Danielle’s Story

I’ve been thinking a lot about how amazing it is to know the hundreds of thousands of stories living in this town, hungry and thirsty for one simple thing: To succeed in the music industry.  At 25 years old, I have graduated from college with a degree that I can’t say that I necessarily “love”, but hey, at least I can say I did it.

For the past five years (that’s right… the 5 year plan), getting that piece of paper DEFINED my existence, and by the end I was beyond tired of only EXISTING.  In May of 2013, I finally was able to say good riddance to college, set that degree on my parent’s dresser with a big heart saying “I Love You”, pack my jeep up and drive 20 hours to Music City, USA, the place I always dreamed of living, though never actually visiting it… not even once… but when it’s something that runs through your veins you just know it, feel it, follow it, and there’s no need for anymore reason than that.

Fast-forward nearly 7 months later and I no longer EXISTING, but I am LIVING every day.  I don’t regret going to school and all the blood, sweat and tears that were involved in receiving my piece of paper, because I realize now it’s actually nothing to do with graduating from college but has everything to do with overcoming challenges and struggles in life to realize what you really are capable of, and perhaps finding a part of yourself that you would not have seen otherwise, and not giving up on that experience that maybe you thought once, twice, or even three times about throwing in the towel on.

So, I ask you, what’s YOUR experience that forced you to climb to the top in order to see what was waiting for you on the other side? The confidence to come to Nashville was what waited for me… but I knew what I had to do in order to find it.

We all have that defining experience… you know, the one that you don’t necessarily LIKE doing, but you know that it’s WORTH doing, but you’re not exactly sure why just yet… then to come find you’re living here, in the heart of the biggest music destination in the world, finishing up audio engineering school… feeding your passion, your hunger, your thirst, and LIVING, not existing.

Every life situation we all face reveals a layer of ourselves and allows us to discover a piece inside that maybe we didn’t know was there; strength, courage, ambition, determination.  At the end of the day it’s not about your name in neon lights and dollar signs (though it WOULD be cool! and definitely wouldn’t hurt ), it’s about the moment when you felt the self-revelation of personal confidence for the first time.  The success of finding what you really are capable of through overcoming fear… and when the day comes when you can share your story of success, don’t ever lose the authenticity of that bright eyed dreamer who drove across the country…

Never stop driving.

You are Relentless; We are DHI.

Take your leap and find out what Dark Horse Institute is all about!