6 minute read
Glenda Benevides
BADASS GODDESS GODDESS
GLENDA BENEVIDES
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Exclusive Interview
Glenda Benevides is an award winning, Recording Academy voting member, GRAMMY® considered singer-songwriter who weaves stories that touch the soul. Imagine the soul singing love child of Heart, Janis Joplin, and Bessie Smith and that is
Glenda. A powerfully resonate voice, emanating with blues and soul, demanding attention, calling to action and uplifting the very fabric of love shared amongst us all… Like a wild tent revival preacher,
Glenda’s sermon is empowerment, enlightenment and building bridges of understanding all wrapped in powerful self-expression that moves you from the head to the feet!
Q: WHEN DID YOU BEGIN JUGGLING BOTH YOUR MUSIC AND BOOK WRITING CAREERS?
I’ve always had a professional music career from an early age but I guess starting in 2018, it seemed I was doing a fair amount of insight coaching for a few friends and it seemed to truly give empowerment. So, I wondered if I had anything extra of value to share along these lines for a book. I thought how hard could it be? I’ll do 10 to 15 chapters and I’ll do a chapter a day. It was an inner personal challenge and I wanted to see how hard it could be. So, I started with an outline and my theme was courage because I knew what it took to have it. I decided inside the outline would be my journey on how I created Courage. Well, I tell you I did it. The outline ended up being 10 chapters and I finished in 15 days. Yes, success! I thought. Well that was only the beginning and the road to hell was paved with my inspired good intentions! Needless to say no more books, but I do write songs and inspired blogs on themes worth speaking about. I try to write from experience and inspiration more than my opinion. There’s a lot of opinions we don’t need one more uninformed one from me.
Q: WHAT IS YOUR MUSIC GODDESS ABOUT?
It’s a celebration of life’s differences, love and to embrace our own empowerment with solutions. The Goddess EP was also a connection to Global Badass Goddess which is my workshop on Owning The Goddess Within. Yes, music and self realization is the key to ones own clear thinking, the heart and empowerment. I believe there are no accidents and that we are creating our world at every moment with every though and words we speak. I know that we are all amazing human beings if we just look and look deeply to see. We can all find that special something we have to give and to share it with others. I truly believe that. I feel my music reflects ideas and experiences that honor the depth of trails and triumphs we all go through. To see the love we have inside even when we feel painfully flawed - Beautiful Flawed, or that a friend could be as close to you as a family member but not be of blood like in Soul Sister.
Q: HOW LONG WAS IT SINCE GODDESS WAS RELEASED THAT YOU BEGAN DOING YOUR NEW SINGLE, LULUWHITE?
Good question. Well, with anything it takes time after a big project to rest and regenerate ones creativity and see who you are as a human being/artist afterwards. Sometimes you have completely shifted. This time I would say a few weeks. Taking that time I saw something new about myself and wanted to explore what that meant. It was in that discovery Lulu came out of me. It was wanting me to dive into a more deeper soulful blues sound. My voice was feeling more at home and more roots oriented, so I thought I would look at the south. New Orlean to be exact. I jumped online and started looking for women who were inspirational first. There was all the usual dark suspects that you would associate with NOLA, but I knew there was something much deeper I kept looking. Then, I came across Lulu White. She was a real woman of color in the late 1800’s. A women who was one of the most successful and richest business owners in New Orleans. So, I began to dig and I thought that if she could be that wealthy in that time where rights were limited, what about us women now. I thought man we have nothing to complain about now. This woman over came immense restraint
and hardship and she was very successful. She was a very clever business women and branded herself as an octoroon from the West Indies. You ask… what’s a… An octoroon? The term meant someone who was one eight of color and in that time, it was considered exotic. So all the men near and far wanted to have an octoroon experience and would pay handsomely for it. Yes, she was a brothel owner. A real Badass Goddess of her time.
Q: I NOTICED THAT FOR EVERY SONG ONE BUYS, YOU PLANT A TREE. WHY IS THAT SO IMPORTANT TO YOU? Q: HOW DOES YOUR SELF-HELP BOOK, COURAGE, HELP EMPOWER READERS?
Yes, every song or Courage handbook, I plant. I know that we all need to support our environment when we can, to do our part to shift the lethargic attitude that comes with these shifting times. Once we are all in action with something we stop thinking about ourselves and positivity grows when we are supporting something or someone we believe in. Also, knowing that the trees are the lungs of the planet is key for me! They take in carbon dioxide and give us oxogen and so does the oceans inner cycle of life. I feel that with my stories and the actual practice I share, it can help people to see a bit deeper into what is important in their life. A foundation of creating clarity about your life helps with what it is you honestly want. This can lead into courage, then confidence and finally commitment to what it is you say you are clearly passionate about. This is not what someone else wants for you, but what you want for you, and that feels like alignment and flow.
We all need to be aware, educate ourselves and choose something to do to support the eco system we are all in. We are all connected if you just look. When trees burn they destroy all habitats in their path. Some of the burning is normal but the dryer we get the harder it is on the plant and animal life which is also connected to us, the human life. We are just out of balance seeking to be back in balance this is where the rubber meets the road. We are being asked to balance our inner knowing and heal to be able to balance the microcosmos/macrocosm inside/outside. It’s all a reflection and a dance.
Q: WHAT OTHER PROJECTS ARE YOU WORKING ON NOW THAT YOU CAN SHARE WITH US, READERS?
Besides GRAMMY® consideration time, I’ve got a new track called Walkin that will be released next year and a music video release along with that for Walkin. I will be preparing to tour 2023 in the UK. The whisper is that I will be at the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh which I absolutely love! I don’t want to belabor you with all the details that come along with being a full time artist, so I will leave it up to your imagination. Imagine what it would take to be a heart surgeon or an Olympic athlete - it’s like that! Yes, seriously!
