Geisa Dutra

First of all, my mother's influence was very strong. She always believed that I could do what I dreamed of, and that belief in yourself is so important. Then, like I said before, discipline, determination, and practice, practice, practice. Even now at my age, you would think, oh, you know, I've been doing this for so many years, why are you still practicing? Well, because you can always get better. Always. The fact that I left everything behind, my family, my grandparents, just left alone, became my driving motor. At that time in 1983, it wasn't usual for women in Brazil to leave alone unless they were getting married, so there was concern within the family. But I left because I wanted to become the best of myself as an artist, as a musician, so for me, an option to fail was not an option. The hardship of missing my family, especially my grandparents and then my parents when they passed away, all were a strong part of my emotional development and willingness to do the best I can.

I would say, in general, the advice that always sticks to me is determination, discipline, and don't let anybody tell you you can't do it, because they will, especially if you are a woman. They'll tell you all you know, you're killing it and you can't. The last time I saw my father, he told me about being honest, and that stuck with me. I also love this quote from Clint Eastwood, when they asked him what was his secret to stay active now in his 90s, and he said 'don't let the old man in.' So I don't let the old woman in. I don't feel like I'm an old woman at all. I feel energized at 60s, and I just feel very excited about life, and I feel like I'm going for it.

Be true to yourself. Don't feel like you have to do things to reach your goal, because you don't have to. You know what I mean? Sometimes, like you've seen some of what happened with Hollywood with actresses, just believe that you can do it without that twisted road, let's put it that way. I think it's very different how a woman achieves success versus how a man achieves success. It's very different. We are unique. We have to work much harder. Just don't take the detours, stay with your roots, you know? I admire women because women have qualities that are on parallel with men. I just think we as women have a lot of power, and I just feel like that would be my advice for myself and for anybody else who wants to listen: don't believe you can't do it. Have discipline and determination, don't give up, keep going.

Opportunities, they vary, you know, you have to go after them. The challenges, I try to not think too much of the challenges. I just keep moving forward. If you pay too much attention to the challenges, they become bigger.

Honesty to your craft and to you as a person. Being honest is very important to me. That's something I heard from my father when the last time I saw him. Maintaining a good reputation of high standards is crucial, because you build your reputation year by year by year. It's very valuable that you maintain that by being honest with the quality of your work. How you treat your peers is also important. It's wonderful to have great colleagues that are also artists or other professions, and to have an exchange of experience and learning from one another. I think that's very important, especially with women.