SUBJECT: ISABELLA ACKER
Music is a connective tissue for all creators and all human beings alike. Sound gives us the energy to create and Isabella is making waves in Miami where she operates a studio & performance space in Little Haiti. Isabella’s creative drive inspires and mobilizes everyone she interacts with. In speaking with her quickly realize she is one of those rare individuals that really makes you feel like anything is possible.
Originally from Atlanta, and has spent parts of her childhood traveling through South America Isabella has a wealth of multicultural exposure. Miami being a multicultural Mecca, it immediately felt like the right place for her to set roots.
Isabella created Tigre sounds in 2019, as a music discovery platform that brings musical gems from around the world to an untapped US audience. There’s an emphasis on showcasing energized Latin sounds in ways we haven't before. Tigre brings all global citizens to the table. Music discovery can be exclusive and high brow. There’s a deep curiosity about Latin music Latin sounds but not speaking the language can present a barrier.
Isabella is building bridges for all who are curious through a digital x physical blend that lets new & diverse audiences indulge in their curiosity. Tigre’s intimate jams bring audiences that are often excluded due to Miami’s prevalent “RED ROPE CULTURE,” to the sites and sounds in an
carefully curated & energetic performance venue.
THE OBJECT: HIGH SCHOOL PROM INVITATION
It was part of the themed Senior prom experience Isabella was tasked with planning. This was an impressionable moment for Isabella.
Her high school was an International school that was culturally diverse but very academically inclined. Her classmates were not receptive to Isabella’s divergent and creative ideas and this resulted in a barrage of Senior pranks. They were cruel and traumatic. For the first time, Isabella faced the reality of what it means to go against the norm. Embracing this way of being would be hard. Sometimes an object can recall painful memories. However and equally powerful, they can remind you that you made it through. Turning a tragedy into a triumph.
ISABELLA
Every time I see that invitation, I get those feelings. But, you are not your traumas. You are the person that overcame them. And, you realize that It’s just part of the journey when you’re driving towards something that you have real conviction in. Believing in yourself, when others don’t, and even when you don’t sometimes is what it means to persevere. It’s a choice.
It’s funny, I’m now hired to plan and produce events.
BE YOURSELF
Tell us about a time it was hard to be yourself, or when being yourself led to a breakthrough?
ISABELLA
I try to be self-aware as much as possible, remembering not to hold myself to OLD narratives.
Overall, High school was a traumatic time for me and was definitely a breakthrough moment. I was born and raised in Atlanta and went to an international school. So, I feel like I never got the typical American High school experience. I spent summers in Uruguay at a young age and lived in Santiago Chile from age 7-9.
The variety of cultural influences left me feeling like I wasn’t this or that. Nothing to strongly identify with. And, I wasn’t the type of child that colored within the lines. I always had my creative spirit. It took me a while to realize that this was ok and shift my narrative, no victims here. I chose to be intentional about flipping the narrative. Those experiences gave me empathy. They gave me the tools I needed really believe in myself and the capacity to be more understanding of others just being themselves. In fact, it’s been foundational in my approach to entrepreneurship. Inclusivity and empathy are key tenets in any experience I create. I’m keen on embracing counter-culture and offering alternatives to conventional ways of doing things.
I like to build bridges that connect different people and not the walls to separate them. Miami can have a certain pretentious vibe and people can’t feel connected to something that they feel like they don’t have a place in. So, I threw out all those high brow aspects of the music industry. Tigre is a free-spirited a colorful vibration, offering a stage for everyone to be fully self-expressed.
In my twenties, I was focused on building an empire. In my thirties, I'm like, “forget the empire.” You can only help yourself as much as you help other people. It’s more about being nourished from the work you do and feeling like what you do matters. No amount of “empire,” can compensate for doing something you don’t love. Weaving love into everything you do is everything!
I’ve created a platform that aims to disrupt the convention of strategic music discovery & release. And I did it, playing the game differently.
WHAT’S SOMETHING PEOPLE DON’T KNOW ABOUT ISABELLA, THAT YOU’D WANT EVERYONE TO HEAR?
ISABELLA
I’m a huge extrovert and I love being social, so people may be surprised to know that I have the biggest fear of public speaking. I’m outgoing and gregarious, but like anyone who really puts themselves all the way out there, there’s an ever-present fear of being judged and criticized and it can be blacker at times. I’m Free and expressed, yet admittedly I still do care a lot about what people think.
ABOUT
Tigre Sounds is a Miami based hybrid agency & creative ecosystem that disrupts the strategy of musical releases through high-level artistry, design, promotion, and experience. Offering, a lifestyle platform from which to explore, discover, and experience energized Latin sounds and deliver those sounds to an untapped U.S. audience.
More info: www.tigresounds.com
