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This is a great question. There is so much to share, but I will keep it short. My journey began when I was left in Texas at 16 years old on my own to raise my daughter. I stayed in an empty apartment with no food, electricity, furniture, or anything. The only lights that I had were the lights that lit up my apartment complex hallway, and I would open up the blinds at night, so I wasn’t completely sleeping in the dark. I would get up and go to school because It was therapeutic. I was an honor student…
My name is Mike Oellrich and I am a former Drummer, Rapper, Producer and Global Marketing Specialist at Sony Records. I have ALWAYS enjoyed making music, but my skills were limited in what I could create (aka I was mediocre at all those endeavors). My true skill and What I knew I always had at a very young age was a special ear for talent, for new trends in genres, and being able to dig and find up and coming musicians. I was an A&R at heart, but as the music industry started to shift and YouTube became the new…
I started with dreams of becoming an actor, but that’s one of those professions that everyone tells you is a dream that’s impossible to achieve. I gave up on the dream for something more “practical,” studying psychology and eventually going to law school. I knew the actual day-to-day of being a lawyer wasn’t for me, but I understood that people would likely take me more seriously if I was a “lawyer.” After law school, I jumped into real estate investor and flipping houses in Austin, Texas, which I truly love. Renovating homes is the perfect combination art and business. It’s…
I received a camera when I was 10 years old. I fell in love with making photographs. It was always just a hobby so I proceeded to earn an MA is psychology, an MS in hydrogeology – then while in the doldrums of academia as a PhD student in hydrogeology I had a realization. Academia is a wasteland. So I dropped out and began working at a new restaurant that was starting up in Austin – Odd Duck. I loved their concept of farm to table and the food was amazing – so I stuck around. Then I decided to…
I got started in the Texas music scene at a young age, my father was a full time gigging musician and record store owner. I grew up inside my families record store running around the display cases and going through mountains of dusty records, music magazines and old show posters from Austin’s past. My Dad would take me to all of his gigs around town and let me sit on his lap while he played drums. Through the record store and music venues I became accustomed to the local scene and it felt natural when I started frequenting these places…
Monday October 16 is a day I’ll never forget and a day that made me the strong, courageous woman I am today. On October 16 I was taking a shower, felt a lump, and the next day I acted on it. One doctor visit, one mammogram & a week later it was confirmed I had stage 2 breast cancer. 16 chemos and 2 major surgeries later I am back and better than ever and now helping others who either have breast cancer or know someone that does.