Today we’d like to introduce you to Rachel Gray
Hi Rachel, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
My name is Rachel Gray, and I am the owner of Mosaic 22 Enterprises, LLC, under which our team at Mosaic Music began to grow. John and I attended the same high school, he was my first drum teacher from 2020-2024, still teaches my children, and is my friend. On occasion I refer to him as my “rock ’n’ roll little brother.” So I suppose my story begins with the decision to take up an instrument with an old friend. I was looking for a guitar teacher for my autistic child and felt John would be a great fit. On day one of their lesson both my son and myself were drawn toward drums, and it didn’t take long for me to feel hooked. 4 years later, it’s more than a hobby, and turned into something I am truly passionate about. I find the physical aspect of drumming to be meditative, and calming. I did not realize when I took up drumming that the therapeutic nature would become such an integral part of my life. In July of 2022, after two years of counting to four in every conceivable way possible in my drum lessons, and a days long headache, I suffered a dissecting aneurysm and 2 strokes. I awoke in the worst pain of my life, fell to the ground, and spent 4 hours lying alone on the floor, counting to four with my breath to keep myself awake, and slowly inching my way towards my cell phone to call 911. Mine was a truly rare case, I’m told less than 1% of the 1% of all aneurysms. When I awoke from the surgical procedure to place a stent, and had full use of my limbs and NO paralysis or cognitive dysfunction, the nurses started calling me the miracle girl. Best I can tell from the statistics online, about 20% of people survive what happened to me, and most have severe deficits after. Drumming and yoga were both integral to my survival, and recovery. Both activities organize and REGULATE the nervous system. I drummed in the hospital, using a soft practice pad to slowly reorganize the two halves of my brain, over many months. It was 2 weeks in the neuro ICU, 3 cerebral angiograms, and a 3 month recovery. 4 months after the aneurysm, with the hope that I might someday turn some of my skills into a successful side gig, I filed my LLC. It was another year later that John and I first began to envision a music school and learning center that would cater to learners of all ages, abilities, and skill levels. I believe learning is most successful when the teacher is well matched to the individual student. Within our network of musicians we try to match new students with the right teacher for them. A year into this project, I am now living out my dreams teaching yoga, beginning drums/percussion, and organizational skills, expanding my class offerings to the populations I care most about. I am well suited to special needs students, such as autism or Down syndrome. I believe that the benefits of percussion are for every body and I love making drums and yoga accessible to beginners. We are on the lookout for the right space for our team, and hope to expand our group class offerings in 2025.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Personally, recovering from a brain injury was so much harder than I could have imagined. I was on a walker for weeks, and rebuilding my physical strength, stability, and balance is still ongoing. As a team, Mosaic Music has missed out on a few perfect locations.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Organization is how I am most creative! I have been a freelance organizer for nearly 18 years, and I’m now offering my services professionally as the Doombox Doctor. A “doombox” (Didn’t Organize, Only Moved) is the name for a disorganized box, file, or drawer of papers and mail that some people tend to collect their personal correspondence in. Often, people become so overwhelmed at the thought of organizing their mail, bills, and papers that they tend to procrastinate the job, and continue to add random papers to their file drawer, until it gets out of hand, and becomes an unmanageable, anxiety-producing box of doom and gloom. My job as an organizer is to do the sorting for them, to take the literal and figurative “doombox” off of their plate. Finally, I help the clients create a SYSTEM to manage their paperwork going forward. This type of work is useful for small business owners, smaller nonprofits, and also children with elderly parents who have to begin managing their parents’ affairs, and who may need to act on behalf of someone in a legal capacity. I have also done organizing projects for schools, law offices, set up workflow and filing systems. A doombox can be any size, from an individual folder of random papers, to a room full of file cabinets, or a room you just can’t bear to open the door to.
As a yoga instructor, we strive for organization of the body, mind, movement, and breath, to regulate and calm the nervous system. As a drummer, we bring the beat, we “organize” the song. Organization is truly the thread that runs through all of my pursuits.
Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
Authenticity. I truly just want to help all my students find more alignment. Alignment in their space, their home, their body, their breath, and their rhythm. I teach from a place of love and light and wanting to pass on my skills.
Pricing:
- Please enquire for details
Contact Info:
- Website: https://mosaicmusic321.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/a_reluctant_optimist/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MosaicMusicMelbourne/
- Other: https://www.instagram.com/rae.of.light.yoga/
Image Credits
Not applicable
