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M'Balia Singley
Teaching Artist, Musician, Writer
Professional Background
M'Balia Singley is a multifaceted artist whose career reflects a profound connection to music and storytelling, seamlessly navigating various genres including jazz, pop, and children’s theater. With a rich background that intertwines education and practice in the arts, M'Balia has carved a unique niche as a singer-songwriter, musician, and composer. Her musical journey began at Yale University, where she was invited by the talented French horn player and bassist Willie Ruff to showcase her vocal prowess with both his big band and his duo featuring pianist Dwike Mitchell. This experience laid the groundwork for her musical identity, steeped in the traditions of the Great American Songbook.
Her vibrant career took a significant leap forward when she contributed backing vocals to John Legend's Grammy-nominated debut album, Get Lifted. This pivotal moment propelled her into the spotlight, allowing her to collaborate with established artists and develop her unique sound. As she expanded her artistic repertoire, M’Balia formed a rock band and released several EPs before returning to her jazz roots with the release of her debut jazz album, Halfway There. The album, which features a mix of original compositions and standards, was produced by renowned pianist Orrin Evans and includes contributions from illustrious musicians such as Byron Landham and Gene Jackson.
In addition to her solo projects, M'Balia's vocal talents graced Orrin Evans' noteworthy work, #knowingishalfthebattle, where she collaborated with distinguished artists such as Kurt Rosenwinkel and Kevin Eubanks. M'Balia's performance journey is complemented by her time spent performing alongside the up-and-coming jazz pianist Sarah Slonim at the highly regarded Smalls' late-night session, fostering her growth as a spontaneous and engaging live performer.
Education and Achievements
M'Balia’s education further enhances her artistic capabilities, as she pursued a Bachelor of Arts in History from Yale University, an institution renowned for its rigorous academic programs and influential alumni. Following this impactful bachelor’s degree, she deepened her understanding of social dynamics by obtaining a Master of Social Work (MSW) in Social Sciences from Bryn Mawr College. This blend of humanities and social sciences informs her narrative as an artist and allows her to explore complex themes in her music.
Her contributions to music extend beyond performance; M'Balia is also committed to education and community engagement. Serving as a Teaching Artist at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts and previously holding roles as a Choir Teacher at Wissahickon Charter School and Music and Movement Teacher at Music with MB Singley, she brings her passion for music education to the next generation of artists. Her role as an Artist in Residence at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts has also allowed her to create and collaborate with other artists, enriching the cultural tapestry of her local community.
Notable Projects and Collaborations
M'Balia’s creative influence is evident in her commitment to storytelling through music. In 2017, she composed music for Anansi, the Story King, a children’s musical performed at the Arthur Warner Theatre at UCSD. This project showcases her ability to engage younger audiences through relatable and enjoyable narratives.
Continuing her impact within the urban milieu, M'Balia partnered with Doug Hirlinger and Ursula Rucker during the 2017-2018 Jazz Residency to develop 'Dear Philadelphia', a compelling song cycle that addresses the intricate issues surrounding gentrification. This project reflects her dedication to social justice and her understanding of the interplay between art and societal issues.
In 2020, M'Balia debuted her one-woman show, Turn, which innately captures her autobiographical journey while exploring themes of identity, race, and gender through the lens of Shakespeare's Othello. This ambitious project not only showcases her talents as a storyteller but also represents her desire to carve out a space in the arts that provokes thought and encourages dialogue around critical issues.
Conclusion
M'Balia Singley’s journey as a singer-songwriter, educator, and advocate for social change is characterized by her boundless creativity and deep commitment to her craft. Her diverse experiences across musical genres and her educational pursuits illustrate her multifaceted talent. With each new project, she expands her artistic horizons while remaining connected to her roots in jazz. As she continues to inspire audiences and nurture future musicians, M'Balia has firmly established herself as a significant figure in the contemporary music landscape, intertwining the beauty of music with the complexities of the human experience.
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Mesh works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Mesh offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
- Home Feed: Displays updates about your network including job changes, news mentions, and birthdays
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- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Mesh is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Mesh is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Mesh as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Mesh offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Mesh takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Mesh encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Mesh work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Mesh is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Mesh is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Mesh is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Mesh offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Mesh offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Mesh for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Mesh accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Mesh offers extensive integration capabilities. Mesh introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Mesh supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Mesh also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
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Mesh is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Mesh stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Mesh excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Mesh is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Mesh offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Mesh's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Mesh has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Mesh offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Mesh focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Mesh also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Mesh offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
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Mesh is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
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Mesh's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Mesh's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Mesh has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Mesh's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Mesh as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Mesh eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.