We’re looking forward to introducing you to Dr. Sonja Elise Freeman “Queen Diva”. Check out our conversation below.
Sonja Elise, really appreciate you sharing your stories and insights with us. The world would have so much more understanding and empathy if we all were a bit more open about our stories and how they have helped shaped our journey and worldview. Let’s jump in with a fun one: Are you walking a path—or wandering?
I am definitely walking a path. For the last twenty-one years, I have been on a faith walk journey to share my divine voice and help others do the same. Everyone has a divine voice that is within to share with the world their creative, intellectual, financial, and athletic ability to empower the world to be a better place. I founded Divine Voices Media in August 2004 in Houston, Texas, when I was an on-air personality at KPFT 90.1 FM Pacifica Radio from 2 am to 4 am Monday through Friday. I was inspired to produce a radio show that was positive, empowering, and encouraging. I learned over the years the importance of being observant, a good listener, and sharing knowledge when asked. I have grown tremendously walking the path that I have been on, from being impatient and agitated to becoming wise and an attentive teacher, coach, and mentor.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Dr. Sonja Elise Freeman, “Queen Diva,” and I am the Founder and Executive Producer for Divine Voices Media, based in Houston and New York City, an award-winning multimedia production company and small business consulting firm for creatives run by creatives by appointment only. We have been in business for 21 years with present and past clients, including The Baby Stewart Foundation, Annenberg Agency at USC Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism, The Rhythm and Blues Preservation Society, Veteran Def Jam Recording Artist and Songwriter Oran “Juice” Jones, Hip Hop Veteran Reggie Reg of the Legendary Crash Crew, Plus Supermodel Emme, Celebrity Stylist Susan Moses, Houston Fashion Week, Determined to Master Speaking Toastmasters International Houston Phoenix Fire Female Football Team, I WIll Graduate Youth Development Program/Entertainers 4 Education Alliance, and multi-Emmy award winning Texas Filmmaker/TV Producer & Host Patricia Gras. We are preparing to produce our Off-Broadway-acclaimed production “Strength of a Woman: A Phyllis Hyman Tribute Starring Queen Diva” album and documentary for tentative release in July 2029. The Rhythm and Blues Preservation Society, a 501(c) non-profit based in Atlantic City, New Jersey, supports us. We are in the midst of a fundraising campaign to help with the expenses from music administration to the recording studio and film production.
Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. Who saw you clearly before you could see yourself?
Dr. Ruby N. Hebert, DMA, was my voice teacher at Prairie View A&M University, a part of the Texas A&M University system, who saw something in me at 17 years old in her voice studio as a freshman. She looked me up and down and told me to sing a Bb Major scale. When I sang to High F effortlessly, she stopped and said, “I am going to whip you into shape!” And that she did! I want you to know, “There is no such thing as can’t!” I never forgot her words. She explained that whenever you enter my studio, I expect you to try and never say, “I can’t!” I was unsure what she meant until I began learning Latin, German, Italian, French, and English songs. I was familiar with Latin but did not sing in other languages. I am classified as a Coloratura Soprano, think Kathleen Battle, and I had to learn Exultate Jubilate K.165. I had trouble singing the runs, but not the arpeggiated notes. I was learning a particular passage, and while she was playing, I kept singing the wrong notes and blurted out, “I can’t! I can’t do this, Dr. Hebert!” She said, “Excuse me? What was that? There is no such word as ‘can’t’ in my studio! I was so exasperated, “But Dr. Hebert, I will crack!” She said, “What is the worst thing about cracking a note? Will you pass out? Will you lose your voice?” I said,’ Well, no, but…” She said, “Sonja, you learn what not to do when you crack. If you do not allow yourself to crack, you can not learn how to position your mouth to hit the note the next time. So sing it again! And again! And again!” Needless to say, on that day I learned the word “can’t” doesn’t exist! I also learned how to use not crack by simply opening my mouth to let the note out. LOL! I truly miss her. She passed away in 2009. She said to me, a few months before she passed, when I called her to talk about my slow development into the music industry, ” Are you singing for change? Are you hungry? Do you have a roof over your head? Then you are doing alright! Your time will come later in life, and it will be spectacular! I have great faith in you and your musicianship, Sonja. Never stop singing!”
Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
When I first started producing my “Strength of a Woman: A Phyllis Hyman Tribute” production in 2014, I practiced for hours with my pianist and background singers for three months. I did not have a publicist or work with a promoter, and it was a challenge to sell tickets to my performance. It was about a month away from the performance, and the venue manager called me to tell me he had to cancel my performance due to low ticket sales. He had to give my timeslot to another performer who could fill the seats. I was devastated and cried for days. I started to think no one wanted to see me perform or my show, which I worked so hard to produce. I had previous small successes singing at festivals, parks, birthday parties, and special events as a featured performer for months. But I could not sell even 50 tickets to my show. Then, a few days later, I got a phone call from a promoter I had met briefly, who asked me if I would perform at an all white party for a 15-minute set of my Phyllis Hyman tribute. He said he had a band, and all I had to do was bring my background vocalists and tell the musical director my songs. I was amazed! I could not afford a band for my own performances, which is what I really wanted for my production, and he offered me a 15-minute set within his production in Harlem. Not only did I say yes to the performance, but it turned out that the event was called “First Fridays with Vaughn Harper.” Vaughn Harper was a veteran radio personality in NYC at WBLS 107.5 FM, and he knew Phyllis Hyman. I met him briefly at a park event a year before and told him about my tribute. I was elated to have the opportunity to sing for him and his legendary all white party in Harlem. It was such an amazing experience because it also turned out that the musical director knew the musicians who played for Phyllis Hyman. He never met her or played with her, but he looked at me and listened to me sing as we went through the songs, and was so amazed at how much I looked and sounded like her. I shared with him the frustrations I had producing the tribute and how I was not getting any support from the remaining musicians and team members who worked with Phyllis Hyman. He told me, ” It could be they are all still mourning her death. Many of them either stopped performing or working in the music industry after her passing. You keep doing what you are doing. You have a great look and presentation. You capture Phyllis Hyman’s essence well. You will do fine, just keep going.” I never forgot his words. I think about that performance from time to time. Vaughn Harper just stared at me when I was finished singing, shook my hand, and smiled. Turns out he was a really good friend of Phyllis Hyman. I believe he was moved so much that all he could do was smile.
So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. What’s a belief or project you’re committed to, no matter how long it takes?
The project I’m committed to, no matter how long it takes, is producing and recording an album and documentary of my “Strength of a Woman: A Phyllis Hyman Tribute.” I took on this project in 2013, but I had it in my mind to do it when I was a freshman in college at Prairie View A&M University, a part of the Texas A&M University system, as a music major in 1986, when I listened to Phyllis Hyman’s “Living All Alone” cassette tape. Yes, I used to listen to cassette tapes on my Sony Walkman all day. LOL! I practiced listening to Phyllis Hyman, Whitney Houston, Anita Baker, and Chaka Khan daily. They were all mentors in my head as a young aspiring singer and songwriter. I was often told how much I looked and sounded like Phyllis Hyman. Over the years, I began researching more about her music, life, and legacy. The more I learned about Phyllis Hyman’s struggles with mental health, drugs, alcohol, failed relationships, and musical career roadblocks, the more I was determined to produce a tribute showcase that shared songs that her true “Phans,” a nickname her fans take on, want to hear performed at live concerts. I fell in love with Phyllis Hyman’s passion for singing and connecting with her fans, her determination to succeed even when the music industry was not kind to her, how much she loved to speak to college students and musicians who were new to the music industr,y and want to help them to be wise about their music administration as well as their musical craft. It helped me to interpret Phyllis Hyman’s song, knowing the history behind the songs she loved to sing, the conditions she was going through when she recorded her songs, and the pain she was going through coping with her mental illness at a time when there were no medicines and peer groups available, as it is today. I am determined to get this recording completed, and that is why I started a GoFundMe page to help with my fundraising efforts. It has been an uphill battle because, in the times we are in right now, many people are not investing or able to give because of the financial and political climate. But this is something that I must complete. I am a Black music preservationist as an Artist-in-Residence, Chief Curriculum Officer, and Vice President of The Rhythm and Blues Preservation Society, a 501(c) nonprofit organization based in Atlantic City, New Jersey, with a mission to preserve Black music culture one record at a time. I am committed to completing my contribution to preserving Phyllis Hyman’s musical legacy with this tribute album and documentary of me recording and producing this album. Many “Phans” of Phyllis Hyman are still mourning her passing 30 years later and miss her dearly. I am compelled to complete this project by July 6, 2029, which is her birthday. Had Phyllis Hyman lived, this date would be her 80th birthday. I have great faith that I will complete this project with the support of those who have an ear to hear and a heart to give towards this loving tribute to a musical legend who deserves to be honored for the amazing musical catalog she has left us all with to enjoy for many years to come.
Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. What is the story you hope people tell about you when you’re gone?
The story I hope people will tell about me, when I’m gone, is that I genuinely loved God, my family, friends, my career, and my purpose on earth. I am a very spiritual woman, so much so that I committed my entire life to following God’s will for my life and gave up all of my possessions years ago to do exactly what God told me to do 21 years ago. He said to quit my day job at a retail shop in Houston, Texas, and to follow him. I became an entrepreneur and started Divine Voices Media with one mission: to share my divine voice and help others to share theirs in excellence. Everyone has a divine voice that is uniquely their own. Your voice is wrapped around your gifts and talents that God has placed inside of you, and you do well to help empower, inspire, and encourage the world to be a better place. Some people’s divine voice is writing a book, singing a song, inventing a new patent, or nurturing patients. My purpose is to assist, coach, consult, and guide people connected to me to help them share their divine voice in excellence, no matter their career. It comes down to encouragement, empowerment, and motivating each person to understand their confidence in doing what they were created to do on earth is already within themselves; all they have to do is learn their craft well, make a strategic plan to execute towards success, and activate their plan without fear of failure. I have been blessed to do this as an executive consultant and coach for many executive leaders, musicians, chefs, models, beauty queens, authors, entrepreneurs, recording artists, actors, bishops, pastors, ministers, and athletes. I hope that all that I do daily in person and online with my Diva’s Diamonds brand, radio and online radio productions, tribute concerts, and career and consulting services stand the test of time through the many clients I have had and the legacies they created.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.divinevoicesmedia.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drsonjaelise
- Linkedin: https://www.LinkedIn.com/in/drsonjaelisefreeman
- Twitter: https://www.x.com/DiVoicesMedia
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@QueenDiva
- Soundcloud: https://www.soundcloud.com/divoicesmediaworldwide
- Other: GoFundMe Strength of a Woman: A Phyllis Hyman Tribute page https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-my-sowpht-album-documentary
Image Credits
Sonja Elise Freeman
