Harpist From The Hood - Destiny Muhammad

#063 - Today we talk to Destiny Muhammad, AKA The Harpist From The Hood. Destiny has an inspiring story.  She grew up a military kid, but when her parents divorced, her mother moved with three little girls to Compton, CA.  An episode of I Love Lucy inspired young Destiny to play the harp, but that was not seen as a practical choice for a family navigating the welfare system.

After graduating from high school Destiny became a barber, opening up a shop near the projects where she grew up, but then she got re-introduced to the harp.

“And for you barbers out there, you know, barbering is lucrative - LUCRATIVE. So I'm doing well and thinking this is what I'm going to do.  In about 1991, I started dating a man whose best friend is a harp builder in a little town not too far from here called San Juan Batista. And in 1992, I got my first harp at the age of 30 and I started studying and eventually, I knew that I had had this dream and it was being brought back to me.”

She started taking lessons as a 30 yr old adult, playing next to children.  She moved to Oakland from LA in 1997 and began playing farmers markets to gain confidence and that is where she found her name by starting a session with…

“Jack London Farmers Market needs every Sunday rain or shine from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM and my name is Destiny Muhammad, and I'm your friendly neighborhood Harpist From The Hood, letting you know it is all good - here at the Jack London Farmers Market. People laughed, I mean, so it stuck.”

Stick around until the end to hear how an “inner message from God” about 6-7 months before the pandemic hit, made her start preparing before the shutdown.