Back on July 18th, I posted a link to my friend, Maria Cisneros Toth's YouTube channel that featured a band called Innermix. Maria wrote their bio's and I wanted to share them. Their lives are quiet extraordinary. Here are their stories:
Simply
D & Jules
Simply D and Jules
were speeding along life’s highway when their music careers merged. The good friends
met after Simply D discovered Jules on a social media site as he scouted new
talent for his management company, DefCon
One Entertainment. The artists quickly connected, recognizing they had more
in common than their lifelong passion for music.
“Even though we had different [life situations]
and experiences, the feelings were the same when we were going through things,”
says Jules, who was one of two lead singers in an all girls’ group before
signing on with DefCon. “The dark times, good times, times of pain,
times of loss—all of the emotions are very similar.”
As children, while
Jules dealt with feelings of abandonment after her parents moved back to Korea,
leaving her alone in California with a host family, a younger D forged his way
through the shadows after losing most of his sight at five years old.
But even as
youngsters, with all of life’s emotional scrapes and bruises, the pair never
gave up. D says, “I had to go through so
much in my life that wrong was
something I had to go through to get something right.”
Their inner
strength, deep Christian faith, and belief in themselves helped Jules and
Simply D get past the rough times. Now, when the duo writes a new song, they
reach into their hearts for inspiration. And when the words come out of their
mouths, the audience connects with their honesty and genuine emotion. “We use
all of our gifts and creative outlets that God has given us to motivate
others,” Jules says.
After singing and
writing songs with Simply D for four years, Jules signed another contract with DefCon One Entertainment—this time as a business
partner. Soon after, Simply D and Jules decided
to take their message of hope to a whole new level. The multi-media artists
merged all of their talents and formed a new company called Innermix. That same year, in 2011, The Innermix Show launched and aired on Shine Factory Radio. The weekly online talk show gained an
international following, and the entertainers’ success led to producing a new program
for television—The Innermix Show Live.
“
The Innermix Show Live is all about
hope, pursuing dreams, and improving one’s quality of life,” says Simply D, who
also works as a life and relationship coach.
The half-hour talk
show coined, The Morning Show of Love and
Relationships, features straightforward discussions, balancing the weight
of heavy topics with a scoop of humor Innermix
style. “Our goal is to help people get their lives back on a positive track so
they can fulfil their dreams and get to where they want to travel in life,”
says D. He also adds that technology is changing how people perceive themselves.
“The Internet age is too easy to compare oneself with others. We want you to
see yourself and navigate your life effectively.”
The TV co-hosts’ banter is like Yin and Yang.
“We listen to each other and anticipate what the other is going to say,” says
Jules, who is also an actress. She laughs. “We were probably twins in another
lifetime.”
And just as others
have encouraged Jules and D along life’s bumpy highway, they’d like to pay it forward by sharing their
knowledge with others.
Says Simply D, who
has always felt his mission in life is to help people feel better about their
own, “Lives changes with a little encouragement.”
Meet
Simply D
The Innermix Show Live co-host Simply D
observes the world differently from most people. The energetic performer with
the contagious smile, positive attitude, and a mountain of hope lost most of
his sight by the time he was five years old. But his blindness didn’t stop him
then and it’s not slowing him down now. The talk show host is on a mission. He
wants to teach others how to tap into their own inner strength as he did after
his world went dark.
At age four,
Simply D’s older brother, Lamar, was diagnosed with a genetic eye disorder. Within
weeks, the same condition was also detected in Simply D, eleven months younger
than Lamar. “One day my brother took a nap and when he woke up he was blind.”
After D’s first
surgery, like any other boy, D was anxious to get to the playground. He
remembers racing another boy up a circular, geometrical dome structure. Little
D scrambled upward and won the race. But the other child became angry and
shoved D, making him lose his balance. “I
can still hear my head hitting each [steel] rung as I fell.”
He
underwent surgery, but young D lost his sight in his right eye and retained a
little in his left. Two months later, he returned to the playground and played with
the same boy who pushed him. “I was mad at him for about a week and then we were
playing and jumping off swings again.”
Even
as a young person, D could not hold a grudge for very long.
By
the second grade, D was reading braille and learned how to use a braille
writer. But with a brother who was completely blind and a sighted sister who
had privileges he didn’t have, little D became frustrated. “I wanted to be
fully blind or fully sighted. To be in the middle made me feel not complete in my mind.”
Not knowing how to
process his emotions, D rebelled. “I was like a volcano with a lot of anger. I
couldn’t give myself more sight. But I knew if I hit my head hard enough, I’d
lose my sight.” The school sent him to a psychologist. He had to wear a helmet
to prevent him from injuring himself.
A
surprising breakthrough came in the form of music. It helped calm his anxiety. D
began doing something constructive. He wrote song lyrics and his brother put
together musical arrangements for him. D’s creativity shined. He credits his
mother with his love of music. When he had nightmares, she’d hug him close and
sing to him. “Music is the way I breathe. It helps me to identify what’s going
on internally and to work it out.” Without realizing it, young D had begun to
tap into his inner strength. And his positive attitude was like a magnet,
attracting more positive experiences to his life.
D
was excited when Hollywood paid a visit to his school for the blind. Actor/director
Michael Landon hired some of the children to appear as extras on Highway to Heaven. Landon took a particular
interest in D and his brother and invited them to act in more episodes. One day
on the set, D swung on a rope swing like Tarzan. Tightly holding on, he built
his momentum. “Every time the rope slowed, I was afraid to jump, afraid to let
go.”
Landon walked up
to him. “So, what are you going to do now that you’re swinging?” The actor, who
played an angel on the popular TV show, told D, “You jump and I’ll catch you.”
Little D let go of the rope and was surprised and happy when he landed on his
feet. “Michael [Landon] was the first to teach me how not to be afraid to take risks in life. He never treated us like we
were disabled.”
But in a sighted
wor
ld, D would still need to learn how to overcome more
barriers.
High-school
remedial math became a problem for D when it came time to learn algebra. With
his partial sight, he couldn’t see the lines on the blackboard. So, during
lunch period, his math teacher taught him how to do algebra by using a deck of
playing cards. “The following semester,” D said, “I became a math tutor.”
In high school, D
was also a peer counselor. And later in college, he was the comforter, the go-to
guy when people needed someone to talk with about their problems. “I felt I was
here for people to feel better about their own lives. I don’t remember a time
when I wasn’t that person. I really care about people.”
On his
twenty-second birthday, Simply D proved how much he cared when tragedy hit home.
His stepfather, who’d been on dialysis, died in D’s arms. “I talked to him the
whole time,” he explained. “I had to let him know he wasn’t by himself.”
Ironically, his stepfather’s
passing would prepare him for the unfathomable. Four years later, D’s infant son
died. The baby’s umbilical cord had become twisted in the womb. “My dad’s death
prepared me to go through this with my son. It helped me to be there for my
wife.”
Now
a father of two children, Simply D and his beautiful wife, Juanita, have
learned how to work through the tough times with humor. D is a believer in cartoon
therapy, because when life gets sad and complicated, cartoons get people
laughing again. And the singer/songwriter loves to laugh—a lot. Simply D also draws
his inner strength from his deep faith in God, in his family, in singing his heart
out, and in staying positive no matter what life sends his way. D says, “I always stay positive, because
anything else takes too much energy.”
Meet
Jules
The Innermix Show Live TV co-host, Jules
is self-motivated, determined, level-headed, intelligent, funny, and radiates confidence.
But the singer-songwriter hasn’t always believed in herself. As a child, she confronted
hardships no kid should have to face alone. While little girls often dream of
their future weddings, Jules remembers planning her funeral, wondering what
kind of flowers she’d have on her casket, and who would show.
Her childhood daydream
haunted her into adulthood. “I had very real issues: family issues,
relationship issues, bouts with depression, and an eating disorder. I had so
many things happen that God led me to where I am today. That makes me
confident, because I know I overcame those things.”
Jules’s story
began in Korea. As a youngster, she liked to draw and wanted to learn how to
paint. Her mother enrolled her in an afterschool program where Jules discovered
her passion for the arts. “I wanted to become a painter,” she said, “but my
parents told me I was going to starve to death.”
Years later, when
she expressed her desire to pursue a singing career, she received the same
disapproval. “In Korea, the arts are considered a hobby, extracurricular, not a
career. My parents wanted me to become a doctor or someone who works in
research, but I said no.”
In spite of her
parents’ disapproval, Jules chased after her dreams, but it hasn’t always been
a smooth highway for the singer. When she was eight years old, her family
relocated to the United States only to return to Korea five years later, leaving
Jules behind to live with a host family. Her father, a minister, and her mother
wanted their eldest daughter to have the opportunity of an American education.
They’d hoped once she graduated from college, she’d return to their homeland
and find a respectable, good-paying job.
Thirteen and in
the eighth grade, Jules felt lonely and abandoned. She studied hard and made good
grades, which pleased her mother and father. In high school, the shy teenager,
who was now working full-time, ventured out of her comfort zone and joined the
orchestra, tried out for musicals, and became a part of a jazz singing group. “In
the school’s courtyard, I’d sing Mariah Carey harmonies with my girlfriends.”
During her senior
year, Jules auditioned for a chance to sing the National Anthem at the
homecoming football game. She was excited when she was chosen to sing the
patriotic song before a large audience. Her performance turned out to be magical.
“The entire
stadium was filled. I was so nervous and sang the song with my eyes closed. When
I opened them, everyone was on their feet and clapping. I got a standing
ovation. I remember the feeling, the energy. It makes me want to experience it
all over again.”
Standing on that
football field, Jules decided she really
wanted to pursue a singing career more than anything. While still waiting
tables full-time and attending college, she began performing with different singing
groups. She was on her way to obtaining her dream.
But sometimes people make plans and God smiles.
Jules’s younger brother and sister were sent to America to live with her. Jules’s parents wanted the children to have
the same opportunities as their older sister. Between working toward her
Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and the added responsibility and stress of
raising her siblings, there wasn’t much time left in the day for herself.
Overwhelmed, she almost considered quitting.
Jules pressed
onward. While juggling her career with her busy life, she began singing background
for other artists. A rap group hired her without first listening to her voice.
“They secretly hoped I could sing.” This opportunity propelled her to a
contract with a producer. Jules wrote songs with him for an album, and soon she
was performing as one of two lead singers of a promising pop girls’ group
modeled after the Pussycat Dolls. “I remember one time hearing one of my songs
playing on the radio and I almost got into a car accident on the freeway.”
Jules’s dream was finally
coming true. She had to work hard to get there, but at last it was happening. During
this time, she got a phone call from Simply D, a singer/songwriter and manager
at DefCon One Entertainment. He had
discovered Jules on a popular social media site, MySpace. He liked her sound and wanted to record a duet with her.
Since she currently had representation, she declined his offer. Several months
later, due to creative differences and management difficulties, Jules left the girls’
group.
Then, out of the
blue, Jules received another phone call from a persistent Simply D. “Our first
phone conversation lasted for five hours. I don’t do that. Never.”
After an audition
with D, she signed on with DefCon One
Entertainment. And for the past seven years, the talented and ambitious duo
have co-written and recorded fifty songs together.
And Simply D had
other plans for Jules. “I just wanted to sing, but D opened me up to more opportunities
like acting. When he approached me about doing a radio show, I told him I had
no experience in radio, and he said, “Just do it!”
Five years after
signing on as an artist with DefCon One
Entertainment, Jules became a business partner with the company. Soon
after, she and her partner, Simply D, formed Innermix.
Innermix is the blended talents of
multi-media personalities Jules and Simply D. By the end of the same year, the
pair was offered their own talk show. In the summer of 2011,
The Innermix Show Live launched and aired
on
Shine Factory Radio. The high-energy
call-in show focused on love and relationships. The program gained an
international audience, but now with more than one hundred and fifty episodes, Jules
is ready to embark on another new and exciting
Innermix adventure. She and Simply D are taking their talk show to
television—
The Innermix Show Live. Jules hopes viewers will look at them and say,
“They made it through it [the hard times] and I can make it, too.”
Jules,
who also works in the fashion business, reflects on her journey. “I was very
insecure in certain times of my life. It’s only because I’ve gone through so
much that I now know I can deal with those things and survive and stand here
today and talk about it without feeling I’m going to crumble inside.”
As
her Innermix family continues to grow,
Jules hopes to keep growing, too. “I want to become better at everything I do.”
Now,
that once lonely little girl, who daydreamed of her funeral, is now looking
forward to the day she gets to plan her own wedding.
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