When you’re young, it’s easy to imagine that passion is an all-or-nothing kind of thing.  Either you pursue what you love 100% and it all works out and you live happily every after…. or not.

Real life is much longer and messier than our dreams, of course, and the real test is not how hard you can work when it’s easy, but how willing you are to keep working when things get hard.

My friend Ivette is an inspiration to me.  She and I used to work together, in a former life.  Our offices were basically next to each other, and we bonded over our mutual love for salsa music.  Ivette confided that she was actually a jazz singer, and had studied with some of the finest vocalists in the area.  Life was complicated – she was busy with two daughters and her job – and for a while her dreams of performing were put on hold.

But that voice inside of her refused to fall silent.  So Ivette did the thing that so many of us dream of doing “some day”, you know, when the time is right.  She decided to get back on stage, to keep singing even though life would never be less complicated.  She decided to make a recording.  It might not be easy, she might not have known exactly how things would work out, but she was going to keep going.  Because she loved it.

I’m so proud of Ivette.  She’s recorded an album and can be found performing around Chicago.  She’s making her dreams happen, and I know she’ll go far.

Kamran and I caught up with her at Fitzgerald’s last week to shoot some video of her performance, and we managed to catch a few photos as well.  You can hear Ivette make her magic here: http://www.myspace.com/ivettefranco