Kaya Nova is a multi-hyphenate artist and founder of GROWN Mag, a digital sanctuary for Black women navigating adulthood with authenticity and grace. A classically trained vocalist and graduate of Spelman College and Berklee College of Music, she seamlessly blends neo-soul sounds with storytelling, using her platform to empower creatives and foster community through music, writing, and mentorship
You embody the essence of a multi-hyphenate as a artist, founder and culture-driven strategist. How do you continue to show up for so many different parts of yourself while not getting distracted?
KN: I'll be honest, I'm not sure if I have the balance down pat yet. But I will say that I've always been a person that's never denied myself a passion of mine. If it's something that I'm interested in doing, I always make an effort to do it in some way. I think the thing that helps me not get too overwhelmed by everything, when I can help it, is not trying to make everything “be” at the same priority at one time. It's really hard to try to launch three businesses at once; it's really hard to try to do the same campaign three times across all these different things. You have to find a way to prioritize some things and say, “Okay, well this is the one passion that needs to be at the forefront right now.” The other two will circle back in three or six months, and then do the big activation with this other passion. But in order to stay really tapped into all of the things that I love, I have to remember that everything doesn't have to happen today. Even if I have a great idea for something, sometimes you just got to write it down and let it sit for a little bit, and you'll come back to it when you actually have the capacity. But it's a juggling game for sure, you just have to lean into what needs you.
GROWN Mag cover features (All rights reserved to GROWN Mag)
You graduated from Spelman in 2016 with a BA in Music Theory and from Berklee College of Music with a Masters in Contemporary Performance and Production. How did you navigate the in-between? The experience of freshly graduating but still trying to figure out what’s next?
KN: Honestly, it was really challenging, but I think this isn't unique to just me going to school for music. I think it's really challenging for everyone when you're fresh out of school and you're trying to figure out: What city do I want to live in? Do I want to move back home? Do I want to start somewhere new? What job am I going to do? So it definitely was a period of like a few years—I would say like maybe two years—where things were just not working out. Things were not going the way that I thought they were going to go. I had to spend some time with my family, and then I finally got a job that would allow me to move back to New York City, and it was actually teaching music at a school in Queens. So that was the thing that allowed me to move back to New York.
One thing I can say is through all of the detours, I was always very clear about what I wanted. And anything that was in between felt like just a pit stop. It never felt like, “Oh, well let me take this job and I guess this is just what I'm doing.” It always felt like, “Okay, cool, we got this job. I'm going to go move my apartment, I'm going to use this to pay for this equipment, that equipment.” Like it just felt like these were all stepping stones to the thing that I always knew I wanted to do. I think really being able to go to school for music—I had two parents that never said the words, “What's your plan B?” to me. They never discouraged me from pursuing music. So I was almost like delusionally confident that I could just have a music career because I've been doing this thing my whole life. I was never told that it was a bad thing to pursue.
“One thing I can say is through all of the detours, I was always very clear about what I wanted. And anything that was in between felt like just a pit stop.”
- Kaya Nova
As a sophomore at Spelman, you started blogging to process life as a First Gen student. Your dad suggested inviting friends to contribute, which sparked what became “Grown Mag” originally “She Unplugged”. How did it feel to build this unexpected platform?
KN: You know, this is such a full-circle moment because we had an offsite with the team at Grown this weekend, basically talking about how the brand is about to expand again into something that is a full-on media company—which, again, that's not anything in 2014 that I thought I was creating. It's just so wild to remember the “She Unplugged” days. But again, I think this is all such a big testament to when you just go 100% in the direction of something you want to do. Whatever has to happen, whatever bridges that you have to cross—a few years from that moment, you'll figure out how to cross them.
I don't even think if I was a sophomore in college and I sat down and said, “Hey, I'm going to build this media company and I'm going to be this mogul by this age,” I don't even think I would have been able to do this work, quite honestly. I think the fact that I didn't know how big it was going to get is the thing that kept me humble and just into the day-to-day process of having fun with it. Like, I had no idea it was going to be this, and it just continues to shock me personally—like literally every day when I see one of our posts start to go crazy and get a bunch of likes. I'm like, “Oh my God, people are really here for us.” I honestly really like that because it takes me out of my own day-to-day mental and helps me remember that I'm a part of something bigger. That I've created something that is for everyone else, and it allows me to kind of just lean into community service and activism and just get out of my day-to-day “woe is me.”
Founder Kaya Nova hosts a Creative Play Date (All rights reserved to GROWN Mag)
You shared in a recent interview some amazing advice, “Don’t start a business about something you don’t really care about”, share why creating something bigger then yourself is so vital to the longevity of a company.
KN: I think because my brand is grounded in community, we kind of have this infinite product. We have an abundance of a thing that is always going to be available. It doesn't matter what tariffs hit this country, I can always offer the thing that I've created. So I always had a lot of room to take my time and evolve with that and figure out what new things I can try. Because I love my community—like I ride for Black women any day—I'm ready to show up for Black women. So I never feel like this isn't something I want to give my time or give my money to. And that's what's kept me thinking about this business for over 10 years now. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about GROWN, that I'm not doing something for GROWN. Even if I'm not working that day on GROWN, I'm always thinking about it, and that's what you need. You need this almost like muscle memory type of thing where you love your brand or you love your business so much that it just becomes a part of who you are. That's what helps you get through those rejections because there's going to be many rejections.
I really care about the people that I'm trying to serve. That's what's going to get you through versus like, “Oh, this thing is trending, let me start a business real quick because this thing is trending.” And then what happens when that trend is over? You have to start from scratch. If it wasn't for the fact that my business is really grounded in something that I feel is so core to who I am—yeah, I probably would have quit like two years in. I would have just been like, “Yeah, this is too hard, so I'm just going to stop.” But I feel like I've built a brand that is a forever thing, and I could pass it down to my kids or whoever once I'm ready to step away. That's what this feels like for me.
What role does representation play in helping the next generation believe that their dreams and aspirations are truly possible?
KN: I think it's everything. I know for a fact when I was at Spelman, I did not have anyone that was doing a career that felt like it was something that I could replicate. I love Spelman, forever and ever, but there was a very clear idea back then of what being a successful Spelman woman looked like. And as a music major, we didn't have a lot of representation on what a career in the entertainment industry looked like. It wasn't something that was modeled as the epitome of changing the world as a Spelman woman. So it was a lot of times where I was just like, “I don't even know what it looks like, or even what I'm going after, but I just hope I can figure it out.” That's why I'm so open about everything that I do, what I've learned, how I've gotten here, because people need to know that this is possible. That there is a space for us—people that like to do many things, people that want to do creative work.
I think it's really, really, really important that we demystify what careers in creative fields look like, because especially with this new generation. They all want to be content creators and do these creative things, and I think they also need to know that you can do that many ways other than drop everything and I'm just going to pursue this thing until it works out. But that's absolutely a way you can do it. There are so many jobs now that didn't even exist when I was in school that could have been a part of my plan. So I think us people, especially with creative roles, we really have to be open about our process because it really can change someone else's life.
Want to hear more amazing stories like this? Check out our “More of Us” series! If you want to connect with Kaya and support the work she is doing, follow her on social @thekayanova and support her magazine GROWN Mag.