This is the nineteenth installment of a new series that will highlight the Music for All staff members who work behind-the-scenes to make all of the positively life-changing experiences happen! Get to know each of our amazing staff members, as we learn more about who they are and what they do at Music for All. A new post will be featured every week!
Name/Job Title: Debbie Laferty Asbill/Vice President of Marketing and Communications
Hometown: I grew up in the Air Force, so no hometown, but I did go to high school and college in Morehead, Kentucky (Rowan County High School and Morehead State University).
How long have you been with Music for All?
Since 1985, started as Promotions Coordinator with Bands of America.
What is your favorite event at Music for All and why?
All 🙂
What has been your favorite part of working at Music for All?
I’ve been able to combine the passion of my youth with a career; that, and the great people I get to meet and the friendships both inside the office and outside.
Do you have a favorite memory of working an event with Music for All?
There are many, but being at the first Bands of America Honor Band experience in the 2005 Tournament of Roses Parade stands out in particular, seeing and hearing the band turn the famous “TV corner.”
What is your musical background?
Played flute in school and drum major in high school, music minor for a short time in college (flag in Morehead State University marching band and ’84 Garfield Cadets). Learning lately to play ukulele. Now, I’m a band mom of an incoming 6th grade bassoon player. I grew up in a musical family: my mom plays piano and sings, my dad played guitar, and both of my brothers are kick-butt guitar players that regularly gig in and around Chicago and beyond.
One thing you couldn’t live without?
Oxygen.
What kind of music do you listen to?
Some of my favorites are Kirtan artists (Nirinjan Kaur, Jai Uttal, Ben Leinbach, Sean Johnson, and the Wild Lotus Band), Bach, Stravinsky, John Adams, Nine Inch Nails, Radiohead.
What do you like to do in your free time?
Yoga, hike, meditate, boulder (mostly inside lately), reading.
What are you currently reading?
Just finished “The Push: A Climber’s Journey of Endurance, Risk, and Going Beyond Limits” by Tommy Caldwell and just started “The Other Shore” by Thich Nhat Hanh.
What’s a show you’ve binge watched recently?
I binged watched Game of Thrones recently again to catch new things before Season 7; now watching The Americans on Amazon Prime.
Favorite movie not many people have seen?
Meru. I am obsessed with documentaries about big wall/big Alpine climbing.
