By Kendra Black

Being in New York during COVID19, I, like many, have experienced the hardships that all this has brought to us. However, while walking through the deserted city of New York, I still feel like a free citizen, a free human being because freedom is a state of mind before anything else.

During this pandemic, the main focus has been staying active and busy. While also using this time to create as much as possible and being close to the people I love. As of today, I have enhanced my music skills, business skills, and overall kept things moving so that I can be already on track for when things reopen. Now, two months in, I can feel my determination paying off. I am writing a book, working on three new songs, releasing singles and remixes, and continuously putting out new content. As a result, I am performing even more often than I did before, thanks to social media live streams. Surprisingly, I made a lot of new friends through my latest music endeavors, catching up with the old ones, and staying in contact with my parents every day.

My family currently lives in Italy, one of the countries that have been hit the hardest by this pandemic. Over there, the protocols put in place are a lot more limiting than anything New Yorkers have ever experienced. The police are so strict that my parents and brother can’t even go grocery shopping together in the same car. Yet remarkably, they only have access to the stores close to their neighborhood, which now have an overload of customers and can hardly keep up with the supply-demand… Nevertheless, my family is safe and sound in these highly uncertain times. I am thankful for that, way more than I am grateful for the freedom given to us New Yorkers, which we often take for granted.

All this has taught me that it’s not about what you have; It’s about how much of yourself you are willing to put into the passion and drive to achieve your goal. It’s also helped me refine my perspective about life and its values. By writing this, I hope to remind people to focus on what’s important during these times. The health and safety of the people we love, and our determination to achieve our dreams no matter what, not our limitations.