Giving Birth To The Papa Lo-Down

Today's guest Thick Witness is Paloma Belara, the public relations mastermind behind much of the ill-Literacy success. She's the smiling face over your shoulder at the party, and easily the drop dead gorgeous-est at all times. Paloma's on loan from her own daily blog, and writes about her time asserting herself as a young PR genius girl with hips phenom. Thickwit's proud to have her before she becomes your household name in music industry baller-dom.

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I've really only started working in the music/entertainment industry for about three years now. Ever since I moved back to the Bay from my 2+ year adventure in New York, it has been a period of trial and error and many successes as well. I'm proud of myself. From securing a trademark, building a website, producing an open mic, freelance writing for a magazine, managing, booking, counseling a group during their breakup, securing a clothing sponsorship, co-producing an online remix contest, producing shows, managing distribution and promotions, securing features on prominent publications and media outlets, shiiiiet... I've done a lot!!

So after all that, I burned myself out... go figure! I was warned by those close to me of the workload...but I've always been rebellious or hard headed (depends on the situation), so I had to go through several breakdowns before I dropped everything and decided to take a leave of absence. Re-evaluate, find balance, research, breathe, spend time with all the children in my life (eight nephews and one niece to be exact), and mostly to organize myself so that I could come back into the biz feeling confident about the goals being set.

Six months into my hiatus, and I'm gearing up for my return! There are hella things about to pop off and way too many opportunities sitting there calling my name that I couldn't stand back and let it pass me by. I'm excited, nervous, anxious, confident, insecure. All that, and then some... rolled into one.

I have my days... where I'll hit up one of my confidants seeking moral support. I start the conversation with, "I'm having a moment..." because the fear and insecurity takes over me, it happens... and then I have my good days as well, I'm on top of my game and the drive to make moves is like an adrenaline rush after the end of a roller coaster ride.

So here I am ready to give "birth" to what I hope will become a Bay Area (and beyond), household name within the independent music and entertainment industry, enter - "The Papa Lo-Down"

Right now what you see is a blog of my experiences in the music industry - with the objective to provide tips, advice, and insight for independent artists that are self-managing their careers. I definitely don't think I know everything, but I hope by offering what has or hasn't worked and what I think could work, from my point of view, will in turn benefit someone else's career.

I'll be launching a PR (public relations) service in the fall and expanding the scope of the blog to include more news and information surrounding the Bay Area Hip Hop Industry. And please believe the "contractions" I'm having are going to come much more frequently as my "due date" approaches, so to all my homies - I suggest you block me from your gchat list if you don't want to hear me stress out! :)

The support I get from my family, friends, and community (aka network), is truly a driving force in keeping me on track and focused, giving me confidence that all the heartache, sleepless nights, and half empty gas tanks are not in vain.

Damn, being a "single mother" is not easy, but as the saying goes "it takes a village to raise a child...", and I happen to live in the freshest village on the west coast.

www.papalodown.com