Brady O’Connor – Facing the Music

WHEN Shakespeare wrote, “All the world’s a stage”, he spoke directly into the ear of young Gina “Brady” Mair, an expressive little girl from Harbour View in Kingston, whose family was just about to move to Miami, Florida. Now that she is a musician, actress, environmental activist, broadcaster and writer, Mair – now O’Connor – understands that despite the different job titles, she has never left the stage. She has just been finding new stages from which to tell stories to different audiences.

“And that’s the common thread — storytelling,” O’Connor told All Woman. “I love the art… the practice… the process of creating and telling a story and connecting with an audience that way.”

But as Shakespeare also foreshadowed, the course of true love never did run smooth. Though she had started singing and acting from the age of four, O’Connor’s parents, in typical Jamaican fashion, did not want their firstborn to pursue a career in the arts.

“I was actually pre-med with a psychology major,” she shared. “But I realised in my first year that it wasn’t the path for me. I wanted to be an English/theatre major, but they would have none of it, so the compromise was to do a psychology and theatre double major.”

Determined to make the best of her circumstances while studying at Emory University in Atlanta, O’Connor slyly chose writing-intensive courses in both disciplines, so that she could continue her love affair with words.

“After I graduated, I had aspirations of acting and being a theatre professional, so I taught theatre,” she revealed. “I also worked in radio and did a lot of voice-over work, and typical to anyone who has chosen that path, I also did a lot of other jobs, because those jobs really don’t usually pay the bills so well.”

Before long she became a mother, and she quickly found herself in the thick of it, trying to make ends meet for herself and her son.

“I also started freelancing for magazines, particularly those that covered music and culture. I also did some copywriting for ad agencies, and one thing led to the next, so that’s what I did for most of my professional years,” she said.

Just as the course of true love had led her to her calling as an artist and a mother, it also led her home.

“I’ve been back in Jamaica for about 18 years. Love brought me back,” she said simply. “Love of country, love of a man… It’s funny how much inspiration we can find from love.”

After getting married and moving back to Jamaica, O’Connor soon found her footing in a fulfilling marketing role, and she worked for an ad agency for some time. But with her husband working in finance and their family expanding, the creative decided to explore a field that would allow her to spend more time at home.

“So I decided to leave corporate,” O’Connor shared. At the time I had unintentionally started a service where I would source local sustainable seafood and process and deliver it… It really just started with my friends being interested in eating what I was eating, but I soon realised that obviously there was a need and an interest in the marketplace, and that just happened at the time when I was coming to realise that I just needed to have more balance in my life.”

Also very passionate about the environment, O’Connor quickly identified that there was a great need for change in local environmental practices. She decided to become a catalyst for that cultural change by teaching children, just as she was taught as a child.

“That was the inspiration for Green Camp — I wanted children to be aware of the issues, and that they are agents of change themselves. I did that for ten years at a summer day camp. I also worked on a number of projects putting in school gardens and other environmental projects.”

But while she was using her voice and platforms to tell stories and impact lives, O’Connor was yet to use that voice to tell her own — as a singer.

“I think there just comes a point when there’s only so many things that you can record in your bedroom, and there’s only so many songs you can write… soon you realise that it’s just a voice that has to be heard,” the musician said. “I grew up in an incredibly rich musical environment. I’d sit down at my dinner table and my dad would start hitting out a rhythm with his glass, and my sister would join in with a chorus. It was always second nature.”

Brady O’Connor is now facing the music. Her newest single Bun Badmind, which features Spragga Benz and Evie Pukupoo, was created in an effort to inspire positive energy and create healthy boundaries.

“When I wrote that song, I was inspired by Bob’s line that says, ‘When you get down and you quarrel everyday, you’re saying prayers to the devil I say’. I think it’s very important for us to be mindful of the things that we say everyday, not just to other people but to ourselves,” the mother of four boys said gently.

“As a woman who is a mother, wife, singer, entrepreneur and environmental activist, it’s something I struggle with personally — finding balance. It’s very easy for me to feel like other people’s needs are more important or more of a priority. We should be mindful of how we allow the expectations of other people to imprint on our lives and our wellness.”