Maybe it's time that I do something,” with songwriter, designer and Smile Songs creator

More Than Work

This week’s guest is Sharon Glassman, designer, songwriter and founder of Smile Songs.

The Colorado-based Smile Songs incorporates all of Sharon’s talents into a line of musical cards and gifts. In addition to containing original music by Sharon, Smile Songs products are unique because they use QR codes to deliver the sound which is better for the environment than traditional musical cards that utilize plastic parts for example. Though QR codes are common place after 2020, she started using them in 2013 and we chat about that.

In college, Sharon majored in journalism school. She then got accepted into law school and made a deal with her dad that she would defer for a year and attend. She ended up taking an entirely different path!

Prior to founding Smile Songs, Sharon had a hybrid career. She was a voice over artist. She was also a writer for the ads department at MTV Networks where she applied her love of music to the ads she and the team worked on and created. After working at MTV, she performing and telling stories on stage, touring the country. Meanwhile, she was acquiring skills, teaching herself digital illustration, print production and music production.

Musically, Sharon has had another path having previously joined community orchestra. Then, through a misunderstood Craigslist ad she became the fiddler of a country rock band. Now she is in an all-woman bluegrass project called Five Foot Betty.

Topics we cover:

• History of QR Codes
• The story of Smile Songs and the ideation process that went into creating the products and business
• Incorporating creativity into a career
• Writing and telling stories on stage
• Songwriting
• Trusting your gut and making hard decisions

Note from Rabiah (Host):

After getting off of the recording call with Sharon, I was so excited I would get to listen back to our conversation. It was such a joy to hear about the path she took to get to where she is today and it already sounds like we’ll need to speak again because she has so much in the works. We share a passion for sharing stories and it was a true pleasure to get to hear hers and to share it with you, the listener.

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Find Sharon

Website: https://smilesongs.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smile_songs/

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Mentioned in this episode:

Spalding Gray: https://www.spaldinggray.com/

Eric Bagosian: http://100monologues.com/

Tales of Whatever: https://www.facebook.com/talesofwhatever/

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