Fall in Love with Your Life: The Levo League speaks with Sara Caswell, Jazz Violinist Extraordinaire.

Just under a year ago, the Bieber-sphere experienced a massive upset: the Grammy for Best New Artist in 2011 was passed to a female bassist and jazz singer, Esperanza Spalding. Completely contrary to the digital-era trends of ‘more auto-tune, less subtlety’ that have been compounded by the downfall of the music industry and the upswing of the Great Recession, Esperanza is unabashedly conscientious, educated, and perfectly apprised of her jazz lineage. There’s no “I should probably perform this set without my pants on”-type thought in Esperanza’s head that so many of our female musical role models embody today.

Spalding’s unexpected victory at the time made me wonder: was the Golden Age of the plastic pop star coming to a close? Was this as “whoa, that came out of left field” as it felt to me, or was there an undercurrent of musical change in the air? Just after the ceremony, NPR published a story called “Wait, Who is this Esperanza Spalding?” I noticed a woman featured in the article whose role in Esperanza’s group was interesting: she was a violinist in the background playing with technique that was clearly bridging the space between classical and jazz violin. That woman, I soon learned, was Sara.

Violinist, Strategist, Optimist

Sara Caswell, whose technical facility on the violin intertwined with her gift for lyricism have been heard around the world (and not just on everyone’s favorite radio program, NPR’s Morning Edition) toured internationally with Esperanza in support of her Chamber Music Society (Heads Up International, 2010) from 2010 to 2011. As a solo artist she also has received acclaim: albums she has made have been featured in Coda Magazine, Jazz Education Journal, and Strings Magazine. She straddles the worlds of jazz, classical, and folk music; in recent years she has also toured with violinist Mark O’Connor’s American String Celebration and violinist Darol Anger’s Four Generations of Jazz Violin, and performed or recorded with such artists as Charlie Byrd, Gene Bertoncini, Skitch Henderson, Bucky Pizzarelli, Lynne Arriale, and John Clayton.

Why did I find Sara interesting? Partially because she was not center stage in her work with Esperanza. While Esperanza is in many ways a very interested phenomenon in the music industry—her headstrong nature and independence represent a musician who is not tethered to the Katy Perry model of existence—the industry that springs up to support a woman so heavily differentiated from the Justin Biebers of the world is notable. Sara has also recently been on tour with first-time Grammy nominee Roseanna Vitro, whose album The Music of Randy Newman (Motema Music, 2011) features Sara on violin.  While Roseanna did not take the Grammy this year, the album that did— “The Mosaic Project,” features vocalist Terri Lyne Carrington, with whom Sara also performed alongside Esperanza Spalding last year. 

In the jazz world, Sara is everywhere. And she is a supporting character in many of her musical endeavors—though not all, by a long shot. A successful climb to the top for many of us in the cubicle-friendly world looks shockingly similar to Sara’s ascent: she is taking opportunities where they arise, seeing potential and going for it, and she maintains a compassionate and friendly demeanor throughout that evinces the passion she feels for her career. I asked Sara how much ramp-up time she gave herself from the time she moved from the Midwest to New York City to gauge her actual success level. “I was told by friends, ‘you should take about five years in the city. And if works out, great. But if it doesn’t, there are other cities where incredible jazz is being made.’ So I gave myself five years.” Sara told me. How long did it take before she started getting real traction in the city for her professional accomplishments? “Four and a half years!” she laughed.

Supporting roles, supporting development, supporting success

While many of us as female professionals are supporting characters in the same way—whether we’re assisting our superiors, adding insight and depth to our work output, or pounding the pavement and cold calling sales leads—it’s not always as easy in cubicle-land as it is in music-land to enjoy the ride up. I spoke with Sara at length about her involvement with Ms. Spalding and how it works into her view of herself and her career trajectory.

“You wear a lot of different hats as a musician—“ Sarah said in a tone that can only be described as effervescent during our conversation, just before Sunday’s Grammy Awards, “bandleader, teacher, orchestrator—but they’re all hats I love to wear.” Sara’s been wearing the hat of both teacher and performer well enough to have made a name for herself in both worlds, with teaching experience under her belt like the Manhattan School of Music, Mark O’Connor String Camps, the Jamey Aebersold Summer Jazz Workshops, the Indiana University String Academy, and her own private studio. Not a light commitment. In many musical communities teaching is a necessary part of existence—not for financial reasons, but because there just aren’t as many opportunities to learn from great performers as there are people who want to learn to play like those performers. This is a fairly unique dynamic to be true of an entire industry: that mentorship and sponsorship isn’t just a new trend—it’s a fundamental necessity to keeping a musical world alive and evolving (there are complexities here, but I’m glossing over them).

What can businesswomen take from the life of a successful violinist?

In many ways, Sara’s life work has been humble: teacher, bandleader, arranger. But in all of the ways that translate to the life of a businesswoman, her professional development has been extremely strategic and pointedly efficient. She’s allowed for investment in her own development in her five-year ramp-up plan, plowback into her community of fellow musicians in her teaching life, and has opened her social network in ways possible only with true talent and passion. And those features of her development have translated into notoriety in the jazz world and an amassed bank of talent and knowledge that’s truly rare in in the world.

So has the effort been worth it? Sara’s response inspired me:

“It’s a dream. That’s not always the case for jazz musicians – it’s not a profession you go into for the money. It’s a hard life. Oftentimes, you are living month to month and you just hope the schedule fills in, and that things will come through, and that everything will be fine. If anything, the music demands that you always be on your toes. But the nature of jazz itself is so much about spontaneity and creativity and communicating with the musicians with whom you’re performing. One of the most beautiful things about jazz is that you have ultimate freedom with your voice and what you want to say. You don’t need to sit into a framework in order to succeed. You decide. That kind of freedom of expression is certainly not something all musicians have the joy of experiencing.”

Notes from the Editor: February 2012 at-a-glance.

The Levo League has been bustling with development in the past few months, and we’re gearing up to provide you more ways to invest in yourself— whether by connecting with one another and also with companies committed to achieving parity in the workplace, or by learning about and interacting with titans of industry to benefit from their support and insights.

February is a month chock-full of events— in film, music, and fashion, as well as in tech— going from Sadie Hawkins Day (today!) all the way up to Leap Day. Here are some of our themes for the month that I’m most looking forward to being able to share with The Levo League and to interact with you on:

Find the Love of Your Work Life!

We’ll be kicking off a series of interactive features powered by Mightybell and contributed by fabulous Levo Leaguers like Kristen Walker, author of September’s Let Work Teach You How to Play. These features are designed to help you connect with your core skills and passions, and to help you fill in the blanks and to help you sort through your career strategy.

Women Leaders in Music & Film

We’ll be bringing you perspectives and interviews with women in the spotlight— and shine our own light on those women in the music and film industries who have taken the opportunity to leverage their celebrity into for-good enterprises.

Women & the Business of Fashion

We all know the fashion industry is huge— and glamorous— but in light of New York Fashion Week, the Levo League will focus on providing you with context around just how big and how complex the industry truly is. We’ll sit down with women in the industry to give you the full picture of Fashion Week.

Social Media Week + The Levo League ! 

We’ve always been big Social Media Week fans. This year’s SMW will be held between February 13 and 17th, and this year we are proud to announce that The Levo League’s co-founder Amanda Pouchot will be representing our cause and our network by moderating a panel called Untapped Drive: How innovation and entrepreneurship are revolutionizing daily life through social media & technology platforms. It’ll be an interesting discussion of how technology has impacted the female labor force in the United States. Add it to your calendar and make sure to send in your thoughts on the issue so we can represent our network of young ambitious professional women!

I can’t wait for us to share all of these things with you and to interact in debate with all of you on the issues that are going to end up thrust into the spotlight in the coming month.

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And just in case you missed them during the past month, here are my favorite Levo features from January:

The all-new Ms. JD Corner: where women in business and law discuss issues pertinent to both industries. Our inaugural post features the insightful Katherine Larkin-Wong, with Why Women in Business and Women in Law Need Each Other.

Levo’s Next Step: Looking for more background on our vision for the female professional community? Read, reflect, respond, and get involved with the League! 

mindCrush : One of our favorite games here at the Levo League is to hypothesize how successful women in various fields go about problem-solving and strategy. We call this game “mindCrush”— probably mostly because we only guess at the thought patterns of women whose brains are amazing for one reason or another. January’s mindCrush features our hypothetical take on Jessica Simpson— namely, the moment she decided that pursuing acting and singing was not her long-term career preference.

A Seat at the Table: A Twitter-ful list of women crucial to foreign policy. Elmira Bayrasli, the indescribable force of a writer, compiled this list for those of us who want to help change the world but don’t know who to look to in the way of role models.

Madame Ambassador: In January, Angeline Jolie released her film, set during the Bosnian War of the 1990s, In the Land of Blood and Honey. I had the opportunity to view the film and speak briefly with some of the people involved in the project, and share my thoughts here.

Keeping reading and keep writing in to us to share your thoughts and perspectives over the next month. It’s an exciting time, both for our own platform and for the state of women’s equality in the workplace. So don’t stop chiming in and making your voice heard— both here on the site and out there in the world. We are glad to count you as part of The Levo League!

Stop Trying to Make the Flat Hierarchy Work: Why What Gen-Y Wants is Established Seniority.

I left my first job after a year and a half.

The decision was in my best interest: another more promising opportunity had presented itself. But the reaction from my family wasn’t as positive as I’d hoped. My mother expressed disappointment— she felt I owed the company, and that I had made a commitment to them. Discussing the move with her felt much like discussing a marriage— nothing was really wrong with my original position, so I shouldn’t have jumped ship.

Many stereotypes and theories have been put forth about Gen-Y ever since it evolved from being the nameless followers of X and emerged as the luxury-loving, spoiled-yet-driven Millennials. One of the few things the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal seem to agree on is that our generation is complex. The “how” varies, though. Our unadoring public decries us as slow-moving, inconsistent, and high-achieving all at once.

Unsurprisingly, people in the 20-34 age group see the employer-employee relationship differently. In the language of labor economics, there’s been an increase in symbiosis between employer and employee. And the unemployment rate seems to have affected this relationship as well; with an unemployment rate of 13.5% of those 20-24 and an even more frightening rate of 21.5% for those 16-19, jobs are scarce and underemployment is rampant. The Recession seems to be having the dizzying effect, also, of increasing the probability of workers shifting between companies and roles, as well as increasing the likelihood that where we perform poorly, we’ll be let go.

Generation Y wants to be employed. We value our paycheck, and we appreciate the opportunities employers provide us. But at the same time, we feel we bring something valuable and different to the table, and we want that to be recognized. With the reputation of being what the New York Post has lovingly termed “the Worst Generation” due to our inflated scores on tests related to sense of self (and its evil twin, narcissism),we come across as demanding and and disappointed to learn that we can’t have it all up front. Preceding generations see our perspective as entitled and demanding, and all too often, self-absorbed.

I would counter those who would malign the work ethic of our generation thusly: Generation Y is growing up in a time that requires a certain type of mania in order to excel as a new entrant to the work force. My mother’s parents inculcated her with stories of a time when qualified people didn’t have jobs— if one among them was lucky enough to find a place of employment, it created a lifelong bond of loyalty. (This was my father’s attitude right up until he was laid off from General Motors.) But Generation Y has responded differently—instead of allowing the fear of unemployment pervade our decisions, we (especially women, many of whom have entered high education as a response to the volatile job market) are remaining vigilant for opportunities that meet our expectations of our abilities. And considering that the percentage of college-educated laborers during the Great Depression era was about 30% compared to today’s 70%, and that those seeking more technical skills have also become a greater portion of the work force, the move on the part of many women to continue higher education to attain a master’s degree or PhD, women are becoming a more selective force in the labor market and thereby are more likely to proactively lateral between companies. The Great Depression was a crisis of unskilled labor, and the Great Recession is one of skilled labor.

With these different approaches to commitment on the job, it’s important to have a hierarchy in place. In my experience, offices that claim not to have a hierarchy actually mean that they don’t have a hierarchy of title. This can lead to an atmosphere that feels not unlike doing a group project as a grad student. No one is formally in charge, there’s no mechanism to establish priorities, and the person who does try to create some kind of structure comes off as presumptuous. Not to mention that one kid who doesn’t do anything, yet somehow ends up speaking every two seconds in the final presentation (You’ve been there. I know you have).

My job interview process led me to an unenthralling conclusion: firms proud of their “loose organizational style” also tended to be led by Gen-Xers.  Based on my experience, I’m seeing the previous generation’s trademark desire to rebel against the system played out in the corporate landscape. Kind of the business equivalent of coming home from college with your nose pierced. Several of the bigger players are promoted as “democratic”—companies like Groupon, Hulu and Dreamhost—and it’s often thought of as a selling point to potential employees.

As companies increasingly try to woo Gen-Y employees, the question has to arise: is a lack of hierarchy really a selling point?  Not for me. True, many of us reject the Baby Boomer’s “The Man” construct and all of its “because I said so”s. But as a generation, I think it’s also true that having a good reason for what you do, being able to see its impact with transparency, and  knowing your work product is created uniquely and efficiently is important.

I like to know who my boss is, and I like to know who is responsible for me.  I like titles and clear descriptions that come with them because it shows me where I’ve come from and where I need to go—it sets goals. Millennials aren’t always willing to accept that someone is better at something simply because they’ve been doing it longer, but we don’t discount the value of experience.

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Lauren Karasek is a public relations and digital media consultant based in San Francisco, California.  A graduate of UC: Berkeley, she has provided media relations, crisis communication and social media counsel for companies in the technology, healthcare, energy and consumer industries.  Visit her on the web at laurenkarasek.com

Don’t Stress: Making your stress levels work for your life.

L(L) staff writer Laura Donovan dishes on how stress can act as a positive force in your life with the right mindset and management tactics.

Before moving to New York City last year, I received the best advice of my life from a senior colleague.

“The greatest way to guarantee a stress-free existence is to do nothing and avoid risks,” my coworker and mentor, Matt Lewis, said to me over a celebratory lunch after my offer from the Levo League arrived. “You won’t achieve anything big, but you’ll have no worries either.”

The thrill of scoring an amazing job in my dream city had been slightly overshadowed by the logistics the job came with: I’d have to move, break my lease, snag an apartment, cancel my electricity and cable accounts…

In a nutshell, a stress-free existence is a sterile, dull one. When you lead an exciting life, stress follows. The good news? You’re completely in control of how you handle it.

The WSJ this week carried a front-page Personal Journal story that resonated with me: that moderate stress levels can actually do you some good, according to research at UCSF [via The Wall Street Journal]. A certain level of stress can energize you and help you reach goals. Try not to always put stress in a negative light, as it can serve a valuable purpose: to help you get things done and ultimately bring a sense of fulfillment.

No matter how much you have on your plate, stress management is going to make things easier. Here are a few suggestions for keeping it in check:

Exercise!

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: You’re not a polar bear, so prioritize exercise as you’d prioritize work. With all the endorphins flowing through your system, exercise will serve as a de-stresser when you feel you have too much to do.

At times, this assessment may seem incorrect. I’ve caught myself saying, “I barely have time to complete my work to-do list, let alone exercise” many a day, but working out is a staple of good health and happiness, so set aside some time each week to break a sweat. You’ll literally feel the stress leave your body as you push yourself physically, and suddenly your office-related worries won’t seem so grave.

You may spent the majority of your hours at a desk, but with some effort, you can make room for a work-out in the morning or nighttime. Pre-work grogginess or evening exhaustion might deter you from hitting the gym or going for a run, but I promise you’ll feel incredible afterward, and you’ll also see that it’s quite possible to make time for non-work activities!

Keep to-do lists

Every time I’ve been advised to make a to-do list, I’ve been tempted to make fun of the person who suggested it. I cannot, however, deny the effectiveness of to-do lists, as they are a visual reminder of all the things I need to take care of.

Anytime you feel overloaded, jot down everything you must do on a sheet of paper. Write out all your tasks —- even stuff as minor as cleaning your desk —- so nothing will fall through the cracks. You’ll probably find that there’s less for you to worry about than you initially thought.

You’ll also experience feelings of accomplishment and relief upon checking off the things on your list, and with all you have on your plate, you deserve to acknowledge your successes. It’s also wise to categorize your to-dos by category so you remember which ones to prioritize first.

Communicate with your higher-ups

It’s crucial to stay on the same page with your managers, so maintain close correspondence with each of your supervisors to understand their expectations. If you don’t know how to prioritize all your duties, ask your bosses which to-dos should be at the top of your list.

If you believe you lack the bandwidth to take on everything you’ve been tasked with, set up a meeting with the higher-ups so they can help you sort out the situation, possibly delegate some of those duties, and get in control of what’s going on. They may not be mind-readers, but bosses can tell when you’re tense, so consult them if you’re not sure how to go about tackling everything that must get done. Just be thoughtful and calm in your approach. Keep your cool, even if you feel like the world is crashing down on you, so you can discuss the circumstances rationally.  

Make friends with your coworkers and turn to them for advice

Don’t underestimate the value of a close colleague. Chances are, these folks are just as swamped as you are, and the two of you can have cathartic chats about office concerns and take things off each other’s hands if necessary. Coworkers can be good friends, helpful employees, and trusted confidants, so make sure there’s at least one person at the office you trust. They’ll get you through rough times and be there for you during exciting moments as well.

Get some sleep

If anything can turn me into Grumplestiltskin, it’s lack of shut eye. Sleep deprivation has been found to affect mood and learning ability, so keep your brain, body, and mind healthy by getting at least seven hours of sleep a night. You may believe you have too much to do for this to be possible, but the more well-rested you are, the happier and more productive you’ll be at the office. Imagine working a 12-hour shift on three hours of sleep. Exhaustion could further stress you out, make you short-tempered, and decrease the quality of your work, so get a decent amount of sleep each night so you’ll be rested enough to do everything expected of you.

Remember that everyone around you is stressed

You may feel like you take on more than you can actually manage, but here’s another way of looking at your workload: your colleagues are almost certainly in the same boat. Your colleagues still have jobs because they produce quality work— so they probably have the same amount of work as you do. If you change your mindset to accommodate this reality, you’ll see you’re not the only one who is doing too much and also recognize that work gets dumped on your coworkers as well. If your workload is dragging you into a negative mindset, an easy pick-me-up is to foster compassion and empathy in your office—to remind yourself that you’re carrying the workload together.

When I found out I’d be moving to New York, my to-do list was endless. It gave me such a headache that I could barely enjoy my macaroni and cheese (side note: if I were a guy, I’d be considered a “man child”). But I was allowing my to-do list to dictate my stress level, and allowing it to produce anxiety instead of excitement. The fact of the matter, though, is that I had found an opportunity to level up in my professional life: and the excitement of my progress could have helped me power through the inane chores that came along with that move. Stress can be managed with the correct perspective and techniques.

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Tell us, L(L): How do you manage your stress levels? What works? What’s the worst stress-management technique you’ve ever heard of or tried?