Today we’d like to introduce you to Mela Sarajane Dailey.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
When you come from Jacksonville, a small town in East Texas and you’re a woman, you get very accustomed to being underestimated. Add blonde hair and presenting more like a Barbie than a CEO or Grammy winner in Classical Music and you’ve basically tripled your chances to be discounted. It took me some time, but I decided that my standards, not the limiting beliefs I had been taught, would be the only opinion about my abilities that mattered.
My first love has always been performing, and it became a vehicle for advancement. I was recruited to audition and then attend the Booker T. Washington High School for Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas, Texas. From there, I graduated with the highest GPA; they would not award me the title of valedictorian because of a technicality that it only took me three years of high school to graduate. I applied to one school only and was admitted into NYU’s CAP 21 program which was the first Broadway internship degree program of its kind. After a series of financial and health hardships with my family, I decided to attend Texas State University on a full scholarship. At 17 years old, I imagined being crushed under the weight of significant debt if I chose to live in New York armed with only a musical theater degree after four years.
This decision was not made with confidence or even with optimism, but more out of the necessity to avoid anxiety at all costs. Choosing the lesser of two evils felt like turning down an WNBA contract and that my dreams of becoming a professional performer would never be realized. Why did I believe that this was the end of my dreams at 17? Because I bought into what I was being told. Now at 43, I have been able to perform all over the world and receive 10 Grammy nominations and one win. As the CEO of Production and Consulting Firm Merick Strategies, I have produced the largest concert that was thought to have been impossible called the Bernstein Mass in Austin, TX. Now Austin Artists Project, the nonprofit I started and am Executive Director at, is producing a Broadway Musical Revue, “Sing Out!” in Lincoln Center on June 22, 2022.
In 2019, I started a nonprofit called Austin Artists Project that invests in artists from student to professional and changes the future of arts funding for all underrepresented, underserved and, quite frankly, undervalued people. This is the work of which I’m most proud.
What I can say in looking back is that every pivot and perceived disappointment was the best thing to ever happen. Most importantly, it gave me confidence, independence, perseverance and empathy for others who had the same struggles or more. I never would have discovered opera, met my husband, and have had many of the opportunities that were given to me had I not remained in Texas.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
There have been many struggles including sexual abuse, health crises, and more, but my colleagues of color have faced this and systemic racism. I’m inspired by listening to the artists we support at AAP and learning about the overwhelming obstacles they have faced and continue to concur. Working alongside the best Director of Operations, Staci McIntyre, and the most dedicated Board of Directors, I am hopeful for the future. All my efforts are about working for life to be more equitable for the next generation.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
All aspects of my work revolve around advocacy and disrupting the norms. Instead of specializing in classical music with orchestras and opera companies in the US and Europe, I took the path of performing in many genres, sometimes on the same concert. One of my most popular concerts is called “Sci-Fi and Superheroes” where I’ll perform everything from the Mad Scene from “Lucia di Lammermoor” to the Theme from “Ghostbusters.” I was told that performing Broadway, Pop, Classical, and Country, etc., would ruin my career. Now it appears to be my superpower.
Additionally, I believe that performers can find success outside of the arts in business. I started the real estate group Philanthropic Luxury Group with Chrissy Hand, Monika Suhnholz, and Rick Luisi. These three are the most successful and generous realtors in Austin who give 10% of their commissions to Austin Artists Project.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
The first thing I say to any student I meet is that I don’t have all the answers for them. No one has all the answers for them. They are the only ones who will know what is right if they learn to listen to their own guidance. The best thing I can do is demonstrate the freedom and confidence that I have found when I stopped giving away my power.
Contact Info:
- Email: msdailey@merickstrategies.com
- Website: www.austinartistsproject.org & www.merickstrategies.com
- Instagram: @meladailey
Image Credits
For the headshot it’s Joseph Moran Photography, the one with the students is from Farid Zarrinabadi Photography
