Today we’d like to introduce you to Chaye Alexander.
Hi Chaye, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My journey has been anything but a straight line, but looking back, I can see how each chapter led naturally to the next.
Music has always been part of my life. In 2009, I launched Chayz Lounge Radio, an online radio station created to give independent jazz and soul artists a platform alongside established artists. At the time, I had no idea that what began online would eventually become a physical space and grow into something much larger.
Years later, that vision evolved into Chayz Lounge, an intimate live music venue in South Carolina. I wanted to create the kind of place I personally wanted to experience, one where the music wasn’t competing with conversation, televisions, or distractions. I envisioned a room where people could settle in, listen, connect with the artists, and experience live music differently.
What started as an idea became a destination for jazz and soul music and, over the years, I’ve had the privilege of presenting incredible emerging talent as well as nationally recognized artists. But Chayz Lounge also taught me something about myself. I discovered that what I was creating went beyond presenting music. I was creating experiences through atmosphere, pacing, connection, and the way people felt when they entered the room.
At the same time, another part of my creative life was beginning to take shape. I started writing more and sharing my observations about life, relationships, reinvention, and the lessons hidden in ordinary moments. That work became Chayeology, which is simply life through my lens. Writing eventually led me back to my own voice in another way, through spoken word and my album, Reflections in the Rhythm of Life.
Today, I see all of these things as connected rather than separate chapters. I’m an author, a creative, and the creator of listening-room experiences where stories, conversations, music, and reflection can meet.
And now I’m entering another chapter.
After more than two decades in South Carolina and nine years of Chayz Lounge, I’m preparing to relocate to Durham, North Carolina. Chayz Lounge will close its South Carolina chapter at the end of 2026, but I’m not walking away from what I’ve built. I’m expanding what it can become.
I’m developing experiences under my own name, including literary presentations, spoken-word performances, conversations, and intimate music experiences, while continuing to explore the next evolution of Chayz Lounge.
For me, getting to where I am today hasn’t been about following a carefully mapped-out career path. It’s been about paying attention when something inside me says there’s more to explore, having the courage to follow it, and allowing the vision to evolve as I do.
I think that’s the thread running through my story. I’ve never been particularly interested in simply doing what already exists. I’ve always been drawn to imagining what something could be, and then finding a way to bring it to life.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It definitely hasn’t been a smooth road. Entrepreneurship rarely is, especially when you’re building something that doesn’t fit neatly into an existing model.
One of the biggest challenges throughout my journey has been trusting a vision that other people couldn’t always see. Chayz Lounge wasn’t designed like a traditional nightclub or music venue. I wanted an intimate, sophisticated listening room where the music was the focus and where the entire experience felt intentional. There were times when conventional wisdom suggested I should do things differently, but I learned that trying to be everything to everyone usually meant losing the very thing that made the experience special.
Then came the pandemic.
Like so many small business owners, I suddenly found myself trying to figure out how to keep a business alive when the very thing it depended on, people gathering together in a room, was no longer possible. When we were able to reopen, I had to rethink practically everything about how we operated. It was one of the most difficult periods I’ve experienced as a business owner, but it also reinforced something important for me: sometimes survival requires you to be willing to change the way you do something without changing the heart of why you do it.
There have also been the less visible challenges that come with entrepreneurship. The financial pressure. Staffing. Rising costs. Making decisions that affect not only you, but the people who depend on the business. And when you’re the person at the top, there isn’t always someone else to hand the problem to. You learn to make difficult decisions, live with uncertainty, and keep moving even when you don’t have all the answers.
One of the more unexpected challenges has been knowing when it’s time to evolve beyond something you’ve worked incredibly hard to build. Success can become its own kind of comfort zone. Chayz Lounge is deeply personal to me, and deciding to close the South Carolina chapter and begin again in a new city wasn’t a decision I made lightly.
But I’ve learned that staying simply because something is familiar can sometimes require more courage than leaving.
Every difficult season has taught me something about resilience, discernment, and trusting myself. I don’t believe overcoming challenges means you stop being afraid or uncertain. Sometimes it simply means you’ve decided that uncertainty isn’t going to make the decision for you.
At this stage of my life, that’s probably one of the lessons I value most. I don’t need to know exactly how every chapter will unfold before I’m willing to turn the page.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
My work lives at the intersection of words, music, conversation, and experience.
For many years, people have known me primarily as the founder of Chayz Lounge and Chayz Lounge Radio. But as my work has evolved, I’ve come to understand that the common thread has always been my ability to create experiences that invite people to slow down, listen, feel, and connect.
As a writer, I explore life through what I call Chayeology, which is simply life through my lens. I’m fascinated by the things we often move past without examining: relationships, unexpected connections, reinvention, aging, ambition, disappointment, and those seemingly ordinary moments that reveal something about who we are. My writing isn’t about telling people how to live. I prefer to offer a perspective and leave enough room for readers to find themselves in it.
I’m also the author of Earn the Return: A Musician’s Guide to Getting the Gig and Being Invited Back. That book grew directly from my experience on the other side of the stage, working with and presenting artists. It’s about something I believe strongly: talent may get you an opportunity, but professionalism, preparation, and how you show up often determine whether you’re invited back.
My spoken word album, Reflections in the Rhythm of Life, brought another part of my creative voice forward by combining my writing, spoken word, and love of music. I’m now expanding that work into live experiences where spoken word, reflection, conversation, and music can coexist in the same room.
I’m also developing and presenting intimate listening-room experiences under my own name. Some are centered around music, others around literature, conversation, wine, or spoken word, but they all share the same intention: creating an environment where people aren’t simply watching something happen in front of them. They’re part of the experience.
What sets my work apart is probably the way I think about the whole experience. I notice the details. The atmosphere matters. The pacing matters. The music matters. The way one moment flows into another matters. Most importantly, I think about how I want people to feel while they’re there and what I want them to carry with them when they leave.
I’m proud of many things I’ve accomplished, but Chayz Lounge will always hold a special place in my heart. I’m proud that I created something from an idea and built it into a respected destination for live jazz and soul music. I’m proud of the artists we’ve introduced to audiences, the relationships that grew within those walls, and the community that formed around the experience.
I’m also proud that my creativity hasn’t remained confined to one room or one medium. It has grown from radio to a live music venue, from writing to books and spoken word, and now into experiences that bring those different parts of me together.
At this stage of my creative life, I’m allowing people to meet more of Chaye Alexander: the author, the voice behind the reflections, the woman on the stage, and the creative mind behind the experiences.
I’ve spent years creating a stage for other people. Now I’m learning that there’s room on that stage for me, too.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
Some of my favorite childhood memories are of Sundays in our tiny Brooklyn apartment. I remember spending Sunday afternoons listening to records with my mom, with music filling the apartment. I was captivated by Dionne Warwick’s voice, and that’s where my love for her music, and really my love of music in general, took root.
I also remember the wonderful dinner parties my mom would host. There was always good food, music, conversation, and laughter. As a child, I simply knew that I loved the feeling of those gatherings. I didn’t understand that I was absorbing something that would stay with me.
Looking back, I can see how much those early experiences shaped me. My love of music and my instinct for bringing people together and creating an atmosphere where they can connect were being formed long before I had words for any of it.
It’s fascinating to realize that so much of what I create today can be traced back to that tiny apartment in Brooklyn, listening to records with my mom and watching her make people feel welcome.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.chayealexander.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chayealexander/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChayeAlexander
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@chayealexanderofficial
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/11qIue0cLnQOVSpkriSVV0?si=cODLk3uhQi216IsmRYrQOQ
