Meet Dileesa Archer

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

Hi Dileesa, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
My business was really born out of the need that I saw for well- educated singing teachers. YouTube was still fairly new in 2008, and I noticed that people were teaching voice, and their lessons were not only difficult to understand but many times they were antithetical to good singing. Since I was a 4th year voice major at the time I decided to give a lesson on vibrato, straight from my vocal pedagogy class notes, so that people could hear what a real voice lesson sounded like. That video and others after it became very popular, garnering hundreds of thousands of views. I got requests to teach online and at first I resisted, but eventually I gave in. After my first lesson with a Swedish young lady, I realized this was my thing! I began my business as a vocal coach.

I created my first product, the Vocal QuickStart Program, in response to my students saying they wanted to practice the vocal exercises outside of voice lessons but couldn’t remember the exercises.

Every product I created thereafter, “How to sing adlibs’, “Mastering Vibrato”, “Vocal Prep 101” , Artist Development Program and my new membership program has been created out of a need I see in the market for highly skilled vocal trainers who understand both classical and contemporary genres. All my products and services aredesigned to give singers no fluff, expert vocal technique to enhance their voices and their lives.

What should our readers know about your business?
American Singing Studio serves as a hub for singers and artists to gain support in strengthening their craft and building their brands. As the owner, my extensive education in vocal performance and experience in the music business is what sets me apart from others. I have extensive vocal technique in Gospel, Jazz, RnB and have 10 years training in Opera, culminating in a Master of Music in Vocal Performance degree. This allows me to bridge the two worlds (classical and contemporary) to help my students achieve optimal results in record time. I am most excited about mentoring other vocal coaches and creatives on how to start and scale their businesses, and well as helping singers become artists with a story to tell.

I got where I am today through making some intentional choices. Once I decided to really take vocal training seriously, I wanted to learn everything I could about online marketing, which led me to my business coach. She is the most valuable asset to my business. She helps me to dream out loud and make my dreams reality. Sometimes it can be scary to take risks to grow, but one thing I’ve learned is that when you’re investing in yourself, you never lose anything. Every time I took a risk financially, I’d see. the benefits from it rather quickly, so I learned to trust the system of how to build and scale my business.

Now that I’m scaling, I’m learning how to manage other people. It’s difficult at times to allow people to fail, but it’s the only way they will grow. Their growth is essential to the growth of my company, so I’m learning to allow them the grace to make mistakes.

One thing I want people to know about my business is that it is run by a passionate creative for creatives. It all started because I wanted to talk about singing on Youtube, and 12 years later I’m running what will very soon be an empire that caters to developing artists all over the globe.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I have to give credit to my incredible business coach, Angela Giles. She stretches me and challenges me to believe I can do anything. My three children, Kierra, Keenan, and Kayla are the best children in the world. They are so patient and understanding when my schedule gets hectic, especially when I was a full time grad student. I’d lastly like to acknowledge my incredible pastor who keeps me grounded while encouraging me to pursue my dreams.

Website: www.dileesa.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/dileesavocalcoach

Facebook: www.facebook.com/dhuntervocalcoach

Youtube: www.youtube.com/dileesa

Image Credits
Calvin Finklea, Eddie Merino, Pavlina Edwards, Austin Weatherspoon