Christian artist and entrepreneur Moriah joined author and fellow artist Erwin McManus at the Global Leadership Summit Thursday, Aug. 8, where Moriah played an unreleased single, “Superwoman,” and talked with McManus about leadership in the music industry.
Moriah: ‘I’m Still Very Much Learning’
Moriah is a Christian musician who has released the albums, “I Choose Jesus” and “Brave,” the latter of which reached the No. 9 spot on Billboard’s CCM Charts. She is married to Joel Smallbone of the band for KING & COUNTRY and with whom she co-produced the movie, “Unsung Hero.” The film is a biopic about the Smallbone family’s immigration to the U.S. and the blossoming careers of Joel and Luke Smallbone and their sister, Rebecca St. James. Moriah is also an actor and plays the role of Bathsheba in the hit TV series, “The Chosen.”
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Moriah told McManus that “Superwoman” is on her Latin country album that will be coming out next year. Noting that they are both Latinos, McManus asked Moriah what she has learned about being a leader as part of a minority in the music industry.
“I’m still very much learning,” Moriah replied. “How do you practice leadership in a genre as nebulous and unscripted as songwriting? There’s no ladder to climb here, you know, and there’s no right way to do it.”
A key part of how Moriah approaches her career is that she sees herself as an entrepreneur. “I love doing all these things, producing films, writing music, making albums, touring,” she said, “but I’m an entrepreneur. Ultimately, I see myself as a brand. I see my songs as a product.”
The artist invests in her own growth and education, and she talked about the importance of healthy habits and boundaries. “I’m [a] very boring, basic person,” said Moriah, adding that quality is “something that I’ve come to accept about myself.”
By “boring,” Moriah simply means that she gets eight hours of sleep every night, drinks plenty of water, and essentially sets up “structured parameters” for her life and work. These practices are in contrast to the stereotype that musicians are “wild artists with these big personalities…going on binges and being a bit manic and staying up till 3:00 a.m. writing songs.”
“I think what you call ‘boring,’ we would call ‘healthy,’” McManus observed.
“I think the most attainable way to practice leadership is to get to know myself,” she said, “to get to know how God created me uniquely, and to embrace and celebrate that.”
“You’re in an industry where the majority of people quit, even when they have extraordinary talent,” McManus pointed out. “What has helped you not quit…to find the eternal resilience, to just keep moving forward?”
