Sammy Gonzalez Zeira is the CEO/Founder of Young Musicians Unite, and co-owner of the Wynwood School of Music, Studio Bros, and Miami Music Productions. He is a Miami-born, internationally acclaimed musician, entrepreneur, and mentor. In 2013, Sammy recognized the staggering lack of music education in many of Miami’s underserved communities and created YMU as a response to this deficiency. Sammy has played over 1,000 concerts, gone on 15 US tours, and landed spots at SXSW music festival and Van’s Warped Tour. As First Chair in the Miami Beach Classical Guitar Quintet, he toured the US and Japan, winning awards at both regional and national levels.
Young Musicians Unite (YMU) believes that every child deserves access to music education regardless of their socio-economic background. They collaborate with schools to provide free music education, which has been proven to inspire personal development, foster a sense of community, and prepare our future leaders. Sammy has over 21 years of experience working in music education; and under his leadership, YMU has raised over $25 million in the effort to transform the music education space for all of Miami impacting over 25,000 students.
Company: Young Musicians Unite
We are thrilled to have you join us today, welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview! Let’s start off with a little introduction. Tell our readers a bit about yourself and your company
Sammy Gonzalez Zeira: Sammy Gonzalez Zeira is the CEO/Founder of Young Musicians Unite, and co-owner of the Wynwood School of Music, Studio Bros, and Miami Music Productions. He is a Miami-born, internationally acclaimed musician, entrepreneur, and mentor. In 2013, Sammy recognized the staggering lack of music education in many of Miami’s underserved communities and created YMU as a response to this deficiency. Sammy has played over 1,000 concerts, gone on 15 US tours, and landed spots at SXSW music festival and Van’s Warped Tour. As First Chair in the Miami Beach Classical Guitar Quintet, he toured the US and Japan, winning awards at both regional and national levels.
Young Musicians Unite (YMU) believes that every child deserves access to music education regardless of their socio-economic background. They collaborate with schools to provide free music education, which has been proven to inspire personal development, foster a sense of community, and prepare our future leaders. Sammy has over 21 years of experience working in music education; and under his leadership, YMU has raised over $25 million in the effort to transform the music education space for all of Miami impacting over 25,000 students.
Can you share a time when your business faced a significant challenge? How did you navigate through it?
Sammy Gonzalez Zeira: When COVID hit in the Spring of 2020, the world stood still. We had to cancel our Annual Gala, which is a crucial source of unrestricted funds for our organization, and look into the void of the unknown as we planned for the Fall of 2020. As we peered into the void of uncertainty for Fall 2020, questions loomed: What would funding look like? Would schools operate in-person or virtually?
Our Board advised salary cuts. However, I chose a different path. Drawing on our cash reserves, I not only provided raises to my existing team but also began an ambitious hiring spree, doubling our workforce. This decision was rooted in our past experiences, where even modest investments in our team consistently yielded substantial rewards and growth. In the face of the pandemic, I decided to double down on this proven strategy.
As a team, we had a lot of hard conversations, switched out our program director, and made a few bets. Our main bet was that we needed a hybrid plan of virtual and in-person and I constantly told leaders around us that it was our time to think like tech companies. We created four paths forward. First, we built out a virtual curriculum and training for 6 of our courses and created an online platform for learning. Second, we invested in video production and recording to continue working with our students through collaborative performances. Next, we built out a team of teachers who wanted to be in person on notice and finally, mapped out an online donation-giving program.
We started off the school year virtually and then 6 weeks into the school year, we were required to bring teachers into the classroom, pushing us forward with a hybrid model. Because of my foresight with our COO, we were uniquely positioned to jump right in and support our students who needed us more than ever.
The 4 paths yielded processes and maturity in our organization that we would have not otherwise accomplished for years to come. We built trust in the community and became an organization that was catapulted into the spotlight. The streamlining of our PD and Curriculum leveled us up to take on more teachers and schools. The investment into video and music production led to the opening of a professional media arts studio for all students across our City. We built sophistication in our fundraising which has led to a 6x increase in our budget. But most importantly, we were creative and innovative in a time of crisis which allowed us to be there for our students, teachers, employees, and community. I believe this has built loyalty and trust in our organization that you can’t put a price on.
How has a failure or apparent failure set you up for later success?
Sammy Gonzalez Zeira: I’ve heard this quote from leaders a few times in my life when being vulnerable with leaders about difficult paths I need to navigate. It goes like this, “Sammy, you are not used to failing huh… you need to prepare yourself because you can’t always win.”
I have to say that I fail all the time. Call it intuition, depth of knowledge, or luck. I can usually see the writing on the wall early enough to gauge if something is not working, pivot, and adapt. Sometimes it’s important to stay strong and stay the course and see out projects and plans and use them as learnings for growth. Not all shots go in, but they lead towards the success of the bigger picture. But overall, I break out goals into large projects with the final vision always in mind. In between the idea and final outcome is a maze with thousands of decisions, turns, and opportunities. If your finger is on the pulse, yet allow your team to own their work and make decisions, you can constantly see the forest from the trees, which allows for these pivots that avoid catastrophe.
I’ll add that I build out of need and necessity based on the needs of our students and community. I listen, I watch, and I try to grow our organization to adapt to these needs.
I’ll finish with, I fail all the time, and this allows me to look deep within myself, my decisions, and my team’s decisions. These reflections lead to conversations that create better systems and growth that later lead to success.
How do you build a resilient team? What qualities do you look for in your team members?
Sammy Gonzalez Zeira: When I hire or create new roles it’s always very intentional. When I hire I look for individuals who are passionate about community impact and growth through systems change. Adaptive, creative, and yet organized people who can love the work as much as I do and make it their own.
I’ve learned to always share my goals and vision with my team. My COO will figure out the reality of that vision and what’s possible, my CFO will make sure we can afford it, and my CPO will make sure to execute the vision. I’ve learned to let go of the 1,000 steps to get there. I’ve built out systems and teams over the past 12 years and learned to hire brilliant people I can trust. Seeing the first from the trees is a superpower and I wield that power daily.
You are as strong as your weakest team member. You do not always want to be the smartest person in the room and time is your most valuable asset. Hire staff that have expertise in their field and have them grow the organization with their skill set. You are always in charge of the what, the big vision, but let them boss you around on the how. Great hiring practices will protect your time, and allow for you to focus on tasks and objectives you can only implement.
How do you maintain your personal resilience during tough times?
Sammy Gonzalez Zeira: Nothing has ever been handed to me. I’ve grown up with the mindset that you have to work hard to have and build great things. I see my work as a lifestyle and not a job. In life, you will have personal ups and downs, and the same with work. My mindset is that I’m going to be doing this forever, so I’m constantly asking myself how can I make this more enjoyable and manageable?
In the hardest of times I speak very candidly with people on my team I trust and become transparent with the issues facing us and the organization. I don’t try to solve these tough times on my own. I have also built up friendships with great leaders in my field, who I can share with and be vulnerable with. Sometimes just talking to someone in your role is the fuel you need to get your confidence back. In the hardest of times, I become the most focused, put my nose to the grind, and use the challenge as an opportunity.
What strategies do you use to manage stress and maintain focus during a crisis?
Sammy Gonzalez Zeira: No matter how hard things get you always take care of yourself. How can you give to others if your tank is empty? Especially in this work, where you are giving your all to strangers every single day, it’s easy to forget about yourself. Bad habits are easy to pick up, eating terribly, smoking cigarettes, etc. Self Care is important and it’s important to replace bad habits with great ones when stressed. My self-care comes from reading, playing guitar, podcasts, working out/steam room, and spending time with my wife, son, and friends. As a leader, it’s important to always have the vision and final goal in mind and to be able to paint that picture clearly for the team.
How do you communicate with your team during a crisis?
Sammy Gonzalez Zeira: I ensure that they understand we need all hands on deck and I don’t sugarcoat the situation. I paint the picture of the worst-case scenario if we fail. I need that worse case in my head, to help fuel me. I’ve been told it’s unhealthy for other people on my team, so I try to keep it to myself after giving a picture of the situation.
In times of crisis, I’ve learned to listen to the team, and hear them out, and then at the end of the day you have to make decisions on the path forward, and this is where your instincts are the most important. Every decision is thousands of hours of work and you are responsible for the outcome.
In these times, everyone’s role must be super clear and everyone needs to roll up their sleeves and jump into the trenches.
What advice would you give to other CEOs on building resilience in their organizations?
Sammy Gonzalez Zeira: Lead with passion, protect your time, make sure you can trust those closest to you, cut your C players, you don’t have time for that, focus on the things that only you can do, let the rest fall on the team.
Here are some rules I live by
1) Lead with Passion – Your leadership must be contagious enough for others to follow you, embrace your mission and adopt the work as their own. Leadership is empowering your team to lead and giving them the space to co-create. Leadership is being ok with not always being the expert in the room.
2) Drop your C Players – Your C players will distract you and create a time suck on your team, causing you to ignore your A players, who will then resent you. Invest in your A players and their ability to manage B players and understand what a C player looks like. Working hard and being nice is not enough to drive your company forward.
3) Change is Good if you Hire Correctly – When building an organization with a staff member, upon their departure from the company, the bar they set as their highest level of standard is now your new staff member’s starting point. If you hire correctly, you’ll be amazed at how quickly they run with what their predecessor created and take the work to new heights.
4) You Must Always Carry the Vision – As the founder, your role will continue to shift and grow, so that you can continue to be visionary and focus on tasks that only you can do while delegating tasks others can replicate and or streamline. I have these spells of peace and calm sometimes where I sorta get bored and run out of ideas. I’ve learned to embrace these moments, because they are rare, and on the other side lies a clear vision… the calm before the storm.
How do you prepare your business for potential future crises?
Sammy Gonzalez Zeira: I’m currently preparing for a potential future crisis through diversifying revenue streams and hiring brilliant people. I hope I’m wrong but my gut tells me we’re heading into a financial crisis. I’m starting to do some of the same things as in COVID, brainstorm, try new ideas, build out the team, and prepare for battle.
What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned about leadership in times of crisis?
Sammy Gonzalez Zeira: I’ve learned to trust my gut, and my instincts, and to appreciate those around me. In times of crisis, you quickly learn who is loyal to you and your cause. I have grown so many bonds and friendships through “trauma bonding” and have seen a whole other side to the work and the people around me and have realized I’m not alone. You also have to realize that at the end of every crisis lies a new beginning.
Looking back on my life, I had all these big dreams and hopes, and you know what? I’m actually thrilled I got what I needed, not always what I thought I wanted. Never in a million years did I picture myself as the CEO of a music education non-profit, yet here I am creating and changing systems in the pursuit of guaranteeing every child access to a transformative music education in the third largest school district in the US.
