a lot ofmoney.
That was probably a day's worthof work.
You know to clean a house.
But here you go, keep doing it.
You made me a promise.
The passion starts buildingwith this violin, right you
start.
(17:14):
When I watch you play.
You're one with this instrument.
I love watching musicians,artists, really good artists in
general.
They always say a really goodartist doesn't look like they're
trying.
You know what's a good actorversus a bad actor?
Right?
The bad actor just totally isover-exaggerating and trying to
really make you believe.
But the ones that are amazing,you just believe that they're
(17:36):
actually that person.
The musicians they go into likea trance.
Esther Anaya (17:40):
Yeah.
Ryan Sharrott (17:40):
When I watch you play, I just see it.
It's just.
I can just watch you.
You're like in this trance.
The music's flowing through you.
The audience is seeing it.
What does your dad think, beinga musician, when you go into?
I call it a trance just becauseit's almost out of body, but
(18:01):
the passion he sees in it, hemust just be overwhelmed,
overblown, emotional.
Esther Anaya (18:06):
Yeah, I think, you know, I think he's living the
dream through my life and weshare that passion together.
So it's like it's literallyevery time he watches me play
and everything I feel he couldsee deep inside himself through
it.
And, um, you know, music it'ssuch a big part of my life
because going through all myhardships was the only way of
(18:26):
releasing everything, like whenI would practice, I'm telling
you I go, I go cry, but I wouldstill keep practicing when I'm,
I was happy.
It was all in my practice timethat I will release my anxiety,
my, you know, hard times, angryor anything.
It was through music, creatingmusic, making music and
(18:48):
practicing.
So I feel so comfortablebecause I feel as a part of my
body and when I perform is theway how I release and that's the
way how I feel I could reallyimpact someone's life in a
positive way.
It was music.
It's universal language andit's like it's a way that you
could actually could connectwith people and that's how I
(19:08):
grew up.
I grew up connecting with music, connecting with my father, my
brothers and all of us throughmusic.
Practicing music together waskind of like worship, worship,
worship, worship to God.
How do you say worshiping?
Ryan Sharrott (19:21):
That's correct.
Esther Anaya (19:23):
Worshiping to God was kind of like our way of our
family coming in together andlike asking God for strength.
It's like help us pleasethrough these hard times that we
just don't have anythingbesides each other and you, and
on the weekends doing that.
So you know, it's a verypowerful tool, tool.
(19:51):
I believe god gave me music,the violin, and the talent he
has given me as a tool forhealing, for, you know, you know
, strength and uh, and impactingpeople's life in a certain way,
in a positive way always when Iwatch you play.
Ryan Sharrott (20:02):
Well, I'll step back from that.
You're classically trained.
People think of the violin.
They think you know classicalmusic.
You know, and it's gorgeous,very emotional.
You know movie scenes.
The violin comes out at themost sad scene.
You know when the person isdying of cancer or something.
(20:24):
You know.
You took this instrument andcreated your own sound, and
everyone needs to go ontoYouTube and check out Esther
Anaya and her videos, if youdon't know.
The sound is unique.
(20:45):
It's uplifting.
You're a dj, yes, as well, soyou incorporate this violin
electric violin into your djmusic.
Um, I was talking to youyesterday and, by the way, we
had a great time at dinner.
Yeah, my wife loves you.
(21:05):
That about you.
Esther Anaya (21:06):
I love her too.
Ryan Sharrott (21:10):
You brought the violin to the NFL.
That if somebody came to mebefore I met you and said, oh
yeah, violin in the NFL, I saidare you nuts?
Nobody in there, they're rockand roll, it's you know.
Bam bam bam.
You get out there, get theseguys pumped up, let's go beat
the other team.
Bam bam, bam.
You get out there, get theseguys pumped up, let's go beat
(21:31):
the other team.
You're in front of 50, 60,000people getting these people on
their feet with the violin andthe NFL.
Esther Anaya (21:39):
How did that come about?
Ryan Sharrott (21:40):
And how did you sell yourself on that?
Excuse me, mr Goodall Goodell,I'd like to play the violin for
an NFL football team all umgoodell, uh, like to play the
violin for an nfl football team?
Esther Anaya (21:53):
oh, my god, you know what?
Um, it was always in my dreamsto be performing at the sofi
stadium.
I even had a picture in myvision board of the sofi stadium
, what it was just recentlybuilt, and I did not know how,
but I said I will be there.
One day.
I love that um, and I have myprayer list and you know all the
best things that had happenedto my life.
(22:14):
I have worked really hard insecret and I have prayed a lot
for it and I have not had tochase it, but god has brought it
to me.
When I've been ready for thetime and the the Chargers was
one of them I did a song withSnoop Dogg, which is another
story I heard.
I ended up doing a song withSnoop Dogg and I took a photo
(22:37):
with Snoop Dogg in the studioand I posted on social media.
And the Chargers saw me ontheir social media, on their
Explorer page.
They hit up our team and askedif I was available to do the
draft day.
They would like for me to dj.
They had hired snoop dogg to dothe performance during that
time and it just all was insynchronization.
(23:00):
I was like what at the sofa?
I was like I told you I waslike one day.
I was so excited you don'tunderstand.
I was like this is a dream, astadium, I was like, one day I
was so excited.
You don't understand.
I was like this is a dream, Astadium.
I was like I love a stadium, myenergy is like stadium.
Like you know, I like to put ona show and everything else.
Okay, hire some dancers, we puton a show, a really cool show.
Ryan Sharrott (23:22):
Not too many people can do that.
You know.
To be able to work a stadium,that's another level.
I mean a lot of artists.
They'll do rooms of 200, 2000is a big room for most artists.
Here we go, get out there andDJ for the stadium.
Wow.
Esther Anaya (23:39):
Love it.
Yeah, I feel like, as an artist, you decide right what type of
audience you want to perform.
There's people that feelcomfortable and people that do
not not feel comfortable, do notever want to be a stadium, so
you know what I mean.
So it's like a different styleand and also the type of music
you make.
Every time I'm creating music,I'm like I imagine a stadium.
(24:01):
That's where I would love toperform these songs and perform
what I'm doing.
But in going back to the story,then I get hired to perform at
the charges in the draft day andit was so great, so great that
they offered me a DJ residencyand when that came, I cried and
(24:22):
I was so grateful.
I was like, wow, this is anopportunity I've been waiting
for many years of my life andhere we are.
Ryan Sharrott (24:31):
How was that phone call?
How was that phone call to yourdad?
Esther Anaya (24:34):
Oh my God, my dad, like you know what.
He doesn't really cry that muchin front of me, he doesn't
behind me.
And then when I turn, like hiseyes are all dry but red.
Ryan Sharrott (24:44):
Allergies, allergies.
Esther Anaya (24:46):
He was so happy.
He allergies, allergies.
He was so happy.
He was so happy.
My mom too.
I remember the first time thatI performed, my mom, my aunt,
they were all screaming fromlike the benches.
They're like, oh my god it's.
You know, I feel like he feelsit's worth them, all the
sacrifices, all the things thatthey did um and then, at least
someone in the family iscarrying on the dream that I'm
(25:08):
not going to lie.
I know each one of my brothers.
They wish they would pursuemusic deep inside and I could
feel it because they love musicso much.
But they went into engineering,they went into different
aspects and they have thepractical track Right, the
practical track.
Yeah, absolutely.
And they have the practicaltrack right.
The practical track, yeah,absolutely.
(25:29):
And uh, and then now, like youknow, they see it and they're
just so proud.
They're like at least someoneis carrying on that anaya dream,
I mean I love.
Ryan Sharrott (25:39):
You know, you mentioned something that I
strongly believe in, and that'syour vision board.
Um, we have my wife and I havea vision board.
It's right in our hallway.
It's like six feet across by,you know, four feet.
Esther Anaya (25:53):
Nice.
Ryan Sharrott (25:53):
Every year we put our goals in.
We do spiritual goals, physicalgoals, you know everything, I'm
a professional, but we have towalk by it every single day.
We actually changed the name ofit two years ago and called it
our success board.
Esther Anaya (26:10):
Nice.
Ryan Sharrott (26:11):
Because we decided we're going to meet 95
to 100 percent of this everysingle year and ever since we
started doing that, just likeyou did, it's a constant, daily
reminder of promises you made toyourself, promises you made to
people that you care about.
You made to yourself, promisesyou made to people that you care
(26:32):
about.
And it really you know, if youget it in your head, it becomes
reality.
And I think you know we tellpeople you got to do this, you
got to.
You can't let life happen byaccident because it's too random
.
Esther Anaya (26:46):
Yeah.
Ryan Sharrott (26:48):
You got to put in the hard work.
You cannot have a victimmentality.
You know you came to America.
This girl from Columbia family,basically a seek seeking asylum
.
You know getting some racismthrown your way, people assuming
because you didn't speakEnglish that well, I guarantee
(27:08):
you she won't ever make anything.
She'll be working minimum wagejobs the rest of her life.
You laughed.
You said okay, yeah, it hurts Imean, everyone's human.
But no, I'm still going to keepmy promise to my dad.
I'm going to keep my visionboard.
I I'm gonna keep my visionboard.
I love the story oh my god andthe, the fruition of that, came
(27:30):
true.
I mean, what was it likewalking in there?
I mean, you're just like, okay,this can't be real.
Somebody pinch me you know what?
Esther Anaya (27:38):
I walked that place like I belong here.
One of the things I've learnedin life, it's like even if I
still don't have it, I like togo where I want to be.
And before I always getsomething major, there is a
setback of many, many rejectionthings.
People might think like, oh,you know, she's a woman, she's
(28:00):
this da da da Pretty, you know,got this.
No, it's not.
It's even harder.
You know she's a woman, she'sthis da-da-da pretty, you know,
got this.
No, it's not.
It's even harder, you know.
And people have themisconception sometimes of not
being too qualified until youprove yourself.
So you have to do double work,like you cannot just be good,
you have to show extra like workethic.
(28:22):
Knock on, knock on doors.
Rejection comes, redirection.
Yes, it hurts, you know.
Okay, bye, you can't, we're notgonna have you anymore.
Or something like, yeah, ithurts so much because you start
doubting yourself.
When you start doubtingyourself, you think you're not
good enough.
And and why am I doing this?
And and then every time I hitthat like kind of like that like
(28:46):
wall in my life.
Um, one thing that have helpedme, it's calling my parents.
They remind me the reason why Istarted and you know, I believe
that in life you might not haveyour parents, you might not
have, uh, those type of peoplearound you, but you might have a
neighbor or someone, a friend.
(29:07):
You know that is not completelyfamily, but those are the
family that you could choose.
Always be very careful of whoyou have around.
I feel that it's very importantbecause that could help you
with moving forward or killingyour dreams, because if I would
have someone, I would be like,yeah, you're probably not good
enough.
You know what?
(29:25):
And they're everywhere.
Esther Anaya (29:26):
Try going into real estate better.
That would probably put me inanother, but someone that it's
like no matter what, keep going,push, keep going, keep going.
You could do this, you could dothis.
It's a big change and I'velearned to get rid of those
negativity in those peoplearound me that I felt sometimes
(29:48):
have not been the best advicegivers, because, as an artist
and as someone that has dreamsand someone that has gone
through a lot of hardship, wehave to understand that life is
never going to be easy and weall say this.
You need to suffer, and it'strue.
You need to suffer toappreciate that's how life is.
You need to suffer toappreciate the good times and
(30:09):
you need to go through sufferingso you can know and take value
on what are the best things tocome and being able to be an
example to other people andshare that with other people,
because there's a lot of otherpeople that are going through
the same situation and hearing astory here and an advice, it
might save them from taking thewrong road, the wrong decision
(30:33):
at that moment.
Ryan Sharrott (30:36):
The more successful that I have gotten in
business and personal adventure, the smaller my trusted friend
group gets.
You learn that the people thatare willing to look you in the
face and tell you the honesttruth, you know those are the
people that are valuable.
The setbacks, when lookedintrospectively, you know, are
(31:01):
actually what push you forward.
Yeah, are actually what pushyou forward Business is.
You know, one of the thingsabout the entertainment world is
it's called show business.
Well, people don't put enoughemphasis on the business part.
You have to be able to providesomething that is good for
business.
(31:21):
So a pretty face doesn't just doit.
You know a certain race justdoesn't do it.
So all these excuses peoplemake, it comes back down to how
much hard work are you going toput into it?
What can I do to provide tosomebody a good business model
and am I going to let them down?
(31:42):
Am I going to keep my promises?
Well, you learn how to do that.
Your dad taught you that one ata young age.
But getting out there and notmaking excuses, you know the
victim mentality.
We all come from a differentspot in life.
Some have a leg up, some don'thave a leg up.
You know different races,different countries.
(32:05):
The great thing about Americais it's a land of opportunity.
It isn't guaranteed.
You still have to do all thework.
We try to tell people failureis a function of success.
You don't know what success isunless you've experienced the
failure.
But you only truly fail if youdon't keep trying.
(32:27):
The hardest thing to do is whenyou make a mistake is to look at
yourself.
We teach people at my companybefore we look outward, look
inward.
Okay, can we do somethingbetter to improve what we do?
Absolutely that is exactly whatyou're doing.
Esther Anaya (32:43):
Absolutely, absolutely.
I feel exactly what you'redoing.
Absolutely, absolutely, I feel.
Life takes so many turns.
Let me share a story.
Actually, that happened to meright after high school, so I
always thought I was going to gointo classical music.
Right, my life right now is sodifferent than what I ever would
have thought.
(33:03):
Right, you grow up, playing'regonna end up at the philharmonic
exactly.
That's everybody's dream, right?
I deep inside knew it was not,but I didn't know how.
I was like.
I'm like nobody really like isa violinist performing artist in
the world, like, like you know.
Um.
So I knew I had to be acceptedinto a conservatory for
(33:25):
classical music.
So after high school I tried it.
I was at Colborne school.
I got rejected.
I applied also to Coastal LongBeach and we never got a letter.
Right, we never got a letter.
So after that I went tocommunity college.
I was like I'm not good enoughfor classical music.
What am I going to do?
(33:45):
I guess I'm just going to haveto study something else because
I'm not, you know, not going tomake it in that industry, in the
classical music.
But there were so many thingsthat always directed me to music
and brought opportunities to me.
I started playing the violinwith DJs for bat mitzvahs,
private parties and we'retalking about like right after
(34:07):
high school.
And then, you know, I startedmeeting people here and there
and I was still going to college.
I ended up studying business,right.
Fast forward, years later Ifind a letter about a year ago,
a year and something ago, in abox that my mom had given me
(34:27):
from you know many years thatshe had saved and she's like oh,
there's a box of like papersfrom you, your life that you
know you should go through themand put away whatever you want
to.
I found an acceptance letter ofa scholarship for Cal State,
long Beach, in the year that Iapplied for and my parents never
(34:48):
opened it.
But, my life would be sodifferent.
And at that time I thought Iwas not good enough and I was
not qualified.
But God's purpose was not forus not to open that letter.
I cried.
I remember looking at bed and Iwas like I can't believe that I
(35:12):
had a new scholarship and Ialways thought I was not good.
But God wanted me to be whereI'm at right now Doing the style
of music, edm, like, like youknow, not being able to perform,
uh, classical music andorchestra put me into a
different path and I was likeokay, I'm gonna take the violin,
like I want to be like Santanaof the violin, like take it into
(35:35):
a different perspective and adifferent style of music and
make it acceptable in differentgenres and get out of the box.
And I want kids to be oh, Iplay violin, I'm proud of
playing violin, not like I feellike a nerd so I gave up my
violin because everybody waslaughing at me.
No, I don't want people to feellike that.
Ryan Sharrott (35:56):
I want people to think violin is cool you know
you've made it so cool thatyou've got NFL fans out there
loving it.
Yeah, it's.
That's a crazy story, you know.
It's interesting is lookingback at all of the things you
know.
There's a saying that sayspeople plan and God laughs.
Esther Anaya (36:21):
Yeah.
Ryan Sharrott (36:22):
Because God has a plan for you that you don't
even know.
And where you're at with thisviolin music, your art, your
creating, it's you Just fromgetting to know you in this
short period of time, I wouldhave a very difficult time
seeing you in.
You know first, even firstchair.
(36:44):
You know playing your violinfor a bunch of silver haired
people.
You know I personally loveclassical music.
I know your dog is Mozart, I'ma huge Beethoven fan.
But you know it's weird tojuxtapose those two images.
I know you could do it, youwere trained to do it, you got a
(37:05):
scholarship to do it andsomehow it got put away with the
ValPak coupon saver, totally, Imean, what a different path.
Esther Anaya (37:17):
What different path.
It's crazy and you know thatfuels me.
So that's why I remember to theletter, I go back to it and I
say that letter that I neveropened those situations could
still happen they will happenyou know, and a rejection, a
door, a major, well many like.
There has been opportunitiesthat have not happened and it
(37:38):
made me really sad, but I know,at the end of the day, that the
dream that I have, it's going tohappen, not the way I want it
and the way I have planned it.
So I have to pivot and I have toknow and I have to train myself
every time to be even better,because there's space for
(37:59):
everybody, but there, at thesame time, there's a space for
you to be unique in your bestversion of yourself, and I feel
that I, every day, I could bebetter, and where you see me
today is not the same placeyou're going to see me.
I'm going to be improving,giving you know, my fans, the
best version of myself.
You know, putting more and moreskills into what I do.
(38:21):
I mean able to make an impact,because when I die, the only
thing people are going toremember is the music that stays
on my spot and my utagen.
So those are the things thatthey are going to be going back
to see everything.
You know, the music.
That's the only thing they'regoing to remember, right?
Ryan Sharrott (38:36):
well, and but the music is is a really
interesting medium, isn't it?
Yeah, um, we were talking last,talking last night.
I grew up in the 80s.
If I'm working in my yard I'llput on Amazon 80s music.
And it's not just music, I'mlistening to.
It's reliving feelings.
It's reliving old first loves,your first little adventure with
(39:01):
your buddies.
You know the school dance.
They really impact youemotionally.
It's not just some boom boom.
Oh yeah, another song.
I like that song.
That's a cool song.
People are going to do that withyour music.
They are doing that with yourmusic.
They're going to remember thefirst time they saw you.
They're going to remember howthey felt.
Maybe they were, you know.
Just think, god, my life's notdoing good right now.
(39:23):
I'm even getting bullied atschool or something.
They go and they go see you.
Wow, I didn't expect this.
Oh, I play the violin.
Whoa, I didn't know you can dothat with a violin, you know.
And then all of a sudden theycome home and they start trying
(39:45):
some of your stuff, and theywill try your, some of your
stuff and maybe get that sameinspiration and passion.
You know, an exercise that we doat my company every year is I
have my team write a betterversion of themselves at the end
of the year, and we always sayif we are the same at the end of
the year, we haven't improved,we haven't changed anything.
You know, there's a saying thatsays the only difference
between you today and five yearsis the people you meet and the
things that you learn.
If you don't learn anything newand you don't go out and meet
(40:06):
anybody new, you're just goingto be the same person in five
years.
That isn't God's vision for ourlives.
I mean, we are designed to growand experience and trip, fall,
scrape our knees, get back up,and that puts a smile on God's
(40:27):
face and it fulfills youinternally.
So, esther, what's on thehorizon for you?
What's up next?
Esther Anaya (40:36):
Oh, my God, so many things.
I have been working on a lot ofmusic lately, and one of the
things that I have learned ishow to find my sound.
You know, I released a lot ofsongs before that have directed
me to the sound I'm going tocurrently, and I'm excited
because I'm releasing one of mysingles, control, right before
(40:58):
summer.
A lot of more music, but thismusic I'm really proud of
because, you know, when you feelthat you have made so many,
it's like when you're cookingand you've made so many bad
cakes, or like for you are badcakes and you're finally this
one I could eat.
That's how I feel right now.
You know all the people I don'tknow how, but that's how I feel
, so I'm very proud of it.
(41:19):
A lot of collaborations, a lotof touring.
I will be in Europe this summer.
I will be in Mykonos, ibiza, sopeople are going to see a lot
of me, and I'm rebranding myYouTube, so I'm putting a lot of
sets, a lot of my DJ sets, sopeople could have more access of
my shows in a frequently way.
(41:39):
Even if you can't make it to myshow, go to my youtube, put up
one of my sets and just vibe toit and enjoy it.
Um, I feel one of my goals thisyear is reactivate my
non-profit, which um has been ina in a stop for last year, but
with uh asaf angels and beingable to, you know, keep
providing those instruments andmusical education to kids.
(42:02):
It's kind of like my ultimatedream, I would say, you know,
creating schools of music aroundthe world.
So reactivating that side of me, it's my major goal, alongside
with music, for this year, soI'm excited for that and of
course, and the los angeleschargers.
Ryan Sharrott (42:21):
well, you know, happiness, true happiness in
life is giving back to otherpeople, serving people.
I always tell you know, we doheating and air conditioning.
How is that?
Well, that just happens to whatwe do.
But we are in the relationshipmanagement business.
We just so happen to fixmachines.
Yeah, we put smiles on people'sface when they're uncomfortable
(42:42):
.
That gives me joy.
You put smiles on people'sfaces no matter where they are
in life.
You've given people theopportunity the kids, to
potentially achieve thesatisfaction and joy that you
found in music through yournonprofit.
Well, esther, this has been somuch fun.
Thank you, I'm so glad Skipintroduced us.
(43:03):
Skip, esther, this has been somuch fun.
Thank you so much for having me.
I'm so glad Skip introduced us.
Skip, as everyone knows, hasbeen on the podcast a couple of
times and I am looking forwardto watching your career blow up
even more.
Amen, and how God's going tobless you and thank you so much
for coming out.
Esther Anaya (43:21):
Thank you for having me.
It's been to bless you.
And thank you so much forcoming out.
Thank you for having me, it'sbeen such a pleasure.
(43:25):
You've been listening to Real People, Real Life.
Our passion is to have realconversations with real people
who've made it.
Real people who've made it whodid it on their own terms.
We'll be back soon, but in themeantime, catch us on Twitter or
X at RPRL Podcast and onYouTube at Real People Real Life
(43:49):
Podcast.
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