There’s a transition that happens when you realize you are working really hard to live up to someone else’s expectations, but they don’t line up with the expectations you have for yourself.”
Sonia Reid ’01 considers how dissatisfaction fueled her commitment to turn her vocal tutoring side business, Sonia Reid Studios, that she started after obtaining a music degree from Redeemer, into her full-time job.
“I had to decide, is the regular pay cheque the priority or can I create stability in an environment where I can thrive?” Reid reflects. “I had wonderful experiences in jobs [while I did my business part time]. But they weren’t filling my heart.”
The awareness that others around her had achieved such sought-after stability within this field gave her confidence that it was possible, and the opportunity for advice and mentorship.
Based around three pillars–providing singing lessons for children and students, directing church and school choirs and plays, and her own performance–Reid was fully focused on her business only a few years after graduating.
With two and a half decades of success behind her, first in Hamilton and then Saskatoon (where she relocated in 2011), Reid’s work has not only allowed such security but helped bolster her reputation and earn new opportunities.
While developing a niche as a vocal coach for professional singers and teachers, helping them elevate their skill and push limits, Reid has also begun hosting her own gospel choir experience workshop and performance. And amid such business endeavors, she continued her passion for performance, frequenting area churches, clubs and festivals. This dedication culminated in an “amazing” opportunity with the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra (SSO) in 2024.
“The orchestra developed the YXE (after the Saskatoon airport code) Divas show. I was asked to be a part of it along with other performers from Saskatchewan.”
Singing two songs that evidently made an impression, SSO CEO Mark Turner asked Reid if she would consider having a symphony show centered around her performance. Selecting songs and developing them with arranger Donovan Seidle, the entire show was cultivated around what Reid loved and what she wanted to do.
I get to take the gospel into secular environments to people who are willing to listen and take it in.
“Because I’ve [incorporated faith] from day one, it has become a staple in what I do,” Reid explains. “So, in that show we have R&B, soul,” she smiles, “and we absolutely have gospel.”
Having created the show, it can now be presented to and performed with other symphonies. Reid has since taken it to Kamloops, British Columbia, is scheduled to perform on Vancouver Island and is organizing a cross-Canada tour.
The desire and ability to keep faith prominent in her career has provided her greater purpose and allowed her to stand out and impact people.
“When I get booked to sing, it’s not typically for gospel,” Reid admits. “But because I’m in settings where I get to choose what I sing, I can bring it in.” For Reid, this is the greatest privilege. “I get to take the gospel into secular environments to people who are willing to listen and take it in.”
“God has given me space and the platform to bring people back to focus on him.”
Oftentimes, when the crowd is excited to hear covers of icons like Whitney Houston, Nina Simone and Aretha Franklin, Reid’s gospel numbers get the greatest reception.
“God has given me space and the platform to bring people back to focus on him.”
Seeing the response to her singing, whether at church or in external environments, and making a difference with this skill, continues to spur Reid on just as it did when she was finding her voice as a child in church or as a first-year student who had not fully committed to the art as a career yet (Reid first enrolled at Redeemer with a music minor and Psychology major with ideas of pursuing music therapy).
Recently, this has caused her to reflect on her work and do something that entrepreneurs–with their constant focus on next steps–often do not stop to acknowledge: a successful career.
Reid has achieved exactly what she hoped for when she set out to reach her own expectations: creating a stable venture where she could thrive.
But more importantly, God has provided her the opportunity to impact people in their daily lives, whether as a performer or teacher, and leave them with something positive, and potentially–if it is a seed of faith–even life changing.