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My Journey to Becoming the Platinum Pianist

2 days ago
4 min read

I was six years old when I first told my parents I wanted to play piano. It wasn't an easy time. Yugoslavia was in the middle of the independence war, and something as simple as owning a piano felt nearly impossible. But my parents found a way to make it happen, and that moment planted the seed for everything that's followed.


Years later, I was invited to study in the United States on a scholarship. I kept going through my undergraduate years, all the way to earning my Doctor of Musical Arts in 2021. That same year, I also became a mother. After taking some time to savor those early months with my new family, I made a decision that would reshape my career: instead of becoming a full-time piano teacher, I wanted to put everything I'd spent a lifetime learning into live performance.


That decision became Platinum Pianist, my business bringing music to weddings, private parties, and corporate events across Southern California. What started small has grown steadily in scale, audience, and reach, and today I get to spend my time on the part I love most: creating curated, deeply personal musical experiences for every client I work with.



What Makes Platinum Pianist Different

I'm not a "run through a standard playlist" kind of pianist. My training allows me to sight-read almost anything, which means I get to collaborate closely with each couple or client to build a musical experience that actually reflects them, their story, their style, the memories that matter to them. My goal is always to make the process feel smooth, personal, and completely stress-free, so my clients can simply enjoy the moment.


A Milestone Year

2025 has been a year I'll always remember. My family and I finally made the move to Southern California, a dream years in the making. On top of that, I was invited to perform at the Kennedy Center for the Slovenian Embassy, named a finalist for California Wedding Day Best Live Music award, recognized as a Top 10 Event Specialist by City & Beach Lifestyle, and won the Tokyo Golden Classical Music Award. Getting to share this journey more publicly has felt like its own kind of milestone, too.


On Finding Your Own Path

If there's one thing I'd tell anyone chasing a calling of their own, it's this: be true to yourself. Carving your own path takes courage. It's far easier to find reasons why something won't work than to solve the problems standing in your way, one at a time. Some days bring wins, other days bring hard lessons. On the hard days, I lean on consistency, hold myself to my own standards, and stay close to people who believe in what I'm building.


The Journey Is the Point

As I keep building Platinum Pianist, I come back often to something Alan Watts once said: the journey matters more than the destination. He compared life to music. Not something to rush through to reach an ending, but something meant to be experienced fully while it's happening. We spend so much time chasing the next milestone, the graduation, a new job, a wedding, success, always waiting for the moment to arrive. But so many people reach the end only to realize they missed the point along the way. No one goes to a concert just to hear the final note. The beauty is in the performance itself. In the journey! That's exactly how I try to approach both music and life: not as something to complete, but something to experience, fully, while it's playing.


So wherever you are on your own journey, don't rush it. Don't wait for the "someday." Dance while the music plays.


With Gratitude


None of this would have been possible without my parents, who said yes to piano lessons at a firer station, while my country was at war, and you couldn't find a piano. They supported me through every step since, even when leaving Slovenia for another continent must have been hard to understand. Even when they didn't believe someone could be paid money to play piano.


I'm equally grateful to my husband, whose love carries this dream as much as I do. Every event I play is a day he spends alone with our daughter, no grandparents down the street, no family nearby to call in a pinch. And still, he has never once complained. Never once made me feel I owed him an apology for being away.


On the days I waver, when guilt creeps in and I wonder if I'm choosing wrong, he brings me back gently. He reminds me that our daughter won't remember the evenings I was gone, she'll remember a mother who chased her passion with her whole heart, and that this is worth more to her than one who stayed and quietly let her dream go.


And since moving to Southern California, I've been welcomed with open arms. Not politely tolerated, but truly embraced by a community of wedding and event professionals who have cheered for me every step of the way. Among fellow musicians, I have never felt so supported.


That kind of welcome does something to you. It made me want to turn around and offer the same thing to others. To help other women see that it's possible to be both a performer and a mother, without quietly choosing one over the other.


Instagram: @platinumpianist





Photo credits: Jack Ma at OverPower Production, The Vanity Portrait Studio, JCO Artistry Photography

 
 
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