“I don’t just record them [songs] myself, but I write them too,” explains indie pop artist Sasha Perskie. “And that’s been a huge part of my life: writing music, performing, playing gigs, playing open mics.”

Last year, Perskie released Day Night, a four-song EP self-described from the influences of Fiona Apple and Lizzy McAlpine. The project is self-composed, with mixing and mastering assistance from producers James Sleeman and Colin McCab. Perskie has been working on music for two years, with various classical and vocal training, which can be seen through her website.

Though she finds comfort with many different instruments, Perskie says the direction of her most recent EP came with a conflict of instruments. She described this latest escapade as something new and challenging for her. In the past, she’d gone back and forth between acoustic instrumentation and something heavier, but recently cemented her inspiration.

Similarly, Perskie explained her inspiration for creating as something that comes from more of the composition rather than the emotion of the lyrics. She stated she believes in pulling from emotions to make music, but sometimes it’s easier to focus on the backdrop. “What’s harder for me,” she said, “is kind of pushing through a song when inspiration isn’t really hitting you at once. And instead of just going with your gut, actually thinking what makes a song good, what lyrics fit here, what chords go here. Like there’s a whole other side to it which is more thought-based and less feelings-based, and you’re not going to be hit with inspiration every moment.”

In addition, Perskie adds that inspiration can come from admiring the work of artists with whom you identify: “I find a lot of inspiration from music itself. I’ll listen to other songs by artists and feel inspired to create that even more than like an event in my life.”

Along with an early music career, Sasha also created the nonprofit music organization, Play it Forward, which is described on its front page as providing free music instruction to children in two underserved New Jersey communities, including one community overseas.

Sasha herself recalls starting the nonprofit during her first year of high school, and that it was designed to provide an accessible music education to kids who were unable to receive it. As of the time of publication, Play It Forward has raised over fifteen thousand dollars, with funds increasing by the day.

“I even went to Zambia last summer to teach kids over there,” Persie says, recounting some of Play It Forward’s highlights. “Start up a third chapter of our program… So yeah, it’s been a really amazing experience.”

Play It Forward has also partnered with several other nonprofits in order to make a difference for the future of music education. Listed publicly at the bottom of their website are several of their partners, one of which happens to be RiverJAM Music —  a 501c3 nonprofit dedicated to the development of up-and-coming musicians.

Perskie also just so happens to have her own sponsorship from RiverJAM, alongside the mentorship she acquired from respected musicians at the organization. She explained, “Their mission is supporting songwriters because everyone knows that songwriting is a difficult process… Being a songwriter, I think I was really able to benefit from RiverJAM’s assistance.”

But more than a mentoree, Sasha has also recorded music with RiverJAM, and it’s likely that very soon, we’ll start to hear the song she recorded with the musicians who helped her. “We started working on the song that I’m going to record with RiverJAM,” she admitted. “I’m producing on my own, and that is in a different tuning, which has unfamiliar chords I wouldn’t have thought of. I feel like hearing them say that shows me that I don’t have to play it so safe all the time.”

She described the publicity and assistance RiverJAM was able to provide for her in the lead-up to her first EP, as well as the excitement that came along with it. At the core of experience, though, is the foundation of what makes RiverJAM so unique: community. “RiverJAM has really increased my visibility by just getting the word out, [and] telling people about it at events that they held,” she said. “So it’s really nice to establish that music community, which I think RiverJAM has done a really good job of doing.”

All photos taken from sashaperskiemusic / Interviewed on March 25, 2026