Renowned musician, performer and actress Lira is now adding tutor and “master” to her impressive resume.
Lira recently partnered with MyMastery, an online platform that offers a unique learning experience, delivered by South African icons who will share insights into their craft and journey to success.
As a master of the art of performance, Lira is set to offer young creatives some valuable and practical tips on how to survive the industry.
“I’ve always been passionate about sharing everything I have learnt in pursuing a creative career because I know what it’s like to have your gift feel like a constant niggle that won’t go away,” offers Lira.
“Any person who wishes to use their gift to contribute to the world and make a living out of it deserves to know that it is possible, and I’m hoping that with this course they can be equipped with the tools they need. MyMastery offered me a great platform to be able to do this.”
With an illustrious career spanning almost two decades, Lira will give the young talents a holistic overview of the creative industry.
“I offer so much more than the art of performance, I teach about emotional intelligence, getting your mindset right for this career, finding your purpose and your uniqueness and determining who your art is directed at and how to market to your target audiences.
“I teach how to plan your finances as a creative person starting out, so that you can build security and sustainability and so much more.
“I’ve shared a lot of what I learnt “on the job”, things that no school will teach you, from actual experience and I think this is priceless.
“I share principles that I live by that I’ve applied to my entire life as a creative. I’m a firm believer that if God or life-the-universe has given you a talent and a gift, then it follows that there must be a way for you to express it successfully.
“My biggest desire is to give anyone wanting to get into a creative career the tools and methods to help them accomplish this and create sustainability, success and fulfilment.
The Feel Good hitmaker also encourages upcoming artists to put in the work if they want to succeed.
“It’s about being willing to do the work, mentally, physically and spiritually, so that you become balanced and effective in your approach.
“I also say that all this information I share on MyMastery will not work if you don’t use it... try it, do it, apply it, take that chance, make those moves... if more and more of us can prove that it's possible, hopefully no one else will settle for an unfulfilled life instead of following their passion and living their creative lives fully.
“This will not only benefit musicians, but anyone whose career is organic and creative – and 'unpredictable' creative entrepreneurs, as I like to call us.”
Reflecting on some of the highlights and low points of her career, Lira says she hopes that many musicians don’t make the same mistakes that she did along the way.
“The world made me believe musicians were poor, stupid, unprofessional and recluses. I was worried about this at first and I accepted situations that I should not have because I thought, that’s just how this industry is.
“I never realised there was an alternative. You can be empowered, safe and respected as an artist – it comes with work, but hopefully, with this course, I can help a lot of people to avoid mistakes I made.”
Quizzed about her plans for this year, the award-winning singer says she’s looking forward to resuming her international tour, starting in Germany.
"Often, people who have achieved the pinnacle of their career leave most of us wondering just how they did it.
“As a proudly South African company, MyMastery has set out to create an exclusive online learning platform to share our instructors journeys, human experiences and provide an all-access path to the behind scenes stories and experiences that has led to their success,“ says Richard Rayne, chief executive of MyMastery.
Other luminaries who will be hosting the MyMastery classes include actor and comedian Marc Lottering, fitness instructor Steve Uria and fashion icon David Tlale.
For more information, visit the MyMastery website.