Women Who Rock: Lisa Mishra

When she was ten years old, Lisa Mishra made a short comic book titled “Lisa Mishra: A Star is Born!” which charted out the trajectory of an up and coming singer jo ab hazaaron logon ke saamne perform karti hai. A fairytale, she made come true for herself by working as well as promoting her work for 13 years now. Ye shuru hua ek Instagram post se where the Chicago-based singer-blogger-data analyst  caught the attention of the makers of Veere Di Wedding, and Lisa was flown down to Mumbai to record the song. “I cannot believe that it’s actually the story of my life right now. I get to live my dream every day,” she says. But ek 9-5 background se ek creative entrepreneur ki tarah rehna, was a little worrisome, initially, when she switched careers. “You really have to have a lot of drive and skill to make it in the industry, especially jab aapke paas ek family backing aur koi formal training na ho. There is no fallback option or room for error. You have to catch yourself when you fall, improve on your skills, continue to grow and manage your workload without oversight. Khud ka structure and format create karna padta hai. That’s when the fun really begins,” she says.

But through it all, she emphasises that constantly learn karte rehna bohot important hai. She’s always wanted to know the back end of creating music — audio engineering, vocal production, and music production. “Sabko aisa lagta hai that women are limited to just being vocalists, par mujhe har aspect mein well- rounded hona hai (instrumentally, vocally, lyrically, compositionally).

But there are some incredibly talented women doing this already, who inspire me,” says the vocalist, who started her journey without any formal training. “I think for my personal fulfilment as an artist, mujhe ye skill sets develop karne hoge and become a complete one woman show right down to the fine-tuning and post-production,” she explains.

Therefore, her next goal in life is to write and compose a full album. “Ek musician ke liye to own a piece of art in its entirety, sabse badi cheez hoti hai. I want to be able to proudly say, “I made that!” And it’s important to me as a woman to do this, kyuki main apne musical ability pe ek gender based societal misconception nahi chaahti, (which tends to happen quite a bit),” she says.

But now that she has so many youngsters looking up at her, what tips does she have for them to turn their dreams into reality? “I think - courage and great speaking skills hona bohot zaroori hai. You have to be brave to take the plunge, you’ll be making and owning decisions constantly. And you cannot be shy kyuki log aapko sun ne wale hain. If you’re scared to talk, they’ll be unwilling to listen,” she concludes.