Wonder Women LA: Meet Niambi Sims!
Meet NIAMBI SIMS of Wonder Women LA!
Niambi Sims is a singer, songwriter and actress who has performed on stages throughout the world. It is her mission to uplift, inspire and educate others through her talents, gifts and service. She accomplishes this through her music, performance and her company Integrated Wellness Concepts. Her music is an exploration of the heart expressed through a diverse mixture of genres.
Niambi answers:
What does empowerment mean to you? The freedom and confidence to give voice and action to the source within me. All that supports the manifestation of my BEST self!
What does being an artist mean to you? Always listening and giving life to that quiet inner voice. Allowing myself to be a vessel for the most high. Being an outward expression of my inner inspiration.
What is your career? My career is a Singer, Songwriter, Actress.
What are the greatest challenges and greatest rewards of your career? The rewards are getting compensated to do something that I would do for free! My art keeps me juicy and alive! The freedom to direct my own course. The challenges are: I consistently have to validate myself and my own work. I am walking on faith more than not (faith that I can do it, faith that I will be supported, faith that the resources will come etc.) and the FREEDOM TO DIRECT MY OWN COURSE! (LOL)
Advice to others embarking on similar career? Follow your own GPS and surround yourself with those that support you.
What would you say to your 8-year-old self? Keep GOing! Failure is a Part of the process not the End of the process. You will fall. You will hurt. You will recover. Learning how to lose is just as important as learning how to win.
What would you say to your 80-year-old self? GIRL YOU DID THAT!! (slaps high five)
What would people be surprised to know about you? I am a Yoga Therapist and a Reiki Healer.
What is your favorite quote? Luck is when opportunity meets preparation.
*****
Niambi’s Integrated Wellness Concepts is a wealth of health and worth a looksee!
You will find Niambi’s music at Facebook.com/niambisings.
Hope to see you in sunny LA! 🙂
Niambi is excited to be sharing some of her new music with us at Wonder Women LA on September 7th at Arcadia Blues Club!
You can find out more about the show and the rest of the Wonder Women LA lineup here!
Click for tix to Wonder Women LA!
Help Me To Heal
This week I was privileged to be invited by Amy Sky to sing along in a beautiful backup choir for Help Me To Heal on her upcoming album. The song is a lilting and soothing delight and I can’t wait to share the finished sound and video with you all! So much laughter and light filled the room, a splendour of sound and spirit. I am so pleased and proud to have been involved. 🙂
-thank you to all friends who contributed pics! xo
Please treat yourself to some of Amy’s sounds! She is one of my favourite voices; a voice backed by a heart just as stunning and soulful. 10 years ago I created a wee video biography of one of my favourite people ever, my Grampie. It is one of my most cherished projects and jampacked with love. He is one of the prominent forces that made me who I am today and continually affects my work and day-to-day living. I ended that video with Amy’s song If You Could See Yourself. Who knew then that I’d one day be singing along with her in the same room? 🙂 [Dear Amy: If you are reading this, I swear the copy I promised you is on its way! 😉 xo]
Me and Grampie:
-Grampie knew that the way to a young girl’s heart is through her stomach! 😉
As always, I wish you a life full of love, inspiration, music, laughter and dance!
🙂 xoxox
Four Winds Unite!
(Heather, Meghan, Arlene & Kat)
Artwork drawn by Ava Hill
The Four Winds Collective united to rehearse for this Sunday’s show at
Lizzie Violet’s Cabaret Noir at The Central in Toronto!
Here is some proof.
Of course, you’d never know Kat was on the cajon
because she accidentally hit delete on the picture instead of send. Gah!
<— Arlene, multi-instrumentalist, here with geeetar and uke.
Meghan is also a multi-instrumentalist. Here she is with her beloved bass. —>
<— Heather, known for flouting, ukeing and tickling keys.
[insert colourful high-angle shot of Kat sitting atop the cajon and winking with laughter as Arlene pushes the button on the iPhone. It really was an artistic awesome shot. Imagine something like this but really cool and with a cajon.]
Here we are together…. for optimum enjoyment!
Come see us Sunday night at the Cabaret!
We’ll be playing our #1 Hit, going down in the annals on a post-it note. 🙂
Please note that Marcy Rogers is unable to attend the Cabaret, so Four Winds and Brandon Pitts will be entertaining you… along with a plethora of Open Mic talent! Come sign up and share your talent with us! See you this Sunday July 13 at The Central 7-10pm. 🙂 xoxox Kat
Freeing People From Concern: Jim Carrey
At the ass-crack of dawn this morn I listened to Jim Carrey’s speech to the 2014 graduating class of Maharishi University of Management and gleaned from it the wise tidbits mulled below. You may have seen the speech or portions thereof by now. I think it’s worth another viewing!
I strive in my life to optimize the affect I have on others. I wish for everyone around me to laugh, to dance, to dream, to feel loved and to feel confident, to take risks and to empower themselves and others into optimistic drive. Like Jim Carrey, I desire to “free people from concern” in the moment I’m with them. I wish for people to be critically aware that we indeed only have this moment we’re in, and that our entire lives are made up of these moments. This moment is all we have, and in each moment we make a choice to either be asleep at the wheel of our own lives or to dream and steer our lives on the course of our purpose. What is your purpose? Stop and listen and it will become clear what talent you have to share that affects others in a profound and positive way. It is what feels so good you can almost taste it like the sweet morsel at the end of a satisfying meal with your favourite companions. We were not put on this earth to play small, or to choose fear disguised as practicality. We were born to shine our lights and to encourage those around us to do so. Only then will we be free of the darkness.
I am fortunate to surround myself with likeminded souls who are talented, kind, creative, generous and courageous, and I was so pleased to be involved with four and more of them to help raise funds for Ovarian Cancer Canada last week with She’s Listening II. I am very grateful to my dear friends and forces Angela Saini, Jessica Speziale, Heather Hill, and Melanie Peterson for shining their lights with me and to Delrose for capturing the splendour of sight and sound! Check out Delrose’s recap of She’s Listening II here!
And speaking of Delrose and empowering, you can check her out tonight along with Iman Wain and Noah Solomon at the WonderFest Music Series! Thank you to Arlene Paculan for keeping lit our ever-growing WonderFest community empowering through art!
What a beautiful world! Get out there and shine your light, everybuddy!
Love Kat xo
She’s Listening II success: funds raised for Ovarian Cancer Canada!
She’s Listening II was a great success last week; they listened and we raised applause and funds for Ovarian Cancer Canada.
Thank you to my wonderful co-horts and beautiful friends (from left to right) Angela Saini, Jessica Spezziale, Heather Hill, Melanie Peterson
Photography: Cate McKim
And thank you to Life With More Cowbell for this recap of the show!
What exactly does Ovarian Cancer Canada do?
Ovarian Cancer Canada is the only registered Canadian charity solely dedicated to overcoming ovarian cancer. They provide leadership by:
- Supporting women living with the disease and their families
- Raising awareness among the general public and health care professionals
- Funding research to develop early detection techniques, improved treatments and, ultimately, a cure.
Ovarian Cancer Canada is funded by donations of the generous public and they could use your support. If you’d like to help, there are many ways to get involved; check them out here. Among the ways: you can donate directly, volunteer, create an event such as She’s Listening, participate in a hike, dance or walk. The annual Ovarian Cancer Walk of Hope happens this year Sunday September 7th in cities all across Canada. Find one near you and register on the website.
Keeping giving, everybuddy!
Let’s fill the world with kindness and hope.
love Kat xoxox
She’s Listening II!
She’s Listening, and so is The Harlton Empire! They mentioned us in their blog!
The Harlton Empire promotes creative works by independent artists in the arts/entertainment industry and you should definitely check them out; learn about what’s going on in the community and make contact if you’re a lover of the arts!
Also you should definitely come check out She’s Listening II this Wed June 4 at 8pm at The Cameron House Toronto!
Yippee!
xoxox
Upcoming Events: Sunday May 25: Climb For Cause
I am very proud to be a part of this fundraiser! I’ll be hosting and singing a couple ditties!
Tom Gancarz is on a mission to raise funds to provide clean water in Tanzania’s community, and he’s doing it in a unique and elevating way! Please check out the story here, connect and support any way you can! Climb For Cause
“THE WORLD IS A BOOK AND THOSE WHO STAY AT HOME READ ONLY ONE PAGE.”
JUMP with DELROSE!
Delrose! A giggling unassuming bright bundle of joy she is. She’s worked very hard on releasing her first CD and it was effort well-placed, in my opinion. I find Delrose’s voice instantly soothing and her music immediately singalongable. It is said that the reason we as humans write and perform music is to attract a group to sing along with us, to gather a crowd and mount a force of voices to keep the lions at bay. If this is true, there be no lions at a wienie roast where Delrose’s Jump be playing. It is sure to inspire a singalong. It is a delightful soundscape for the everyday and I recommend you Jump in and take a listen for yourself!
-Photography by Jeremiah Hill
“JUMP released on April 12, 2014 and Delrose is more than ecstatic to share her music with a wider audience. Her songs run high on emotion. Her performances are heart-felt and true. Music is her way of life. It is what drives her. Singing is her drug of choice and songwriting is her therapy.”
-Photography by Jeremiah Hill
By the amount of glee emanating from this pic of Delrose with Owen Huot and Juan Santos at Placebo Space in Toronto, I’d say Delrose’s musical drugs and therapy are working!
The sounds of Delrose are available for owning on iTunes and for soundscaping on Soundcloud!
For more on Delrose, visit her website!
Why not take a leap and go for a Jump! Get it? Get it!
🙂 love Kat
New Show Announcement!
Amsterdam Bicycle Club
54 The Esplanade, Toronto Ontario
Thursday April 24th 9:00-11:30pm $6
Come enjoy Heather Hill, Innersha, Angela Saini, Guy Stefan, Matt Gerber, Prescilla and me as we give you a Positive music experience!
Get it? 🙂
Check out more about Positive Music Imperative here!
Come By Here on a new music compilation!
Come By Here, the song I wrote with Heather Hill with help from Orville Heyn, made it onto the Positive Music Imperative compilation for January 2014!
What is the Positive Music Imperative?
“The Positive Music Imperative is a collaborative collective, social enterprise, creating a legacy through the creation of positive music, and by educating people around the world about the role and importance of Positive Music in being an agent for personal, community and global change. Our mandate is to both create and positive music as well as to educate the importance of Positive Music and its ability to change people, communities and the world like no other force we know. That’s the Positive Music Imperative.”
Come By Here was inspired by three heroes in my life who battled cancer. Come By Here is a song pleading with the powers that be to come hither and comfort. To see and hear the January 2014 compilation, visit the Positive Music Imperative website. For more on the story of Come By Here, visit my previous blog introducing Come By Here.
Have yourself a positively inspired day and more!
🙂 love Kat xo
KAT LEONARD (Kat & The MP3) 