Here's a puzzling riddle. You enter an IT CowOrKing and you see a musical keyboard by the window. What's the owner doing for a living? 🎹 Read below to find out. 😉

Tell us a bit more about yourself and your job:

‍My name's Maya and I'm a sound designer and music composer. 🎶 I've worked for many years on TV commercials and for the last few years, I dived into the world of gaming music. 🎰

Like a lot of composers for media, I'm passionate about film scoring, and this last year I got a Master's Degree in it. 📽️ Joining the program was very exciting because we had masterclasses with a number of award-winning composers - Howard Shore (LOTR), John Powell (How to Train Your Dragon), Christopher Young (Spider-Man 3), Mychael Danna (Life of Pi). 🌋🐉🕷️🐅

What's the achievement that made you the proudest so far?

‍I've won Andy Hill's scholarship for attending The Film Scoring Academy of Europe. He's the program director and dean of the MFA program, a Grammy award winner, and former VP of Music at Disney, producing chefs-d'oeuvre, such as The Beauty and the Beast, Lion King, Aladdin, The Little Mermaid. This was a great achievement for me - having a professional of this rank recognise my talent. 🌟

Two games I've worked on have reached great success. The Magnificent 7 branded video slot was shortlisted for the Game of the Year award by Gaming Intelligence in 2020. 🏆 Big Buffalo is one of Skywind's bestsellers. In April 2021 the game reached #88 in the UK market. 🇬🇧

Another life-changing experience was composing music for a 110-piece orchestra. It was performed live and recorded at the BNR Studio on September 6th this year and I conducted it. 🎼

What are the top three musical pieces or movie soundtracks that are a must for everyone to listen to?

‍1. The haunting Mr. Gateau theme that Alexandre Desplat created for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

2. Ludwig Göransson's cue Freeport for TENET is a real masterpiece in the realm of sound design.

3. I love Mychael Danna's work on the film Girl Interrupted where he uses the gamelan in quite a unique, yet effective way.

Would you advise people to start working in your field or not? Why?

‍This is a hard question because I didn't choose to do what I do, it chose me. I didn't know I have a gift to make music and I didn't have formal music education. I have musical hearing and technical knowledge and it just happens through me. 🌈

Being a media composer is a serious challenge to the artistic ego because you don't always write the music that pours out of your soul. Your top priority must be the product. Having the gift of creation is both a blessing and a curse. If you don't use it, you'll feel like you're slowly dying inside. The stress and deadlines you're subjected to are a downside. ⏲️

How did you find Puzl and why did you decide to join the Community?

‍I came here for a business meeting with Gong Gaming and now launching my own freelance practice, I needed a workplace and I live 15 minutes away from here. I love the high ceilings, the transparent walls, and the daylight spreading all over the place. ☀️

I'm on the Factory 2.0 floor and the environment there is very suitable for work. Everyone around me is very hardworking and this doesn't allow me to distract myself and waste any time. On my first day, I realised at 4 pm that I still haven't had lunch! 😅

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What's your favourite joke, saying, or just and advice that you'd like to share with everyone?

‍Based on my experience from the last two weeks...guys...make backups! 📁

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Got you interested? Check Maya's music on SoundCloud. 💙
‍Wanna know more? You can Slack her, find her on the Factory 2.0 floor or add her on Linkedin. 🔗