My Career: Singer-songwriter Annmarie Cullen

Did you always want to be a songwriter/musician/playwright?
No, actually… when I was around 10, I was crazy about horseriding and I wanted to be a show jumper. My mum would bring me to the RDS every year to watch the event and I was fascinated. Over the years my passion for music took over and I actually became nervous about getting up on a horse. 

In college, I studied… Pure Economics at UCD (BA Hons) and I then did a post-graduate in International Marketing. During my first year of college, I had to repeat my exams so I took a year out to go to Rock School in Ballyfermot. I studied for my repeat exams in the evening and went to Rock School during the day. I’m really glad I had to repeat my exams as it gave me the opportunity to be around loads of musicians for the first time.

My most formative work experience was… working as a songwriter and music producer for the show So Weird on the Disney Channel (now on Disney+). I was only 27 and felt completely out of my depth, but I learned loads and I feel very lucky for the opportunity. 

My first real job was… doing promotions for Coca-Cola for a few months after I finished college. It was the best fun, driving around Ireland with a great group of people putting on promotions in bars. I only did it for a few months but I have very fond memories of it. 

The most invaluable thing I learned early on in my career was… to try to be as self-sufficient as possible. I remember early on I had to hire a guitar player for a show, but he had to cancel last minute. From that day, I started to work very hard on my guitar playing so that I could back myself up instead of depending on someone else.

Do you have a career mentor or someone you look up to/seek advice from?
Writing my musical play was a big departure from my comfort zone of being a singer/songwriter. I’ve been friends with Gearoid Farrelly for a few years and I went to school with the novelist Sinead Moriarty. They were both so helpful and encouraging during the process and read my script and gave me loads of advice. In terms of someone I look up to, if I had a magic wand, I would have the career of Sara Bareilles. I love her songwriting and the many different creative art forms she works with (TV, composing, acting).

The biggest risk I have taken in my career so far was… taking out a sizeable loan to finance the release of my indie band Saucy Monky’s first two albums in the early noughties. I shared that risk with my dear bandmate friend, Cynthia Catania. I’m happy to report it paid off in the end, but at that time, it was a huge leap of faith for us. 

I wake at… 6:30am most days.

The first thing I do every morning is… have a snuggle with Jake and Desmond, my two pug mixes. 

My morning routine is… to wake up two hours before I need to do anything or be anywhere. I make coffee, drink it in bed and just read, scroll, answer emails and take it easy. It’s my favourite part of the day and my two dogs usually join me on the bed for it (some people are horrified by this). 

I can’t go to work without… a cup of tea every few hours.

I travel to work by… foot, across the hall to my studio and office.

On an average workday I… answer emails in the morning and do the creative stuff (writing, editing, recording) later in the morning and afternoon. 

I start my working day at… 8:30am, usually. 

The first thing I do at work is… check emails.

I break for lunch at… 12:30 and usually have a spinach and hummus wrap (or something like that).

The most useful business tool I use every day is… the video editing tools I use to promote my work (Premiere Pro, Wondershare, Pic Monkey, etc). When I release a single, song-tracking websites like Warmmusic are also very useful to let me know who is playing the track. For writing my play, Final Draft was a useful software to format the text. 

I save time by… researching the best apps and software for specific tasks. For example, for social media, Adobe Express has great templates for reels etc. It’s much easier than starting from scratch. 

I rarely get through my working day without… wondering if I’ve done enough with the day!

The most challenging part of my day is… getting to bed at a decent hour. I’ve always been a night owl. 

I know it’s been a good day if… my Fitbit tells me I’ve slept more than six hours and done over 10,000 steps.

I usually end my work day at… no later than 9pm. I’m just not fresh after that. I’ll take loads of breaks during the day. It just depends, really. I’m pretty good at knowing when I’ve gone past the point of being productive. 

I switch off from work by… walking by the coast with my dogs. I live near Dun Laoghaire pier so you’ll often find me there, decompressing. 

Before I go to bed, I’ll… scroll and scroll and then give out to myself for scrolling!

I often prepare for tomorrow by… getting my coffee and smoothie ready the night before. On a good day, I’ll also lay out my clothes. 

After a long work week, I destress by… watching Catfish on MTV. I think I’ve seen every episode. I’m not proud of this. 

The accomplishment I’m most proud of is… that I’m still creating after all these years. I think it’s important to keep doing what lights you up, and thankfully, music and creating still do that for me. 

If you want to get into my line of work, my advice is to… just start, take the first step. Set a goal and walk towards it. You don’t need to know the path or the plan. You just need to know the first step. And after that, the next step. Keep the faith and do it for the joy it brings you. 

I’ve just finished working on… my one-woman, multi-media musical Remember That Time? A Musical. It will debut at the International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival in Dublin from May 13-18 at Outhouse on Capel Street. At the moment I’m working on bringing it to more festivals here and abroad!

Remember That Time? A Musical runs as part of the International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival in Dublin from May 13- May 18th. Tickets cost €15 (€10 for the matinee) and you can get yours here.  

Imagery courtesy of Annmarie Cullen