Today we’d like to introduce you to Raffaele Mary.
Hi Raffaele, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I came to NY in the 80s to study fashion design, then I moved on working in nightlife, then became one of the singers in an 80s/90s metal band that got some attention and a record deal on Sony Music (Cycle Sluts from Hell).
After that, I went back to nightlife, then got into doing finances for a well-known fashion stylist.
I moved on from there and was asked by a friend to run Wendigo Productions NY, which is a sort of music management/finance/helper company for a small roster of musicians, hand-picked by my partner and I, where all of my past experience and connections have coalesced into a decent amount of knowledge to pass on to young musicians looking to succeed.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I am unsure of which aspect you are referring to, so I’ll give a broad answer. Wendigo has been smooth and I love my current career/job. My career as a musician was both exciting and challenging, I learned a lot from it but there was a lot of pain involved as well. Job-wise, prior to Wendigo, I have had some great moments and some truly grueling ones.
I hated the fashion industry and although I loved working in nightlife at one time, that became daunting once the climate toward clubs changed in NYC in the 90s (Giuliani) so that broke my heart as well. I have always been a hard worker and have been lucky that I have been able to reinvent myself a number of times career-wise.
I feel that each experience, good or bad, becomes a new tool to be used moving forward, but while you’re experiencing some of it, it’s not always fun. The main lesson I continue to learn is that work is simply another relationship, and to use my intuition always.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I run, for lack of a better description, a music management company. I have been immersed in music and the music world since I was young, and it is my favorite place to be. I am known most publicly for my time as a singer in Cycle Sluts From Hell, and I use that experience in my current career. I also write a blog that is pretty popular.
I am most proud of my survival. I came from a small town, very naive, and have managed to carve a good niche out for myself in NYC, which is not the easiest city in the world for that.
I feel that I am a unique person in that I have worked in many fields – performing, finance/office work, running companies, side of the stage, behind a bar, booking shows–all of these random but connected adventures that have now coalesced into a solid bank of knowledge and connections that could only come with hard-knock experience.
So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
Happiness, peace. I am a woman of a certain age and at this point, I just want to feel clear and content. So my main focus on a day-to-day basis is to show up as the best version of myself as I can. I find that if I take care of my spirit I choose more enjoyable work and my career rolls out more smoothly.
Contact Info:
- Email: raff@wendigoproductions.com
- Website: www.raffaelemary.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/missanthropenyc
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/darklady189
Image Credits
Jeff Smith and Anjanette McGrath.
