Musicality and Connection (Meet the Team with Charm Cajurao)

Christopher: Today, I’m joined on the show by our Operations Assistant extraordinaire, Ms Charm Cajurao. Say a quick hi, Charm!

Charm: Hi, and it’s great to be here!

Christopher: Charm works tirelessly behind the scenes to make sure that everything that’s meant to happen here at Musical U actually happens!

And I’m so excited to have her with us for this interview, to give you a sneak peek into her musical life and all that she does for our members and our team here at Musical U.

So something people may not know is that we have a really firm rule when we hire people here at Musical U. We only hire team members who have a genuine personal connection to our mission and the vision we’re pursuing here at Musical U. And while a lot of companies would hire administrative team members just based on skills and experience, when we went to the agency, we used to hire Charm, who’s with me today, we said to them, hey, listen, we need someone who’s really passionate about music.

And then in the hiring process, we check, is this someone who’s, you know, just a little bit into music, or is this someone who saw our mission and was like “yes, that is so important!”

And I’ll just say that this agency, which normally would fill a spot like this in maybe a week or two, took several weeks to find Charm for us! But it was clear from the outset that she had that personal connection and that she would be a fantastic fit for our team.

So Charm’s been with us almost a year now, I think, and has just become such a vital part of the team. Many of our members, especially our Next Level crew, will have interacted with her by email or in the discussion boards. And so I’m really glad today to have the chance to introduce her here on the show.

Charm, welcome to the show!

Charm: Thank you very much for having me on the show, and it’s great to be here, and it’s great to share my story for this podcast.

Christopher: Awesome, well, as you know, I love to dive in with the – I was about to say strange, it’s not such a strange question – but it’s one that opens up a whole world of answers from various people.

And so let’s kick off with that question. What does musicality mean to you?

Charm: Well, I often hear this in the site as well as in our team. But I think for me, musicality is about connection.

It’s a connection within your soul, allowing you to express yourself through harmony, melody, or even rhythm. And it ultimately creates music that resonates deeply within your soul and musicality.

For me, you can connect with others in a way that it transcends in different cultures, language, or even in time.

And this ability to connect is, I think it’s a great key aspect of our community at Musical U. I don’t know if I said it right, but yeah, that’s a musicality for me.

Christopher: I love that!

Yeah, that connection piece. And I like what you said about it resonating deeply. And it’s definitely true that part of why we’ve been able to build such a thriving community is that fundamentally it’s all about music. And what better thing is there to connect us all from different cultures, from different countries, from different instruments and styles then music itself?

So I love that answer.

Share a little bit about your own backstory. You’re based in the Philippines, you’re a singer and play some guitar. Tell us a bit about your own musical journey.

Charm: Well, growing up, my family has always been musically inclined. My mom was a band singer and my grandmother is a piano teacher and a choir director.

So me being musically inclined came naturally and I joined grade school choirs. I started competing at a very young age and although music courses are very expensive here in my country and I couldn’t afford to formally study music, I joined a university choir at the university that offers conservatory of music. So I experienced tons of trainings, competitions and public performances way back then.

And now I continue to sing at events. I sing at weddings and other gigs as my part-time and for passion. I also record song covers and post them on my social media.

Christopher: And what style of music have you been singing most over the years?

Charm: Most of the time I’m singing pop songs. Sometimes I do jazz, but I’m still learning a bit about jazz because it’s kind of tricky. But yeah, most of it are pop songs and ballad songs.

Christopher: Fantastic. Yeah. And you have a particular love of K-pop, if I’m right. Is that true?

Charm: Yes. I’m really into K-pop and I love their training, I love their system when it comes to singing and performing on stage. So yeah, I am into K-pop.

Christopher: Awesome. And talk a little bit about the work you do here at Musical U. I mentioned you’re our kind of the behind-the-scenes, make-sure-everything-happens lady on our team. But talk a little bit about your role and your responsibilities.

Charm: Yeah, my role at Musical U revolves around operations and administrative assistance.

As you say, I usually work behind the scenes, handling almost every aspect, such as Next Level concierge, some of the member support, and as well as customer service, organizing tasks within the team and such as that. And essentially I am involved almost every area to ensure everything runs smoothly at Musical U, for sure.

Christopher: Yeah, it’s funny. On our team call each week, we ask each team member what they’re going to be working on.

I think it’s fair to say most team members have, like, two or three items. They’re like “I’m going to be doing Next Level coaching and member support in the Summer season”.

And Charm is going through this list of, like, 17 different items that need to get done! And we’re so grateful to you for keeping all of those balls in the air and making sure it all works smoothly.

What would be your favourite thing to do in your work at Musical U?

Charm: Well, what I love doing at Musical U is, first of all of all, helping our Next Level members with their onboarding and offboarding.

But I am always in awe when a member gradually evolves into a musician that once they thought they are not capable of. And even if it’s not as grand as becoming a great artist or whatsoever, but seeing someone like, hey, I now have the confidence to perform in public or something like that. It’s incredibly rewarding for me to see that.

And I am always truly amazed when I witness their progress from the beginning of their application up to their graduation. And I also love in Musical U, our team in Musical U, I always attend the weekly team calls. We often talk about our wins, focused on solutions and creating a positive environment that we extend to our customers as well.

And I also enjoy sharing time. We often do that, sharing time in our team and just listening to one another is always great.

Christopher: Terrific. There were several favourite things there, I wholeheartedly approve!

And you’re right. You’re in a fun position, I guess, because particularly with the Next Level concierge role, you’re helping our new Next Level members get started and you’re learning all about their dreams and aspirations, and then you’re also seeing everyone come out the other side and everything they’ve achieved and arranging their graduation interview and all of that.

So that’s probably the most extreme form of that musical transformation that we see, isn’t it?

Terrific, and I love that you highlighted the small wins, too. You know, it’s not always about becoming a Grammy-award-winning artist. And we’re working on this new Success Path, as you know, with the idea of your Musical Core.

And a big part of that is a new way of recognising those milestones in our community and recognising those small but significant accomplishments that might be, you know, attending your first jam session and playing for one song. That’s a huge leap forward for people!

And, yeah, like yourself, I take great joy when someone posts in the community to share something like that, and we can be, like “Amazing. Their musical life is, like, one notch better in a really tangible way”.

It’s wonderful. Could you share something from your own experience, something a bit unusual or a bit different that you found really helps with that musical transformation?

Charm: Well, I think this is a no-brainer, but for me, it helps to just not let fear be your voice.

I think even the greatest musicians struggle with just the fear of doing it. And oftentimes we left with “what if”s simply because we didn’t take the opportunity to just do it.

And there’s a chance that we can play or express our music, yet we let our fear get in the way. And by doing this, we cannot surprise ourselves with how magically we can might perform or do well.

And even if we try performing and if it doesn’t work out the way that we want, I always put in mind that it’s not a failure, but a learning curve for doing better next time.

And this weird technique has really worked for me in competitions and in public performances. And sometimes I even surprise myself with how well I perform just because I just do it and I didn’t let my fear get in the way.

Christopher: Fantastic. I feel like we might need to organise a team roundtable episode where we just go deep into that topic because it’s such a critical one.

And I hope you wouldn’t mind me saying, but, like, doing a live interview like this, you’re walking your talk!

Like this is not in your comfort zone. And virtual high-five for showing up and doing it and nailing it! Because it’s a perfect example of that, you know, leaning into the fear and not letting it hold you back from what you might be capable of.

Charm, thank you so much. It’s been such a pleasure to have you on the show and give our members and our audience a little glimpse of who you are and the work you do.

I’ll be back tomorrow for our final episode of the week, our next Coaches Corner episode.

Until then, cheers! And go make some music!

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