Gina Simone Pemberton was an excellent final guest for the semester. Her story was inspiring, especially considering the intense difficulties she faced at a young age, losing her father and moving from the West Indies to New York. It was interesting that she only did vocal performance in LaGuardia, becoming interested in musical theater in college. She initially focused on making money and saving up through her music education degree, echoing a common theme from this semester: artists rarely are financially able to be full-time artists. Despite this, she has made musical theater her primary focus and has found success in it. She said, “If my intention was to make money, I would’ve quit a long time ago.” This seems to be the unfortunate reality of a massive majority of artists. I enjoyed hearing her perspective on the question of whether money taints art: “I need to live, I need to make a living.” Her perspective is grounded in reality and very logical. I also enjoyed her thoughts on audience connection, especially during the pandemic. I am glad she has been able to find and form connections despite the difficulties; it is certainly hopeful to hear these things. Overall, I enjoyed hearing from Gina Pemberton quite a lot, and she was a great final guest for summarizing the themes we’ve discussed throughout the semester.