Being able to meet someone as vocally talented as Gina Simone was a pleasure. I enjoyed listening to the story of her journey to become an artist. She was influenced by her father, who was also a performer. Gina had always dreamed of one day performing with her father, however, unfortunately, she was unable to do so. Furthermore, there were many people, throughout Gina Simone’s lifetime that believed in her and allowed her to be where she is today. For example, one of her middle school teachers gave her an application to LaGuardia. Her teacher believed in her when she did not believe in herself. She was able to get into and attend this school, which began her journey as an artist. Gina also spoke about the journey of transforming into a certain character on stage. The first step for her was to research the character to get a better understanding of her role. She then tries to relate to the character’s life, to make it easier to portray and understand what this character is feeling. She then performs on stage, where she tries to connect with the audience. Due to the current pandemic, she is unable to perform in person. For this reason, she was not able to make amends with the last character she performed. I found it particularly interesting when she said that she was unable to say her goodbyes to this characters. The reason why this stood out to me is that it shows that due to this pandemic, artists have to do things they have never done before. They are dealing with situations in different ways. Gina was unable to “finish” what she has started. Instead of stopping here, Gina attends zoom auditions for performances to continue her journey as an artist. Gina is able to have a job in this field, as an artist, and also conduct vocal lessons to help other young singers to become as successful as her one day. Thus, being able to speak to a different kind of artist, specifically, a performer, was a valuable experience.