An interview with Hanna Lashay
This popular American artist/model is not just a beautiful face. Often being in the limelight seems to change people. This is someone who I admire for staying true to who she is. I first stumbled across Hannah Lashay back when I had Tumblr in secondary school. It’s because of girls like Hanna that black girls now feel confident enough to wear their natural hair out…or go ‘Au Naturale’ as I like to call it. What I admired most about the model/artist and continue to admire about her, is her self-confidence, postivity and her way of thinking.
“I’m inspired by the trials of life. The up’s and down’s, nature, space, daylight, night time, art, colours and fashion…etc. It’s actually very rare that I’m inspired by people as opposed to experiences.“
Often times we believe it is mainly people that inspire us. That our inspirations have to be older than us, that they have to have lived a number of years and this experience is what shapes their wisdom. I don’t believe that this is always the case. Let’s just say you don’t have to be old to be wise. In the case of Hannah Lashay, yes, I do believe a young person can influence another young person. I also believe that the world around us shapes who we are as a person more than another individual can and Hanna sums this quite well in the above quote.
Aside from being a beautiful, young and talented role model for black girls, Hanna is also a very talented singer. I found this out from watching her cover of Bag Ladyby Erykah Badu on YouTube.
You can also check out Hanna’s new song Sunlight below.
She has a neo-soul sound with an indie vibe and her vocal ability amazes me as she continues to hit high ranges with ease.
What do you want the youth to take away from your music? I asked.
She replied saying, “A sense of healing and enlightenment. I want to be able to trigger a person’s emotions and feelings through my music. I’d like people to be able to feel less alone and escape within my music. I’d like to be a getaway”.
Where do you see yourself in the next five years?
In the next five years I see myself grateful. Successful for sure but at peace. I see myself with a solid support base. A solid defined global brand on and off social media. My music will be healing humanity and bridging generations, cultures and ethnicities. My main goal is to make sure my mom is straight, that’s really all that matters.
SZA is finally on the map right now and artists like Daniel Caesar are also making waves. Is there anyone you would like to collab with in the future?
I have soo many but I’ll narrow it down to seven. Most definitely SZA, Russ, The Internet, Alina Baraz, Jhene Aiko, Daniel Caesar and Monte Booker.
I love how confident you are in yourself and your gifts and talents. However, we cannot ignore the fact that many young people do suffer from a lack of self-confidence. Mental health is just about getting the recognition it deserves. What advice would you give to any young readers that are battling with self-confidence?
Practice patience and honesty. Self healing isn’t an overnight process, so never feel like you need to rush to recover. Small efforts go a long way, seriously. Start by speaking small positive things to yourself. I feel like like social media and society plays a big part in how people view themselves nowadays. Try meditating and taking time to yourself away from everything for a little bit to be with your thoughts. Get to know the real you and not the you that has been defined from the external.
Have you ever been to London? Is a London meet and greet on the cards?
I actually didn’t find out until recently that I had a really dope support base in London, which was really shocking to me. But yeah! I’d love to get to come out there and get to meet all of the London Sunflowers, talk to them, hug them and just be able to enjoy that space. Yes it’s in the cards. We will manifest that.
Main image taken from http://www.atlien92.com/ by Jordan Desamours.
CONNECT WITH HANNA:
iamhannalashay iamhannalashay
INTHEWRITERSMIND 