Meet Taya Marquis
I was a little girl with a big dream, after watching Whitney Houston sing “I Will Always Love You” on TV. I then started writing songs as soon as I could! I didn’t know that I could turn those songs into records until I accidentally met a young producer in LA on vacation when I was a teenager. We worked back and forth from Mississauga and LA via the internet for the next seven years. I was honing my songwriting and recording skills at that time. Until I realized I knew nothing about the business of music, which is when I decided to enroll into Metalworks Institute for the Entertainment Business Management program! After graduating, I decided I wanted to be an artist, as well as a songwriter and then went for it. It has been a lot of hard work, education, perfecting my skills and gaining resilience.
A smooth road…what does that even look like?? If it’s smooth, you know it’s probably just the calm before a new storm. Some people’s journeys might be smooth but, speaking for myself, it has been the toughest up hill climb, with challenge after challenge – but the reward of fulfilling my life’s purpose is priceless and makes everything worth it.
My first challenge was losing all my music I wrote for seven years due to a falling out with that original producer from LA and having to start over. First lesson: always keep all your music on your own hard drive!
Other challenges have been funding…having to support all of my projects myself is tough because as much as my parents support my dreams, they believe in me working for it as well. I’ve had to work jobs just to pay for music videos, music production, hiring musicians and more. Being an independent artist is challenging at all times because you are not only the artist, but you are also the label. Having to wear so many hats can be very overwhelming but I am also grateful for my team, who have been rocking with me and supporting me. It definitely gets easier when you start to build a team, but ultimately all the decision making still falls on the artist, so I have to always know what I want!
I personally define success as fulfillment. If whatever you are doing is fulfilling your soul, whether it be picking up garbage, winning in the stock market or making music. It has to be making me happy. Yes, money is necessary as well, and it’s important to be compensated for what I am doing, but if it doesn’t make me happy – I’m out!
Some things I am most proud of to date in my career is writing with Ke$ha, opening for Tinashe, putting out two EPs, building a solid team for myself and being awarded the JSR FACTOR grant!
I still have lots more goals to accomplish on my plate so stay tuned 🙂 I am known for my hashtag #positiviTay because I always try my best in any situation to find the positive in it. I have been through a lot and have had lots of hardships which has made me realize the importance of staying positive and finding the light in these dark tunnels we all often find ourselves in.
To be honest, my marker and criteria is kindness and love. I am all for drive, hard work, and determination, but I believe everything you touch should be touched with kindness and love. We are all human beings looking to connect, and that really is my through-line in my whole life and my career. I care about people.
It’s important to me that the people I meet, work with, and collaborate with know they are appreciated and loved, and sometimes all it takes is five extra seconds to say to someone “How are you?” and to really mean it.
