Creative wonder Amy White walked away from a well-paying job to follow a passion she’d shelved for so many years. She tells us why.
Over the years Amy has dabbled in a host of different things – career-wise and on a personal level – and an array of creative endeavours. Always egged on by an unquenchable desire for new experiences, her message to the world is simple: life is too short not to be doing what you enjoy. And for her, this means getting lost in music.
“I’ve done a lot of things, but I am so consciously aware that we are literally standing in a life line, and we’ve no idea where we are in that line. So do what you can, while you can.”
Some of her creative activities include studying film, music and sound engineering and opening a music school and recording studio (RBT Music). Here she worked closely with her mom, Jayne, and the music school was named after Amy’s late gran, Rhoda Barbra Trollip, who’d always inspired Amy to follow her dreams.
“The music school was one of my happiest chapters but in life there are those good things that must come to an end and, after the death of our gran, on our 30th birthday, me and my twin sister Meg decided it was a good time to close that chapter.”
Amy says singing is her passion, her first love and the secret of her energy. “Music to me is like finding my inner self, my soul. It’s a form of expressing my emotions … anger, pain, love, happiness and madness. It gives me hope and allows me to dream.”
She talks fondly about her romance with music through the years since. For almost four years Amy performed behind the mic full-time across our three major cities. This was her dream.
“My first residency was at the Oyster Box Hotel in Durban. My office was their Open Terrace where she sang every Sunday and met the most amazing people. Ah … and The Maslow Hotel in Joburg – that was a special time! Music connects people to their feelings and emotions. I always think: if I am feeling this way, someone, somewhere in the world is feeling it too. This is proof that we are never ever really alone.”
Then came corporate. At the time, Amy says, it all flowed.
“I found myself at crossroads thinking: is this it? I also needed job security so I applied for, and got, a job as a sound engineer at a leading software development house, later upskilling myself to become their in-house multimedia designer, doing photography and videography and sound – amongst many other things! This became one of the most bittersweet teachers of my life. I made life-long friendships, but I also learnt that no matter how good your intentions are, you simply cannot fit a triangle into a square box.”
After what felt like a lifetime in a space where she’d felt unhappy, Amy threw caution to the wind and walked away from her well-paying job to go back to her roots, shrouded in music and creativity.
“Quitting could have easily been that difficult decision that went so wrong but in hindsight (isn’t it a wonderful thing), it turned out to be the one I’m most grateful for. I am the happiest I’ve ever been. Here I am now, running a Multimedia Business (Double Take Multimedia) from home, and working as a graphic designer and photographer with my twin and our lifelong friend, Toija. We specialise in photography, videography, graphic design, branding strategies and social media content creation for a variety of small companies. I get to spend quality time with my remarkable parents and there’s still enough time and energy for me to live my dream.”
A typical day in Amy’s life sees her come alive as she uses her skills to connect people. As a photographer who’s passionate about human portraiture and aerial dance photography, she is able to show people how beautifully the world perceives them.
“Let’s be honest, we never really give ourselves enough credit for the magic that we are.”
Wednesdays are her soul food days. That’s when she hits Durban North and Umhlanga to teach pole and aerial hoop (yes … she does that too!) to students at their homes. And in the evenings and on weekends Amy sings at a variety of restaurants in and around Durban … she’s got some serious skills on the keyboard too!
“Life for me has always been all about freedom and skill combined. I think all the things we love take up different spaces in our hearts. That’s why, when we take the time to do the things we love, we feel like our hearts could just burst.”
She’s big on ‘to-do’ lists, so every morning after a little yoga and deep breathing, black coffee-in-hand she jots down everything she needs to do including a few me-time moments.
“I live by singer Ben Howard’s words – Only time is ours, the rest we’ll just wait and see. There’s no denying life is hard, so be kind and keep your chin up so you can see the sunshine. The fact that we are still here, living though a history lesson, shows just how resilient and spectacular we are as beings. So every morning, I make a promise to myself to just keep trying.”
Details: FB: Double Take Multimedia and Amy White, IG: dt_multimedia
Professional Photographs: Meg White, Double Take Multimedia
