ICYMI: #WomanCrushWednesday IG Live featuring Anne Harris

BY LAURA HARPER/WWR Staff Writer

There is nothing quite as powerful as a woman who manages to be both a successful musician and businessperson. Anne Harris is one such force.

Harris, who is best known for her dazzling violin skills, fell in love with the instrument at a very young age. While she was too young to remember this herself, her mother told her that as a child she was awed by the opening scene in the movie version of Fiddler on the Roof. From then on, the violin has been a crucial part of her life and musical career, and she began taking formal violin lessons at the age of eight.

“I want to be an ambassador for the violin,” Harris said. “I never got to see women playing the violin on stage when I was growing up, and I want to be that woman for a little girl now.”

While her main focus has always been on the violin, Harris also plays the mandolin and does vocals as well. Harris says she even sees her vocal abilities as an extension of her violin.

“The violin is my main voice,” Harris said.

Harris says she credits a lot of her influence to her mother. Growing up, her mother always encouraged her to think for herself and view the world in an expanded way. This gave Harris the ability to switch up her violin playing from the more traditional classical style to a more unique rock style.

Harris said that after college, she began to improvise with her violin by no longer relying on sheet music and instead listening to different styles of music and mimicking the playing styles, which helped her to develop the special sound she has come to be known for.

While she has faced some challenges as a woman in the predominantly male music industry, Harris prefers to not let those challenges act as an obstacle to her career.

“We have the lives we have,” Harris said. “I try not to be super aware of the things that might hold me back.”

In fact, Harris’s career has extended beyond just her musical abilities. She recently started her own skin care line called Radical Self Love and just released a whipped body butter that she formulated herself, and she has plans to release a homemade lip balm in the near future. In the spirit of giving back and helping others, Harris sources the shea butter used in her body butter from Global Mamas, a wholesale retailer dedicated to creating jobs for women in Ghana.

Harris’s skin care line was inspired by her own struggles with dry skin and callouses from her playing, and she wanted to create something that would help herself as well as others dealing with similar issues, especially since the COVID-19 global pandemic has caused increased hand sanitizer use that dries out people’s hands.

“Put attention and great love behind every small act and never take for granted the impact it might have on someone,” Harris said.

For more on Anne Harris, you can check out the entire interview on Instagram @OfficialWomenWhoRock.