It’s me … Hello … my name is Mia Tweedy … and I was born in Loveland Colorado … I lived most of my young adult life in Maryland … and I’ve lived in Chicago Illinois as of 2017 … yeah … sounds about right … or … 2016 … I feel like for me … my childhood was very interesting … because … my mother was a single parent mom … and … she always provided really well for me and my sister … and did what she could … and also … I had a really good relationship with my grandfather … who lived in D.C. … actually Baltimore at the time … and so we would always go over there … and he would always teach us how to cook … crème brûlée … he was just always interested in cooking … he’s a photographer as well … Yeah … I don’t know … it was interesting … because my grandfather has been … upper class … and my mom was struggling … low middle class … It was just … such a change … what I was doing … depending on who I was with … I used to ride horses a lot … I took horse back riding lessons … I used to know how to ride Western and English … I also played a lot of sports … cheerleading … I was very active … I loved going to the beach … anything that could relieve stress … which is weird to think about at such a young age … but … it’s something your body feels regardless of you knowing it or not … I’d go to … the Chesapeake … and Ocean City was just thirty minutes away from Maryland … so that beach was easily accessible to us … During the summers … and we’d always go there … I loved … sticking my head in the salt water … and rolling around in the sand for hours … and I would go home … and I would remember all of this sand clogging the drain in the bathtub … It was good times … And creatively … I was actually talking to my friend Lily about this … that I remember … that I used to write a lot of short stories when I was little … I was very imaginative … When it comes to music … that was something that my mom always embedded in me … like different genres … anything from New Order … to Susie and The Banshees … to Erykah Badu … Aaliyah … JZ … you know … so it was a very broad spectrum of music … that I was always interested in … And CD’s were around then … So all of her friends would burn her CD’s … and then we’d just jam out to them … together … in a car … and just drive around … And … I was a singer … and I also played clarinet … I was the second … chair … in my band class … for clarinet … I could never beat the girl that was in front of me because … because … she was probably someone who … like her parents would probably say … you need to practice … everyday … every hour … I was just … I would say … probably naturally good at it … because it’s something I learned … within a year … I would practice … casually … my mom never forced me to practice … But … yeah … I just could never beat that girl … And singing … I did talent shows … with my friends … I tried out for a play once … and got the role … but then I ended up getting in trouble in school … I got in trouble a lot for voicing my opinions … to teachers … and authoritative figures … a lot … starting from a very young age … probably first grade … (laughter) … I would go to the principal … and my mom would pick me up … what can you do? (laughter) … She was … “High Five” … Yeah …I feel like … my grandfather … and my mom … really wanted to immerse me and my sister in as much … creative … in a creative side … because they were both in creative fields … I remember going to Port Discovery … which was a kids museum in Baltimore Maryland … and I learned how to make gum there … at that time … I was obsessed with gum … so it was the best moment in my life … because I made my own gum … It’s no longer around … The last time I was there … it was just this … big museum … that was boarded up … It was kind of sad … because I was like … “Wow” … hopefully they’re replacing it with something … great … or … somewhere else … not necessarily in that building … but somewhere else for kids to be able to explore … and make things of their own … it’s like a really good feeling as a child … yeah … Something that stands out from my high school years … I don’t think it has an influence on my life now … buy I think it says a lot about me … it’s pretty funny … I got away with it too … My friend at the time … we’re no longer friends … but … my friend at the time was going through … boy troubles … or something … so … I feel like I’ve always had this … I always take things to an extreme level … anyone who’s friends with me knows that about me … and I ended up just peeing on the hood of this dudes car … completely … just peeing on it … and it was the most liberating thing … because I didn’t get caught … I wouldn’t say that influences my life now … but … I’ve learned to hone it in … Yeah … that was a good time for me … (laughter) … I don’t know … I’ve always been … I was sticking up for my friend … But what I didn’t know then is … I feel like men … really have always felt … that they can control a woman in their actions … and I’ve never been for that … I’ve never been for men being the dominant species … men playing a masculine roll … in a relationship … I don’t even think that should exist … because I think there’s masculine and feminine energy in everyone … so … I just kind of said … “fuck you” … Have I seen a change … in social attitudes? … Yeah … I think … definitely … because it’s like … I moved here probably three and a half … to four years ago … the first two years I didn’t really know anyone … but once I found my group of friends … and they started exposing me to their perspective on things … and the way that things are … And now that I’ve kind of got my own little groove going … I’ve met a lot of people that go by “They Them” pronouns … People are just finally admitting … how they feel … and how they’ve always felt … I feel … our generation is creating that … open space … for people to be … just genuinely who they are … I think that’s super important for everyone … There’s this poet Rupi Kaur … She’s from another country … but moved here when she was younger … and she still has family members in this country … She’s … very … very … open with her poetry … Her family … shunned her for a little bit about how open she was with her poetry … and now that she’s … a really well known poet … she travels all over to these different countries … basically communicating … this openness and freeness … allowing people to feel safe … within herself being open … about who she is … and how she feels … and how she perceives things … The more people start talking about how they truly feel … is when everyone will feel they can be that way … and I think that energy travels great distances … My life … I feel like eighth grade was a huge turning point for me … I was just super depressed … and alone most of the time … which didn’t seem … super horrible … but I feel that’s when I tapped into … just … kind of … going to thrift stores … getting records … and discovering prints for the first time … and how to use a record player on my own … Music was a huge part … for me … before that … but having that interaction with a record player … and watching the needle drop on to the groves … was really great for me … I feel like I’ve always found people that are like me … I fully support whatever someone is doing creatively … So … I would always throw shows in my moms soundproof basement … and … all my friends would go … I remember for my birthday … there were four live bands … in this small basement … and it was just jam packed … and hot … and my mom was like … “It’s all good” … From then … I was … if I could make people come together like this … and the feeling that I got from making that happen … I kind of transitioned it … over here … into a bigger city … with the courage and confidence of doing that … for other people … in a different city … The transition … from the east coast to Chicago … was interesting … I was in a relationship … that I had to end … because they weren’t willing to move out here at that time … I remember visiting my sister in 2014 when I graduated high school … I was … “I’m going to see if I like it” … I stayed for two months … fell in love … I ended up meeting this one guy from … my favorite band … and we hung out all night … I don’t know … it just seemed like a dream … like anything … can happen … in Chicago … I was completely sold … I moved here … and … it took me a while to adapt … because it is a little bit more fast paced … But I feel like since I’ve always been exposed to cities through my mom … I knew that I could handle it … So … the transition was definitely rough … Going from living with your mom … to taking care of yourself financially … and figuring out your own way … is very hard … and actually I had to move back to Maryland … because I became so broke the first time I moved here … My mom was … either you can live there and be … homeless … or you can come here and live with me … but I’m not going to make your decision for you … So I went back … and waited a couple of years … and saved up money … and came back … again … And ever since I came back … I truly believe … never give up on your dreams … The second time I came back … everything just fell into place … just naturally … and obviously I’m making an effort for these things … and changing myself … so these things come to me … It just has been … I would never have imagined it … The first time I was here … I came in 2014 for a year … I came back in 2017 … and I’ve been here around three years … The second time it was definitely interesting … all I had was school … and knowing that I wanted to go to school for music business … gave me a purpose … From there … I developed what my purpose is … You know … The school I went to … The first year I lived out here … I was on the train … and I saw an advertisement for the school … I was super curious … and I saw that Martin Atkins was a teacher there … and he used to drum for Pigface … and Public Image Limited … He’s been a part of some massive projects … And my mom was freaking out … she was … “You can learn from this guy” … I was like … “Yeah … Yeah” … The program is very expansive … it teaches you graphic design … photography … They set you up with a camera … a laptop … everything you need to succeed … is how I view this school … they definitely help you figure out where you want to go … and what you want to do … and now … I work for Concept Sanctuary … curating events … and event coordination … I haven’t been there for long … but Endy … the owner … we just clicked the first time we met … and his space is so amazing … the energy is just really raw … and I told him … I want to help you … how can I help you … I wasn’t even looking for money … I think that’s the thing about me … I genuinely want to help people … I want to do things that I want to do … and if money comes … then that’s great … I’m not seeking … only money … I think that’s why … these great things … just keep falling in place … because I’m just genuinely just living my truth … Endy is really inspirational dude … he’s a producer … he’s been a part of the music scene in Chicago for probably … twenty years … He’s seen it change a lot … He owns The Sanctuary … it’s on the west side … It’s in an old church … he completely rehabbed it … and it’s frikin crazy … he’s an art collector … so there’s just wild stuff in there … There’s a stage … we have all of the equipment we need … for sound engineering … there’s a studio in there … it’s pretty crazy what he’s done … on his own … I feel like I know … just based off the networking that I do … I socialize a lot with … with people … whenever I meet them … or if I like their music … I would want to meet them … So I’m … how could I get backstage … and meet this person … and somehow I do … and then we’re drinking a beer together … and then I’m like … “Hey … do you want to perform at this venue … on this date” … like the Everyday is Halloween event … that I curated … this band … Cafe Racer … were like … “Yeah … Sure” … They were … “We’re going to be missing our drummer … but we’re down to do an improve noise set … and I was like … “That sounds great” … I feel like … people respect me because … I respect them … and music in general … and art in general … they’re all connected in some way … As far as social media … I have two instagram accounts … and one of them is completely X rated … I’ll say whatever … post whatever … If you know about it … you know about it … I’m not going around telling people about it … and I have one … Lilhellraiser … which is like … how I view my attitude on things  … it’s very … renegade … non-complacent … attitude … where I do fully embody that … and people will sometimes call me that … but … I think I post just more … fashion … modeling … and I feel it’s almost a portfolio … people perceive me as someone who’s done a lot of things … because it shows all of the things that I’ve done … It’d different … But I don’t really care how people view me through the internet … and I feel that if someones viewing me … and judging me … just off an internet interaction … then I probably don’t want to interact with that person … Platforms? … I feel that Instagram is just the one right now … I don’t use Snapchat … I have Facebook for my grandparents … just … “I’m alive” … Yeah … that’s pretty much it … Instagram is the main one … As far as the state of the world … I can’t be the one to say … and I think being an Aquarius … I’m in my own world … It’s not out of ignorance … I know what’s going on … and I stay informed … but … I think that my world … the world that I’m creating for myself to make it day by day … and be healthy … and exist … it’s just a little bit different … but I truly think that change is going to happen … and is coming … I wish people would just love … that’s it … I feel it’s so easy to love … and forgive … when you feel ready to forgive … but I think there’s just a lot of past trauma … and things that are now being carried into the way everybody views and perceives things … and that’s why we’re not necessarily moving forward … together … It’s still very segregated … It’s very separated … I’m not one of those people that’s part of separation … I’m all for bridging gaps … and bringing people together … Where do I want to go? … Japan … London … All those places that every young person says … because all those places have so much cool history about behind them … If I were to get into my nature mood … that I get on … I would honestly love to go to Hawaii … or Portugal … anywhere I could just … be … with horses … and nature … and meditating … in the sun … where its warm … that’s all I want …