Featured Scholar: Cyon Sailor

Cyon is a Senior in Music Business from St. Louis, Missouri. She is the first major in Music Business who is also a Murray State Presidential Fellow.

What drew you to Murray State?

Originally, my dream school was Belmont University in Nashville because I wanted to pursue a music degree in a music city. I was in the running for the presidential scholarship there, but didn’t receive the full ride and the merit scholarship didn’t provide the aid I needed. I’m the last person in my family to go to college. My mom has a doctorate and both of my sisters got private educations, so there weren’t a lot of funds left over for such a pricey school. I remember being pretty torn up about it, but my parents knew of Murray State already and suggested I give it a shot. We did a tour of the school and soon I wouldn’t be so upset about missing out on Belmont. I always assumed I’d prefer the small town college experience, and I was more open to it with Nashville off the table. I’m from St. Louis and I thought the slower pace of life would help me focus on school. I applied to Murray and, after my acceptance, I was offered the presidential scholarship. The decision was pretty easy to make after that. Now being here, I can’t imagine being as happy as I am anywhere else. As an added bonus, I’m the first Music Business student to receive the Presidential Fellowship, so I’m like a part of history. After 4 years here, I switch between calling St. Louis and Murray home. 

Why did you choose your major and minor?

Up until my sophomore year of high school, I was fond of mock trial and was originally pursuing a career as a lawyer. I’d also been teaching myself music for a few years prior. When I realized that real law wasn’t as much fun as mock trial, and it was really just a lot of paperwork, I started looking elsewhere. Plus, civil law and criminal law made me sad, watching people have their fates decided in a courtroom, and I knew I couldn’t spend my life doing that. It was around this time that I found out a lot of my favorite musicians didn’t even go to college, a pretty foreign concept to me back then. Eventually, I went to my parents to tell them my heart was in music, not in law, and their reactions were mixed. My parents always supported me pursuing a passion, but they were concerned about me having a worthwhile degree and being financially stable in the future. They didn’t want to discover I was skipping class to strum my guitar on some corner in Nashville for cash. With that in mind, they also wanted to help me find a degree that meant something to me, something I cared about. My dad held a great deal of respect for my attachment to music and understood I loved it as a craft, not as a hobby. Conveniently, my mom was a guidance counselor at my high school and her colleague in the college and career office suggested Music Business as a possible compromise. My mom pitched it to me, knowing I still had some investment in the business world, and that’s when I set up my own meeting with the college counselor. There are multiple ways to study Music Business here and my major has a business administration minor attached to it. I know if I need to explore other fields after graduation, I have strong enough of a business background for an office job. I added a psychology minor my sophomore year, almost purely out of personal interest, after taking a few electives. 

What’s one class or project or experience in your major that you’ve particularly enjoyed or that you’re proud of?

One of my Music Business classes was called Artist Management and Development. In it, we got to meet a solo artist, who was an MSU alum, and she was given to us as a blank slate. We spent the semester acting as her managers, creating plans for song releases, social media schedules, public appearances, concerts, etc.. It was a fake-it-till-you-make-it kind of class, we had to think like professionals. One pillar of my major is that you are told to do something without ever really being told how to. Though I love a rubric and a structured grading system, my professor, Karen Kane, who managed Carrie Underwood, insists that if you can figure out how to do something on your own, you will go far. During that semester, assignments included creating a working website, a flushed out managerial contract, and a five-year artist plan. For the record, I had no experience with any of those things before I was expected to do them for a grade. At the end of the semester, we had to formalize all of our work into a complete management plan. Mrs. Kane chose the projects she liked best and those selected students gave their pitch to the artist personally. That was easily the most stressful and challenging class I’ve ever taken, but the project was the most fulfilling. It didn’t feel like class work. I was doing something that, potentially, could have directly influenced someone’s career. It was a big deal. I was one of the few students chosen to sit down with the artist, and I didn’t win, but being able to appreciate all the work I did means more to me now. Mrs. Kane supporting my final product is one of my proudest moments in college. 

What’s one of your favorite aspects of campus life that isn’t class-related? (A favorite place on campus to hang out, a club or extracurricular activity, an event, etc.)

I’m very partial to the residential college council. My sophomore year, I was living in a suite with friends and we had a complete falling out. I needed a way out of that space, so I applied to be an RA (Resident Advisor) a few days before applications closed. I was excited to do it, mainly to get a private room, but also to be like a full time camp counselor. Within the first week of training, I fell in love with it and the strong community aspect in Franklin. I wanted to be a part of something that connected me to others and it was part of the job to get to know people. Even now, I enjoy being able to wave and chat with folks I met during my RA days. During my three semesters, I developed strong relationships with my colleagues and RDs (Resident Director) and RCC gave me some of my closest friends. We spent a lot of time together as a team, always trying to decide what new things to do and be excited about as a building. I stopped being an RA at the end of junior year to focus on myself and my studies, but I think fondly of my time there. 

What are your plans for after graduation?

The hope, the goal, is to get back to St. Louis and live with one of my best friends once we both get some money together. I want to work at a concert venue. There isn’t an official emphasis in my degree, but my focus is on live performance and record production. So I’m looking to get into that. I’d love to work at a big scene, a place like the Hollywood Casino Amphitheater, but there are a lot of live music options in STL. I also write and record my own music, a skill I’ve put countless hours into honing. So prayerfully, somewhere in there, I’ll be able to release music and gain a following or find someone who wants to invest in me, preferably both. That’s the dream, really. It’s all very vague, but as long as I can work with music, I trust I’ll be okay. The five year plan is still coming together because I’m not totally sure where I’m headed, but I’m perfectly content knowing I have a roof over my head and a few places I can apply to before graduation for now. 

What advice would you give incoming freshmen at Murray State?

The same advice that I’ve been given for years, especially as I prepare to leave academia. Don’t be afraid to try new things and also don’t be afraid to look silly. I think it’s a part of human nature to want to fit in, to find your place and not have to leave it. But the pressure to be ‘cool’, to be the palatable amount of unique so as to not draw too much attention to yourself, is suffocating. And honestly, maybe you really don’t fit into that place you found anymore. There’s a voice in all of us that quietly suggests we prune away what makes us feel odd or too noticeable, a byproduct of middle school maybe. But you can’t find a new thing to love without trying it first, and trying new things requires looking awkward or feeling uncomfortable, so might as well embrace the good with the bad. Try different hobbies, listen to new music, check out what your friends are interested in. Be passionate about what you love, even at risk of being dorky or lame or weird. If you’re always worried about being called cringy, you’re setting yourself up to really be bored or even sad. I’m far from self-actualized, I’m just as unsure of myself and my future as any other twenty one-year old. But I’ve accepted that everyone has these moments and life is more fun, more doable, once you learn to love them. Leave your comfort zone long enough to renovate it from the outside and you will make your world bigger.