Shoutout LA - Risk, Reward & Life

We had the good fortune of connecting with Vidjay Beerepoot and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Vidjay, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
My whole life I have been doing the things that I love most. In my case this is making music. Today I am very grateful for making music for films and TV shows here in Hollywood. Although a creative career in LA or anywhere else could be considered risky, I strongly believe risk can be decreased immensely by knowing what you’re doing and setting realistic goals. Determination is so important for reaching those goals especially when times are tough. Wanting fast results in a creative career is very difficult, especially with so many factors that are beyond your control. The only way to get through difficult times is to love what you do and to believe in it. I never thought of my choices in life as being risky because I always had a very clear view of my goals and with a solid plan you can make things happen. I created my whole career from just a simple idea without anything else in the beginning. Of course it is very important to be realistic and evaluate the progress along the way to see if everything is still on track. Career wise but maybe more importantly, life wise. Questions I keep asking myself are: am I still happy, is what I am doing still worth doing, how are things improving and do I have to make any adjustments? While getting older priorities can shift and sometimes that means adjusting goals and plans. One of my main goals in life has become to inspire people all over the world to follow their dreams. I believe you can achieve almost anything when you set your mind to it. My career has been partly driven by other people’s regrets not taking chances or calculated risks. I think you can better regret the things you do than the things you didn’t do.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
For me art and creativity is all about telling a story. I was born in one of the poorest places in the world: India, adopted and raised in one of the richest countries in the world: The Netherlands. Music has been a part of my life from a very young age. Now living in Los Angeles, the journey that started in Asia, via Europe to the US has been very interesting and influential. By being very focused and determined I overcame many challenges in life, both personal and in my music career. For me life is about growing and improving. By making mistakes and learning from those mistakes I grow and fortunately along the way I made countless mistakes! I think what sets me apart is telling my personal story and translating emotions into music. Every deep emotional moment in my life helped my music to become more meaningful and more powerful. Hopefully when people hear my music they feel those powerful emotions.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
My favorite places in Los Angeles are probably the most known. The Hollywood Bowl would be very high on the list. I try to go to as many concerts as I can every year. I love the rich musical culture here in LA with incredible talent and there is always fantastic live music to find in the city in small venues or at big concert halls. Normally in the summer there are so many outdoor movie screenings throughout Los Angeles which are fantastic to visit. For food I always love to go to the Original Farmers Market near the Grove. There are many hole-in-the-wall places where the food is incredible. My favorite place to hike would be Franklin Canyon Park. It really feels hidden from the rest of busy LA, a perfect place to wind down. Even after 10 years living in Los Angeles there is still so much to discover.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
On my journey that started in The Netherlands all the way to the US, there are many people that helped me succeed. Without them I would never be where I am today. This starts with my parents being very supportive in the things I wanted to do. Instead of trying to steer me into a job with more stability (what has stability these days anyway?), they saw my passion for music and knew I was serious about it. I had many teachers and mentors in my hometown Hoorn in the North of Holland, who helped start my career early on. My professors at the School of the Arts at the University of Utrecht and all the professors at USC in the Scoring for Motion Pictures and Television program here in Los Angeles, helped me elevate my knowledge and confidence. I can’t thank them enough. All the people at ASCAP (music performance right organization) and my agency Kraft Engel Management remind me why I am doing this and keeping me confident in moving forward. Of course there are also my personal friends and mentors in LA. With family being so far away, having real friends you can count on is most important, they are like family here. I keep in touch with everyone that helped me right from the very beginning decades ago till today because I am very grateful for their help and I would never take that for granted.

Website: www.vidjaybeerepoot.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/vidjaymusic
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/vidjaybeerepoot
Twitter: www.twitter.com/vidjaymusic
Facebook: www.facebook.com/vidjay.beerepoot
Other: IMDb: www.imdb.com/name/nm1650518