Meet Pearl Ayon | Singer/Songwriter & Cannabis Dispensary Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Pearl Ayon and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Pearl, how do you define success?
Success is a word defined differently by every individual. The most common meaning that comes to mind when we hear the word success is material wealth. As people become more self-aware the definition evolves and begins to take on a more enlightened meaning. Aside from when I was in elementary school, I have always thought of success equating to happiness. I wasn’t exactly able to articulate it so simply, all I knew is that to me it didn’t mean lots of money, nice cars, nor big houses. Don’t get me wrong, having nice expensive things is definitely considered a high level of success, but for me it was the things that didn’t cost money, and proved to be more difficult to achieve, that made me think of success. The older I became my definition for it became clearer because I was starting to define the word happiness and what that meant to me. Achieving my mental health goals is, and continues to be, one way that I define success. I set goals and work on strategies that focus on my needs and undertake even the hardest matters to face by using my experiences, lessons I’ve learned from peers and mentors, as well as trial and error. I believe this is one of the most difficult successes to achieve. I’ve learned that happiness can be expensive, and the cost comes in many forms. Learning to feel secure and love myself unconditionally is no easy feat. I’m the happiest I’ve ever been today, but the journey never ends. We’re constantly evolving, changing, and I will always continue to redefine some of the things that make me feel happy and successful depending on where life takes me. There are although, a few elements for my overall success and happiness. These are love, joy, family, healthy mind, body, and soul, positive thinking, and the motivating and inspiring energy that keeps me working on my career and everything else I love to do.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I gave myself the official singer/songwriter title at 14 years old. This month (January) I turned 41. It all started when my older brother started producing music for some of the popular local Chicano rappers and other artists around San Diego at the time. Many of the rap artists needed hooks for their songs so my brother made the connection. I started writing and recording hooks for them and they would invite me to sing the hooks at some of the shows they booked.

My brother would give me CDs full of his beats and I would write to almost every single song any chance I got, and sometimes, even all day long. I continued to perform and write hooks for more and more rappers. It was something that made me unique amongst my peers. No one was really doing that at the time. It wasn’t like it is today, there was no social media, so you had to work hard for a little bit of recognition. That gave me a sense of confidence, security, and purpose growing up amongst so much insecurity and emotional instability. And when I started to write my own full songs I decided to work towards writing and recording my own album. That album took 8 ridiculously long years to release with many, many challenges along the way. That 8 year-long experience structured my life and fueled up my entrepreneurial spirit on my own terms and against all odds. The first challenge was money and resources, of course. That’s mostly why everything took so long. That, and experiencing my first real example of the challenge of working with family and why we shouldn’t. During that time my family was going through a turbulent time so emotions were always strong. I just moved at the pace that I was able to move and took it one day at a time writing and performing any chance I could. Songwriting and singing were my therapy and what encouraged me to express my self-awareness and how to have a voice without getting shut down. Words resonate better to people through music. It’s what gave me validation. It was a way to say everything I had to say hoping the intended audience would hear me. In the end the real purpose was to get it off my chest and move on.

I finally dropped my album in March 2005. I named it Can You Feel It. It still exists out there; you can even buy it online. I have a Pandora Station, too. The station is called Pearl (R&B) Radio. Back then I was able to secure distribution through Universal Music Group and my album was out selling in participating music stores and getting syndicated air play on the radio. I was getting booked for tons of shows, appearing in local and regional news stations and local and syndicated talent shows and radio stations, performed at community and political events, High Schools, Colleges, and Universities in San Diego and all over California. I was doing 7-8 shows some weeks. I should have said no to some of them, but I never did. Overall, the album didn’t do well enough. The biggest challenge was marketing and promoting it. It was more work than I could handle or was willing to invest into it at the time. It’s the most expensive component for a project like this and 18 years ago there was no YouTube available to help artists promote. I used MySpace to upload my music, and that used to be cool. I kept performing, writing, and recording music as much as I could while I made the decision to not pursue “making it big” as a singer. I focused on school and work full time and started navigating through my next life lessons. I stayed close to my family to be a support system and because I love San Diego. I can’t imagine living anywhere else. When I was 29 years old I shifted gears again and dove into the cannabis industry with an old friend of mine, who I ended up marrying 1.5 years ago.

Making the decision to take another professional risk was pretty easy because of the whole entrepreneur thing. But mostly it was to take back control of my life. And this is when I embarked on the journey I’m still on today. The journey of doing something I truly believe in. Something that brings mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual healing to me, but most importantly to everyone else who really needs it and who is a part of our communities. Helping communities thrive by providing living wage jobs and security. And I’m lucky enough to get to incorporate a music and art aspect into every project so that we provide a space for artists to have a voice. Owning a business, let alone multiple businesses, always comes at a high cost. So many challenges, way more than one might imagine. So, as an advocate of mental health awareness, being able to be a part of something like this brings me so much happiness and purpose all over again.

Although my music was reprioritized, it has never left me. I used the time wisely to work through many setbacks in my life in an effort to find the lasting happiness within myself. It hasn’t been easy at all. At times discouraging, but I have this everlasting hope inside me that is just so stubborn and wants better for me, so I really have no choice but to move forward and continue finding the solutions to problems that need them. Writing continues to be the most beneficial therapy for me, so the music is still coming. I began reinvesting time and resources into my music again. This time, I’m more well equipped with professional business knowledge from all my years of experience with opening other businesses and all the connections I made within my networks. I have been advancing my music business skills, songwriting abilities, and performance experience so that aside from releasing more music, I’ll also be able to offer myself and others, professional creative services through a fully integrated, fully functioning music & media business.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
It’s surprising how little I know about cool places to visit in San Diego. Aside from work, I never leave home. I have a full schedule of responsibilities that keep me home. Plus, I’m also a homebody and an introvert and I love it! The only times I really go out and visit different places is when my friends from out of town come to visit me and they usually come with the itinerary dragging me out of the house. So, here’s a list of some of the places I’ve been introduced to in the last year by someone who isn’t from my hometown where I was born and raised, and that I thought were amazing for their food, aesthetic, vibe, and/or interesting.

1. Morning Glory
2. Born & Raised
3. Ironside Fish & Oyster
4. King & Queen
5. Part Time Lover
6. The Grass Skirt
7. False Idol

I guess it’s not as many as I thought. Those were just some of the newer places I’ve visited. I’m sure there are more. Others that I have discovered on my own are:

1. Herb & Wood
2. Cocina 35
3. Topsail
4. Starlite
5. Sipz
6. Ototo Sushi
7. The Purple Mint
8. The Realm of 52 Remedies
9. Prohibition
10. The Original Pancake House
11. Royal Mandarin
12. Karina’s Seafood
13. Mission Beach
14. Mission Bay
15. Coronado
16. Balboa Park
17. Downtown, Gaslamp
18. Little Italy
19. Portside Pier
20. Seaport Village
21. The sunsets
22. Taco shops
23. Antique Row Café
24. North Park
25. Hilcrest

I knew way more than I thought I would remember so that’s great!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Every person who has come into my life has in one way or another taught me a lesson, made me more aware, enlightened me, and shaped me into the person I am today – the good, the great, and the ugly.

My husband and I have been married for about 1.5 years and have been a couple for over 10 years. I can say with full confidence that he definitely deserves credit and recognition in my story because without him so many of the parts that make up my life today are because of him and because of his love and support for me. Together we opened many successful businesses in the cannabis industry providing hundreds of jobs for our communities in the city of San Diego. While at the same time investing into the Music Artist side of me to sharpen and broaden my music business skills, songwriting abilities, and performance experience and become a fully integrated, fully functioning music & media business. Through this new future business, I intend to offer myself and others, professional creative services.

There is no doubt that my husband has taught me so much along the way. By trusting him, by trusting each other and being open to each other’s strengths, allowed me to see his efforts, accept his lessons, support, mentorship, love, encouragement, and most importantly, challenges. Because it’s not a healthy partnership without the challenges one must overcome together and/or individually. This is where the true lessons lie. It’s where you harness your strength and enlightenment.

My most recent beacon of light is a book that a great friend of mine recommended to me based on a deep, insightful conversation we were having about our lives. The book is called Los Cuatro Acuerdos: Un Libro de la Sabiduría Tolteca, or The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom (A Toltec Wisdom Book) by Don Miguel Ruiz. Funny enough, I came across this book in my past at one point and overlooked it. I guess my mind wasn’t ready to see it, the timing wasn’t right. And now as I consistently work on achieving my mental health goals for success in happiness, most of my time healing is spent alone processing lessons I’ve learned that day or days before. The tougher lessons take longer and feel the most difficult. But in this specific phase of hard times, hard lessons, that’s when you start searching for more enlightening resources that are in line with all that you’ve learned and trust about yourself.

This book served as a guide to happiness with just 4 simple agreements that I make with myself. This has been a way for me to check myself in any given situation ensuring I keep myself responsible for my own personal accountability. As elementary and basic at the surface as it might seem, in practice it can feel frustratingly unachievable, but that’s only if the timing isn’t right. After trying everything, I needed to go back to basics and this was a great reminder and tool, and I highly recommend it to anyone in the mid-level and above stages of a healing especially, but it’s a wonderful and quick read for anyone. Lasting happiness is achievable. The type of happiness that doesn’t go away.

Website: https://sageandfire.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/solopearl/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/OnlyPearl

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/solo.pearl

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/sage-and-fire-lone-pine

Youtube: www.youtube.com/@pearlayon1452

Others: https://www.facebook.com/solopearlmusic
https://www.youtube.com/solopearlmusic https://www.instagram.com/sageandfireca/ https://www.facebook.com/sageandfireca
http://www.soundcloud.com/solo-pearl

Image Credits
– Amanda Darosett Photography – https://www.instagram.com/willyoumarrymephotography/ – Pearl Ayon – Wayne Scherer