Keziah Thomas

I am very grateful to my parents for letting me continue my passion, because in India, music isn't really considered a career. In India, you need to be a doctor or a lawyer to be considered in a professional working job, and music isn't considered a proper career, especially for women. So I am very grateful for my parents believing in me and sending me here, regardless of what everyone else told them. I also attribute my success to all of my professors and mentors who've guided me along the way, and my friends for supporting me and being there throughout the journey.

The best career advice I’ve received is to focus less on chasing a specific title or outcome, and more on becoming someone people genuinely want to work with. In creative fields especially, your reputation, how you collaborate, communicate, and show up travels faster and lasts longer than any single project. That made me more intentional about building real relationships, staying curious, and being reliable in small, everyday ways. It also reminded me that careers aren’t linear. The goal isn’t to have everything figured out early, but to keep putting yourself in rooms where you can grow, contribute, and stay open to unexpected opportunities.

The main advice I would give is to tell them not to compare themselves with anyone else, because everyone's on their own journey. It's really hard not to compare yourself, especially when you're in a college full of the best musicians, or in a work environment full of the best people around you. There's a tendency for everyone to compare themselves and other people's achievements, and being like, "oh, I'm not there yet". But everyone is on their own journey, on their own path, and everyone's going through a different timeline. So, instead of comparing, just believe in yourself, keep going, and know that you will eventually get where you want to be, and that's all that matters.

One of the biggest challenges right now is how fast everything is changing, especially with technology. AI is reshaping how music is created, distributed, and even owned, and the industry hasn’t fully caught up in terms of regulation or ethics. That creates a lot of uncertainty around what “original” even means anymore. The space is more saturated than ever. There’s more music being released daily, more pressure to stay visible online, and more emphasis on metrics that don’t always reflect real connection. It makes it harder to stand out, and even harder to build something sustainable over time. So overall, I think the field right now sits in this tension between uncertainty and possibility. There are a lot of challenges but there’s also room to define success on your own terms and build something that is actually authentic.

Responsibility is something I value really strongly. Alongside that, clear communication is essential especially in collaborative environments. When communication breaks down, everything else becomes harder, so I place a lot of importance on being transparent, responsive, and aligned as a team. Accountability is just as important to me, being able to trust that everyone will follow through on what they’ve committed to, and holding myself to that same standard.