Stephanie Kong
Hi! My name is Stephanie Kong, and I’m an 18-year-old singer-songwriter/multi-instrumentalist. I have been playing since I was 14 years old.
I was first inspired to play music by my ninth grade English teacher Mr. Petrich. One day in class, Mr. P. came in with his guitar and performed his own original acoustic music. His music related to his own personal experiences and had reached out to me. He remarked in his own words that, “music can act as therapy.” Those words stuck true to my heart throughout my freshman of high school.
On an early summer Sunday morning, I was with my dad at a flea market. On that morning, opportunity finally struck! I made my first guitar purchase. Embracing those words Mr. Petrich had instilled in me, it didn’t matter that it was a cheap, used Fender Squire acoustic guitar. With that dusty relic in my hands, I instantly became hooked. The warmth of the wood against me, the coarseness of the strings on my fingertips, I was reminded of earlier years when I was a violinist. There was that familiar feeling, I was home!
With my guitar in hand, the course had been set. As I slowly taught myself through YouTube videos and watching other performers, I quickly realized that the chords I learned could turn into songs. Those melodies became my emotional outlet, my safe place, and my therapy.
Two years passed arranging notes, rearranging notes, speeding up my tempo and then slowing it down. Finally, my first song was born. It was about spiders. Hey, cut me a break! I was not quite 16, and this was all new to me. Anyway, I didn’t really have much while growing up. My family environment and student life was lonely. With writing being my outlet, inspired by my surroundings, my mission had become clear.
These trials and tribulations set the stage that eventually led me to raise awareness and encourage others. I write songs that deal with poverty, loneliness and other life issues that weigh on my heart. I feel my songs are catchy enough and relevant in a way that everyone can relate to and enjoy them.
One of my songs, called Her, is about my personal journey dealing with thoughts of suicide during my junior year of high school. At the time, I was caught up in family conflict (abuse, seeing my sister delve into drugs and seeing my eldest sister taken advantage of by guys) and being bullied in school.
During this darkened period in my life, I didn’t have any friends to lean on and severely lacked support at home. However, there was this one Mt. Lebanon resident/graduate girl that helped me work through my trials. Afterwards, our relationship abruptly ended without reason or cause. Primarily, this event furthered my aspirations and desires to help others.
In this pursuit, I collaborated with Zach Reeder (who is the CEO founder of Creaky Seat Publishing and a guitar CMU professor) to produce my music. This process started with me entering the studio with the song I wrote in hand, cutting a scratch track, and finally polishing the whole vocal recording up with more instruments.
For the past year, I’ve been working on independently recording my music and trying to build up a reputable fan base, both live and on social media platforms. With that in mind, I have already accomplished several milestones within my early musical career. These endeavors include completing a 6 song album, being featured in local newspapers like the Pittsburgh Tribune Review, magazine articles, air time on national radio stations and even peaking the interest of several notable record labels in Nashville. Most recently I was featured on, Saturday Light Brigade morning show on WRCT 88.3 fm here in the Burgh.
Within the next month, a production company by the name iMove iLive will be doing a video journal on me for their online magazine. Also, within this time I am going to be launching a Kickstarter campaign to help fund the resources to support my cause. After all, I am a college student and could sure use all the assistance I can get!
When it comes to live performances, this year alone I have played a battle of the bands, I have played many open mic nights in the greater Pittsburgh area, I busk (street preform) whenever possible, and I am headed to Nashville towards the end of July. I jump at every chance that comes my way to promote!
It is my aspiration to continue producing my music, bring to light the areas of struggle and deliver inspiration to other people. I am so grateful for all the encouragement and attention my music has received. To use my talents for a greater purpose, I truly am blessed!
Stephanie Kong
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