I was first introduced to Melody Chia by our mutual friend Lauren Pierce.  Melody is located in Melbourne, Australia, and in addition to being an excellent bassist, she has worked for many years in marketing.    Melody has also begun making shoes, and you can follow along with this fascinating process and all of her other activities on her Instagram feed.   Melody and I talk about all kinds of topics: her journey from Beijing to Melbourne the recent visually provocative marketing campaign for the Victorian Youth Symphony stress, overwhelm, and burnout how creativity manifests itself   Listen to Contrabass Conversations with our free app for iOS, Android, and Kindle! Contrabass Conversations is sponsored by: Upton Bass String Instrument Company Upton's Karr Model Upton Double Bass represents an evolution of our popular first Karr model, refined and enhanced with further input from Gary Karr. Since its introduction, the Karr Model with its combination of comfort and tone has gained a loyal following with jazz and roots players. The slim, long “Karr neck” has even become a favorite of crossover electric players. D'Addario Strings This episode is brought to you by D’Addario Strings! Check out their Helicore strings, which are are designed, engineered, and crafted at the D’Addario string factory in New York and come in orchestral, hybrid, pizzicato, and solo string sets.   A440 Violin Shop An institution in the Roscoe Village neighborhood for over 20 years, A440's commitment to fairness and value means that we have many satisfied customers from the local, national, and international string playing communities. Our clients include major symphony orchestras, professional orchestra and chamber music players, aspiring students, amateur adult players, all kinds of fiddlers, jazz and commercial musicians, university music departments, and public schools.   Contrabass Conversations production team: Jason Heath, host Michael Cooper and Steve Hinchey, audio editing Mitch Moehring, audio engineer Trevor Jones, publication and promotion Subscribe to the podcast to get these interviews delivered to you automatically!