The Sound of Music = Success

Research shows that students participating in musical instruction enjoy a number of advantages over their non-musical counterparts, even when overcoming socio-economic obstacles. There is a strong correlation between quality music education in school and academic achievement.

Did you know?

*A study at the University of California showed that after eight months of keyboard lessons, preschoolers showed a 46% boost in their spatial reasoning IQ. Rauscher, Shaw, Levine, Ky, and Wright

*Students who participate in school band or orchestra have the lowest levels of current and lifelong use of alcohol, tobacco and illicit drugs among any group in our society. United States Senate June 2000

*Music majors are the most likely group of college grad to be admitted to medical school. Also, a study of 7,500 university students revealed that music majors scored the highest reading scores among all majors, including English, Biology, Chemistry, and Math. “The Comparative Academic Abilities of Students in Education and in Other Areas of a Multi-focus University,” Peter H. Wood ,The Case for Music in the Schools,” Phi Delta Kappan

*Middle school students and high school students who participated in instrumental music scored significantly higher than their non-band peers in standardized tests. University of Sarasota study, Jeffrey Lynn Kluball

Read on to find out about how a passion for music impacted V.I.P. Zhalisa Clarke's development & kept her out of trouble:




"I started playing violin when I was five. My mom had always wanted to play an instrument, but her mom could never afford it, and back then music scholarships didn't really exist, especially for those that had never played before. So we went to the DC Youth Orchestra, a music program a few blocks from my house, and my mom signed me up for violin. I really wanted to play flute, but they told me my arms were too short. So violin it was. I started with once a week group classes, but that quickly expanded over the years to include private lessons, orchestra rehearsal, music theory classes, composition, improvisation, and a whole lot more. After school everyday, I went to music school. I basically went to 2 schools a day, and had an entirely separate musical life. While my friends in the neighborhood had tons of free time to get into all sorts of trouble, my schedule was back to back with activities that I barely had time to get caught up in nonsense. As I think back to some friends from my neighborhood, one of them was pregnant at 15. Another was in and out of juvie for selling drugs. Between school, rehearsals, and all the extra stuff like homework and practicing, I was too focused to get on those paths. Don't get me wrong, I still had a lot of fun, and played on the playground at recess, etc, but the violin played a crucial role in my life, and I continue to play today."

MEET THE PRODUCERS

While students at the prestigious Spelman College, Natashia & Shelby met while working for the school's newspaper (The Spelman Spotlight). That collaboration planted the seed for a future partnership. Years later, the ladies reunited while both working in Hollywood. Their shared passion and vision caused them to fuse their talents to create V.I.P.s.



NATASHIA MCGOUGH
Creator & Executive Producer

Natashia McGough is a working writer and editor in all facets of the entertainment and literary industry. Natashia's writing credentials were created during the latter part of her grammar school career. Natashia started off as a staff writer for her elementary school's newspaper "The News." She later wrote for the creative publications of her high school's advanced English classes. In college, she had internships with local newspapers and magazines in Houston, TX., Atlanta, GA., and London, England, as well as being the campus and local editor for her college's newspaper, The Spelman Spotlight. Natashia has written several feature screenplays and two TV spec scripts.

She has produced and written her own short films, which have received great recognition as the Organ Mountain Rio Grande film festival's Governor's Hall of Fame winner, Audience Choice Award Winner at the Holly Shorts Film Festival, and Myrtle Beach International film festival's top seven finalist. She has been an apprentice to several professional writers of the industry, as well as worked as an Assistant on several TV shows; such as a TV Series, Night Stalker, produced by ABC/ Touchstone Television, a one hour comedy, The Underground, produced by Showtime and Damon Wayans Productions, and an animated TV series, The Goode Family, produced by ABC Television Network. She has also edited a published self help book by saavy businessman Mike Roberts Sr. and has performed professional ghost-writing for a literary publishing company, Arborbooks. She has ghost-written several authors’ books. She has also written comic strips for local comic magazine Cee Somefun in Atlanta, GA, as well as written a comic book, God Drug, published by Eigomanga Anime Multimedia Company and Devil's Due. She has written, directed, and produced a well received play Shadow Faces, which opened at the Space Theatre in Hollywood, CA on June 16, 2006. She is a native of Houston, Tx, but currently resides in Los Angeles, CA.

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SHELBY R. LARKIN
Co-Executive Producer

Shelby Renee Larkin is an accomplished TV/Film producer and entrepreneur. Her passion for entertainment and media was ignited through an internships her senior year of high school at Nashville's CBS affiliate, WTVF-News Channel 5. From there, Shelby went on to attend Spelman College in Atlanta. She graduated in 2003 with a Bachelors degree in Economics. During her college years Shelby completed numerous internships with prominent media & entertainment companies including So So Def Recordings, Burson-Marstellar PR, CNN, ABC News as well as stints with major corporations like Andersen Consulting & Goldman Sachs.

Upon graduation, Shelby relocated to Harlem, NY and continued her work with ABC News as well as Real Simple Magazine & the Arena Football League. After being accepted to the prestigious Peter Stark Producing Program at the University of Southern California Cinema-TV school, Shelby set her sights on Hollywood. In Los Angeles, Shelby made a name for herself as a TV producer having worked for entities including Paramount Domestic Television, Warner Brothers/Telepictures, The Dr. Phil Show, Style Network, BET, Endemol USA, Firestone Productions and others.

As an entrepreneur Shelby has led numerous publicity campaigns for a range of events including awards shows and red-carpet events. Additionally, Shelby's love for fashion led to her creation of a women’s fashion line, Urban Heiress Apparel, which currently can be found on Etsy.com or on Shelby's blog, The Urban Heiress.