Published by Programme B
Each month, YES Employment + Entrepreneurship supports its clients by showcasing their achievements. Being an artist entrepreneur is not always easy, and sometimes it might get so hard that you just want to go to a rooftop and SCREAM! For lead vocalist of LadyAthenae, Camille Montpetit, screaming has become a powerful and liberating form of self-expression that has transformed her life in unpredictable and rewarding ways.
Camille Montpetit is a metal vocalist and voice teacher based in Montreal. She studied Speech Pathology at the Université de Montréal yet was constantly questioning if she belonged in Medicine. After a few attempts to find her calling, she ventured out into the workforce, knowing that her passion would soon reveal itself.
Along with her husband and a friend, she founded her band LadyAthenae over the course of the pandemic and recently released their second album, SHINE on March 30th. Her music is influenced by her struggles with Bipolar 1, with a couple of her songs related to depression, another influenced by infatuation, which Camille says happens a lot in a hypomanic phase.
Camille: The first time I wrote a song I was 8 years old but then I stopped. When I was a teenager, I fell in love with the soundtrack of the movie “Queen of the Damned” which is full of nu-metal hits. This led me to follow my passion, but my goal was to simply start singing and writing music again. I started to take singing seriously again in 2019 and a year later, I wrote some music and showed it to my husband who’s also a musician. He has been writing music for 10+ years so that gave us the idea to start writing together.
I’ve dived deep into the metal scene more recently, falling in love again with metalcore, and in June 2020, my husband and I asked our friend Chris to be our drummer and then we became LadyAthenae.
What were/are your biggest struggles?
Camille: My biggest struggle was to put myself out there. Even writing these words takes a lot of effort from me.
Imposter Syndrome is strong within me. I have longed all my life to become a vocalist but never gave myself a chance. Since I’ve been giving myself a chance, part of me strongly believes that I’m not worthy of doing music and especially not worthy of being called an artist, no matter what external positive feedback I get. This is an internal battle that I’m fighting every day.
I’ve faced a lot of personal challenges in cold calling promoters that could book us for a show. It takes me a lot of energy and I’m thankful that YES provided many opportunities to showcase my talent, without having to do much cold calling.
What stage are you at now? What have been your greatest achievements?
Camille: About a year ago, I decided to join YES on a friend’s recommendation. Since I joined, I can’t tell you how many good things have happened, because there are too many! But I will try:
Firstly, because of the workshops about grants given by YES, I was able to successfully apply for a grant at Canada Council for the Arts (CCA). From this grant, my band received $25,000 towards the creation of our second album!
Secondly, because of YES, we were able to give our first show in front of a real audience during the What The Pop festival last summer.
Lastly, because of another workshop of YES on telling your story, I was invited TWO times to speak at two different shows at CBC Radio. During one of them, they even played one of our songs!!
What did you find as a result of using our services? What was the best thing about it?
The best thing that happened was my meetings with my Artist Business Coach. Without her support, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I see her every month and I follow her teachings and advice diligently. She’s full of knowledge and wisdom. If you get her as a coach, you are lucky!
What does the future hold for LadyAthenae?
Camille: There are many more things on the horizon because I joined YES! All I can do is be thankful and allow myself to receive those blessings. We are releasing a music video with the new album on March 30th. Can’t wait for our fanbase and the public to see it!
Cool, no? Join Camille’s fanbase and learn more about her here: LadyAthenae
And why don’t you follow her footsteps and get a business coach? Maybe you’ll start screaming and shouting too – the celebratory word “YES”, that is!