Tiff McFierce: Sonic healer, Community curator, etc.
#CreativeToWatch
Tiff McFierce is a sonic healer, community curator, DJ and wellness activist based in NY.
What do you do?
I am a sonic healer, community curator, wellness activist, writer & speaker. Some of my mediums are DJing, music and wellness direction, dance, and shaking up spaces while leaving the gates unlocked. I’m also the first womxn, & Black womxn to be assistant musical director & resident DJ in the NBA, at Madison Square Garden, & for the NY Knicks, Liberty & Rangers.
Tell us about Look IN and what led you to founding it? What are your hopes for its future?
I had a paper I found from 2010 that was the idea of bringing womxn together for much more than just business & career. I’ve been curating events for almost 2 decades and I’m what people call a connector, so Look IN was birthed from all of my mediums & passions. I founded Look IN as an answer to all of the wellness events I was invited to where I saw no one at all that looked like me & the void for Black & WOC to also have not just brave space for their health and wellness to connect with others but rest, resources, reciprocity, and joy. My diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes in 2017 was the major push for me to give all of what I was already doing a name and a solid foundation to it. At Look IN we believe wellness should be tailor made to you and using what you know in small increments and small steps while exploring mindset. Do you know plasticity, activities, experiential events, community, and connection bring forth a more balanced life. Healing isn’t linear nor is life, so we provide a restorative space to awaken and support the paths of womxn with our main pillars of Music, Movement & Meditation as guides.
What advice do you have for people wanting to combine many passions into one career?
Just do it. Don’t worry about what anybody thinks, don’t worry about if anyone understands what’s going on, don’t worry about if anybody will like it, just follow your heart and that voice that keeps nagging at you to do it. There’s always a void to fill and there’s always someone who needs your voice in the way that you present it or your offering in the way that you’ve envisioned it so don’t get caught up on if it’s understood, or if it’s already been done. Nothing any of us is doing is new per se, it’s just how we place it together and everyone has individual talents to bring something innovative to the table and to their communities. And let go of any limiting beliefs that you have to be one thing. None of us are born just as one thing, you never need permission in life to pivot. Like I always say and this was something I was saying while I was a professional dancer and a professional DJ all at once, Dance, DJ, do you. That was my mantra to myself and what I kept pushing out for my community to continue to further the notion that you can do whatever you feel like you came to do!
Favorite project/event you’ve worked on?
I think almost everything I’ve done has been a favorite of mine. Whenever musical.ly directs for live events, stadiums, or even hotels or brands that’s always so fun to show true sonic sound. But dancing on tour and music videos and stay shows that were awesome as well. Growing looking and being an entrepreneur, being a visionary and a leader working with other leaders to storytelling and bringing together community with those projects are so fulfilling. I think I’ve been blessed to have the most fun doing all of the things I’ve decided to do and made a line for myself in! Even just writing this answer brings me another feeling of gratitude in the reflection of it.
What inspires you?
Spirit inspires me. That feeling I get when I can tell that everything is so much bigger than me and I’m here to play my part in that, that is extremely inspiring. And seeing other people, other human beings and their resilience, their strengths, their creativity, their joy, their happiness, those things inspire me to want to add to the world in hopes that I bring that to people as well.
How do you break out of a creative funk?
I basically use Lookin‘s three pillars, music movement and meditation. I do things in very small increments so if I need to just listen to a playlist of curated, or if my meditation is solely taking a couple of deep breaths while I’m intentional about breathing, or since I’m able to take a walk for 10 minutes, those are usually the way I find myself coming out of a rut. Also staying really close to my body and treating it respectfully as much as I possibly can that helps. But the biggest point also I used to get out of a creative funk is to feel the funk. I literally if I’m not feeling it I give myself the permission to feel that sometimes I don’t want to change what I’m feeling, I just want to tell myself what it needs to do to honor it, feel it, and then release it as I’m ready. I’ve realized that a lot of the ups and downs and ebbs and flows of life have a lot to teach us when we listen and don’t shy away or shame away from it.
Favorite form of self care?
Dancing. That will forever be my favorite form of self-care. It’s what I did as a very young girl. I'm talking like four years old. It's what I feel has saved my life through darkness in turmoil, and it’s just always gonna be my first language in my first love.
What’s some creative advice you live by?
Do it messy, do it unfinished, do it not ready, do it imperfectly, but just do it. And that’s something in the past two years I’ve really been sitting with the most. The gifts that were given to you could never be judged by other people. So not doing what you’re feeling in your creative soul to do would be punishment to you and to whomever you’d like to share it with.
Who would your dream creative collaboration include (if you haven't already achieved it)?
My Jean Creative collaborations consist of Queen Latifah and Jay Z. I would love to have the two of them backing me being the next innovator in the music and wellness space & combining Tech.
An artist or creative that is really inspiring you right now?
All of the artists that I see online that have the guts in the gusto to just go for it. I’m really inspired by people that are sharing their work, people that are sharing their education and knowledge and bringing value to creativity and learning and growing.
What are your favorite creative outlets outside of music?
Writing is something that I’ve been with since I was a child and I love it so much. Writing stories, essays, magazine articles, blog posts I truly enjoy writing. Reading is another one of my creative outlets since I was a young girl that I’m very close to. Another creative outlet that I’ve taken up the past two years is taking pictures of people in nature. I absolutely love putting my Google pixel camera on people and seeing what comes out and learning more about angles, color expression etc. that’s actually been a huge creative outlet for me the past two years especially after recovering from a really bad car accident in 2020.
What's on your 2022 bucket list?
Peace. Unwavering radical peace in myself is top of my bucket list. Just making sure that I’m not judging anyone’s journey and I am making waves on my own while just being and resting and not rushing I think that’s my top priority. Another thing on my bucket list is to grow our looking community through our continued offerings in real life and virtually, and also offering memberships and more. Another bucket list for me is moving out of New York!
Favorite hole in the wall in nyc?
A lot of the places I love didn’t make it through the pandemic unfortunately but I’m excited to explore what’s coming up and what might come back.
What’s on your spring playlist?
I have entire playlists dedicated to spring and summer. Follow me on Spotify Tiff McFierce to hear what’s on my spring playlist. Right now a song that I have on repeat is lucky Daye, guess.
Favorite store to find a great gift in NYC? The stores don’t really serve curvy girls such as myself, so I do more online shopping.
How can those reading this support you?
You can support by following @Look_IN._ as well as if you’d like to donate to our upcoming crowdfunding, my cash app:Venmo is TiffMcFierce. Will be moving forward with some big plans for more life shows, more community events as well as more online offerings. Another way to support is to send Lookin to any womxn identified people you know that can join our community!
