Today we’d like to introduce you to Rayshard.
Hi Rayshard, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My story is anything but linear — and I think that’s what makes it worth telling.
I grew up in Dallas, TX with music in my bones and a dream that felt bigger than the world around me. But life has a way of taking you on detours — and mine took me through several chapters before I found my way back to the stage.
I started my professional life in accounting. Steady, structured, practical — but my soul kept pulling me toward something bigger. So I made my first leap and pursued music full time. That dream got real fast — I was signed to Sony Records under Tanner Music Group, and for a moment, it looked like everything was falling into place. But the music industry is unpredictable — and truthfully, I was still finding myself. I wasn’t yet the artist, or the person, I needed to be to fully show up for that moment. So I made peace with closing that chapter, trusting that if music was truly meant for me, it would find its way back.
So I pivoted again. I joined the military, where I learned discipline, resilience, and what it truly means to show up — lessons that still live in everything I do on stage. From there, I transitioned into lab science, building a career that looked nothing like where I started but reflected just how far I was willing to go.
But the stage never left me.
As my science career was coming to a close, I made the decision that changed everything — I relocated to Baltimore and bet on myself, fully and unapologetically. No label. No manager. No roadmap. Just a vision, a voice, and the courage to follow it. Baltimore is a city that carries a certain reputation — but for me, it became the place where I truly flourished. I built my platform HeyThereImRay from the ground up, with the tagline “I Have An Opinion,” and created a performance experience that blends pop, R&B, soul, and storytelling with a theatrical edge.
This past spring I completed my first ever one-man 6-show run at the Peale Museum in Baltimore — entirely self-curated and independently produced. And right now I am in the middle of my first Promotional Tour, building toward the release of my debut EP, My Way, Vol. 1, dropping June 12th.
From accounting to the army, from the lab to the spotlight — I am just getting started.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Smooth? Not even close. And I wouldn’t trade any of it.
The road has been filled with restarts. Every time I thought I had found my footing, life asked me to begin again — a new career, a new city, a new version of myself. That kind of constant reinvention sounds exciting from the outside, but from the inside it can feel deeply disorienting. There were moments where I genuinely didn’t know who I was or where I was going.
Leaving music the first time was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done — even though I knew it was necessary. When you have a gift and you set it down, even intentionally, there is a grief that comes with that. I carried that for a long time.
The military taught me discipline, but it also asked me to show up in ways that didn’t always leave room for the more expressive, theatrical parts of who I am. Learning to hold all of those parts of myself — the structured and the creative, the private and the performative — took years.
And then there is the very real challenge of being an LGBTQ+ artist building a platform in spaces that aren’t always built for you. Finding stages that celebrate your full self rather than just tolerate it is its own ongoing journey.
Relocating to Baltimore and starting over — without a label, without a team, without a guarantee — was terrifying. Building HeyThereImRay from nothing, self-curating every show, funding every step independently while also working toward a debut EP? There were absolutely days that tested everything I had.
But every single detour — accounting, music, the military, science — was quietly preparing me for this moment. The discipline. The resilience. The self-awareness. The story. I needed all of it to become the artist I am today.
The struggles didn’t break me. They wrote the setlist
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
At the core of everything I do is one simple truth… I have never learned how to perform without telling the truth. That is both my gift and my signature.
I am a singer, performer, and storyteller. Through my platform HeyThereImRay, I create live music experiences that blend pop, R&B, soul, and storytelling with a theatrical edge. I perform backed by tracks, alternating between high-energy moments and deeply intimate ones… taking audiences on a journey that feels less like a concert and more like a confession. Every song I choose, every moment I craft on stage, is intentional. Nothing is filler. Everything means something.
What I specialize in is connection. I have a unique ability to walk into a room full of strangers and make every single person feel like I am singing directly to them. That is not something you can manufacture… it comes from a willingness to be fully seen, fully vulnerable, and fully present every single time I step on a stage.
My signature piece, My Way, captures everything I stand for… it is a declaration of self-determination, authenticity, and the unapologetic choice to live life on your own terms. When I perform it, something shifts in the room. That shift is what I live for. It is also the heartbeat behind my debut EP, My Way, Vol. 1, dropping June 12th… a body of work that reflects exactly who I am and the journey it took to get here.
What am I most proud of? This past spring I completed my first ever one-man 6-show run at the Peale Museum in Baltimore… entirely self-curated and independently produced. No label. No team. Just me, my vision, and a stage. The fact that I built that from nothing, filled those seats, and told my story night after night on my own terms… that means everything to me.
What sets me apart? Most performers give you a show. I give you an experience. I give you a moment you didn’t know you needed. I turn a stage into a confessional… because I bring my whole self every single time. My background is unlike any other artist in the room… from accounting to Sony Records, from the military to the science lab, from Dallas to Baltimore. That journey lives in every note I sing. You can hear it. You can feel it.
I am not just an artist. I am a story still being written… and the best chapters are just beginning.
What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
The most important lesson I have learned is this, you cannot rush becoming yourself.
I spent years moving from one chapter to the next, sometimes by choice and sometimes by circumstance. Accounting. Music. The military. Science. And every time I transitioned, there was a part of me that felt like I was failing, like I was supposed to have figured it out already. Like everyone else had a plan and I was just improvising.
But what I know now is that every single one of those chapters was necessary. Not as a detour. Not as a distraction. But as preparation. The discipline I learned in the military. The analytical mind I developed in science. The financial literacy from accounting. The vulnerability I discovered the first time I stood on a stage and sang my truth, all of it was building something I couldn’t yet see.
The second lesson that lives right alongside that one is, bet on yourself, even when no one else is. After relocating to Baltimore, I was still showing up to the lab every day but something had shifted inside me. The pull toward music had become impossible to ignore. So I made the decision to quit my job and pursue music full time, with no guarantee it would work and no safety net beneath me. I just knew that I could no longer afford to play it safe with my own life. And the moment I stopped waiting for permission, for a label, for a manager, for someone to validate my dream, everything began to shift.
You are your own greatest investment. And the right time to start is always now.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Rayshard.Online
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/HeyThereImRay
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/HeyThereImRayshard
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@heythereimray
- Other: https://tinyurl.com/RAYSHARDSPOTIFY
