We recently had the chance to connect with Olivia Rains and have shared our conversation below.
Olivia, so good to connect and we’re excited to share your story and insights with our audience. There’s a ton to learn from your story, but let’s start with a warm up before we get into the heart of the interview. What is a normal day like for you right now?
Everyday is a beautiful opportunity to create new art, music and memories. I’m very grateful to be in my situation to create and be in the moment. I really don’t have a “normal” day unless you think of it as my normal is unbelievably positive with an abundance of optimism towards doing what makes my soul content. Simple things, walking my dog, going on my long walks to be reminded my gratitude for ability to move after a recent knee replacement. Then, I’m usually getting into several creative projects from custom painting my motorcycle helmet or writing songs for my band and planning large scale paintings for my next art series.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Life has a way of surprising us in the most profound ways. I was born deaf and told would never be able to have “good speech”, let alone sing. Through years of surgeries, speech therapy, learning sign language after moving to Austin in 1999, and countless struggles, I never believed I needed to be “fixed.” What I wanted was equal access, not limitation. But being deaf was never a limitation- it was a gift in itself. It taught me so many things about myself and probably more about other people, how they approach communication, patience and grace.
Ear diseases forced me into surgeries that restored some hearing—not fully, but enough to change everything. Enough to sing. Enough to create. Enough to begin a band just over a year ago that has since become a vessel for expression, resilience, and connection.
What once seemed impossible is now reality: music, performance, and a voice that carries stories of survival and hope. It’s a reminder that the things we are told will hold us back may, in time, reveal themselves as gifts. That even in the darkest places, there are unexpected sparks waiting to ignite. That anything is possible if you put in the effort and commitment.
Every note sung is gratitude. Every show is proof that we can surprise even ourselves with how far we can go, and how deeply art can save the soul.
Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. What did you believe about yourself as a child that you no longer believe?
Being told things that would restrict my future just because I was deaf was a big part of holding me back in literally everything I wanted to pursue. When in fact it was the one thing that brought me to my path to do everything I longed to accomplish. I was too young to decipher these things. I no longer believe in limits. The mistake is believing there are limits to your dreams. I no longer believe there is a stopping point.
What did suffering teach you that success never could?
I struggled a lot throughout my life with depression, suicidal thoughts and tendencies. But those moments actually grabbed my deepest core of strength and yanked me up to the surface where I thought I was drowning I realized I still had breath, life to breathe and see it through. The moments I thought I wanted to disappear showed me I still had a chance at one more day to see my worth. One more day to prove to my weakest parts that strength can grow and something beautiful can bloom.
Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. Is the public version of you the real you?
Yes and no. I’m very honest, very full of life and love, energetic and happy. But I’m actually pretty introverted, have social anxiety and always trying to redirect imposter syndrome and insecurities like I think most people and artists do. I have accomplished some wild goals but seem to forget that and have to remember to give myself some credit and acknowledge where I have been and where I’m going. Being on stage and performing feels like I get to unzip the skin suit and express my deepest feelings and being social off stage feels like trying to do that with the suit zipped back up so I find it to be something I have to work at, where singing and performing feels second nature.
Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: What do you understand deeply that most people don’t?
To be deaf over half my life and then, everything change and becoming a singer and song writer – it’s challenging to put that into words to anyone who hasn’t experienced that. I was guided in a way without deliberate instruction to be hearing but all I wanted was to be myself as a deaf person and have communication met half way with me, to have patience and compassion extended so I could be included. I hold a very strong position still in my deaf world and history because it molded who I am today even after the medical and physical work I had to go through to be who I am today and the things I learned being deaf and becoming me now – people would never guess what I had to endure and experience. Living both sides of a story it’s a gift not a set back to me – but a gift. I think the magnitude of those sides are hard to understand for most but I hope my story can inspire all sides to see the connection is not deaf or hearing – it’s compassion, patience and love.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thedeadcanyonfamilyreuinion.com
- Instagram: @thedeadcanyonfamilyreuinion
- Facebook: @thedeadcanyonfamilyreuinion
Image Credits
Single photo by Lance Barton
Full band photo by Casey Chumbley
