Bahja Rodriguez is an R&B artist, the owner of the company Hair Bae, and an Airbnb manager who is best known as a former member of the OMG Girlz. Years later, Rodriguez is now stepping into a new era of music with her latest song “All Mine.”
Rodriguez opened up about life after the OMG Girlz, the challenges she overcame, and how she manges multiple streams of income.
How do you feel your artistry has evolved since the OMG Girlz?
I feel like … I’ve evolved just as a person, and as a woman. My artistry just falls in line with it, and I’ve just learned so much throughout this journey. Just about making sure that I don’t lose sight of what I’m trying to do. Staying motivated, keeping myself confident, and being sure of myself. So, this journey, just with being a solo artist, and also being an entrepreneur really has taught me a lot. [There have] been so many things that I’ve learned, but I just think that it’s like a journey. It’s not a race, it’s a marathon, and I’m just grateful that I’m able to have this whole experience from 12 years old to now.
What has been the biggest challenge during that journey?
The most challenging thing is just keeping my self-confidence. What I mean by that is not like, “Oh, I’m not sure about how I look or how I sound,” but just more so not getting caught up in like, “Oh, I should be doing this because this person is doing that,” or “I should be here because this person is there.” … So, that’s probably been my biggest struggle. But now I just believe that everything happens in divine timing. So, I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be. As I keep going further and further along this journey when other things start happening, it makes sense as to why I was in that position or why I was in a certain situation. So, it’s just a trial-and-error thing, but that would probably be the most difficult thing that I’ve had to deal with.
How do you balance a music career and a hair business while managing Airbnb properties?
I think low key, I’m able to balance all this stuff because I’ve been having to balance everything from such a young age. I started doing music professionally when I was 12, so I was still in school. I would have rehearsals, projects and papers, a social life, and all of those things. So, I feel like that kind of just laid the foundation for me to be able to balance [everything] now. In my mind, it’s not that difficult. I just have certain days for certain things. I try to just schedule my weeks properly. Like, “Okay I know today I’m gonna have a session. I know tomorrow I’m gonna go to the Airbnb. I know the next day we might do something for [the] hair [business] and maybe add something to the [website].” So, it’s just things like that.
