Photo credits: Auggie Velarde
In your lifetime, you’ll hear the phrase “follow your heart” so many times you’ll lose count. Colleagues, friends, well-meaning strangers, and even relatives who you don’t know that much will echo the same sentiments. Unfortunately, societal expectations and your conditioning may not allow you to do that. Or maybe, like Auggie Velarde, you will make your passion a side hustle until that is no longer enough.
Auggie is a self-taught Peruvian-American singer-songwriter. Auggie and his family moved to the US with nothing but big dreams. As a young boy, he was taught that anything he wanted was possible if he set his mind to it. He really took that statement to heart. Around the same time, he fell in love with music and discovered the internet. That’s how he became the person he is today.
Despite proving his love for music, pursuing it as a career was not an option for Auggie. His loved ones did not want to see him struggle following such a difficult path. However, giving up on his dreams was also not an option for him. Consequently, he found himself living two lives.
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He took refuge in technology. Behind a computer, he realized he could create music with complete anonymity. He also explored and taught himself how to code. He made music under various aliases and worked as a software engineer and entrepreneur using his real name. As the music grew, however, keeping his two worlds separate became harder and harder.
Auggie spent many years focusing on school and work, but soon, the realization that most of his life had been a product of societal expectations hit him. All along, he had been suppressing his passion and creativity. The very idea that he could miss out on the incredible opportunity to create something greater than himself was unthinkable. The discovery that if he ignored the irresistible urge to explore his artistic side would lead to unbearable regret was sobering.
Shortly after, he disconnected himself from everything that was holding him back from his pursuit of happiness. He quit his job, left behind toxic people and naysayers, and broke his bad habits. Looking back at that period, he says he feared he had a lot to lose but realized he also had a lot to gain. In fact, it was then he found an actual purpose to live for. Today, he says, “Frankly, I think it might have been the most important decision I’ve made so far.”
It didn’t take long for Auggie to start seeing the results of his persistence. Soon, he was earning awards and recognition from different organizations and brands. His latest releases “Asi Es,” “Otro Nivel,” “Ansiedad,” and “Errores” received a lot of support from TIDAL, Deezer, and SoundCloud. And the journey to becoming the best is still ongoing.
Auggie’s success teaches us two main lessons. First, giving up on what you love and what makes you happy is never an option. You can’t decide to give up because the people around you don’t understand what you are doing. You get one life to live, and therefore, you should stay true to yourself.
Second, continuous learning is imperative. If you want to stand out, you must do things differently from how others do them. And to achieve that, you must be in constant learning mode. If Auggie had not incorporated technology into his art, he’d probably still be living in obscurity.
At the moment, Auggie is considering future collaborations with his musical heroes. He says, “I feel like the blend of all these genres with masters of their craft would become a source for a ton of innovative musical experiments.” He also hopes to perform in Peru in a few years.
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