ON THIS WEEK'S EPISODE OF SMITTY'S ISOP3N ARTIST INSPOS PODCAST, MEET SINGER/SONGWRITER/CEO/FOUNDER, CHAKALATAY BERRY.

A woman on amission, Chakalatay Berry understands that she has a higher purpose on thisearth to touch the lives of others and she’s doing everything in her power toachieve it. The 33-year-old wears many hats as a mother of two boys and thefounder of Berry Goodz, LLC where she runs a cleaning service, food service,and women and men’s empowerment groups. But her biggest passion comes throughher music. Coming from humble beginnings in the Harold Ickes Projects in theLow-End neighborhood of Chicago’s Southside, Chakalatay first discovered herlove for singing at a young age. While she credits arts like Mariah Carey,Whitney Houston, Mary J. Blige, Chaka Khan, and more with helping her and hersound, it was her church upbringing that played a big part in how she expressesherself as an artist. She recalls sending two church services every Sundaysince she was a child and singing in the choir, and she explains that shestudies different gospel arts when she trains her voice. It’s this spiritualbackground, matched with her overall passion for inspiring togetherness amongeveryone she encounters that drove Chakalatay to develop what she callsinspirational R&B, IRB for short, a genre of soulful rhythm and bluescentered around elevating her listeners in all aspects of their lives, thoughnot necessarily in the clean-cut sense that comes with gospel music. “Itdoesn’t have to be gospel, but it’s meant to uplift,” she explains. Recently,she has released a hot new single, Gametime. This is a motivational anthem, thatinspires many to get up, push forward, and work hard for what is wanted. In themidst of all this chaos in the world, she released another powerful, upliftingsong called, Rise, this hot song is an inspirational piece that calls forpeople to never give up and rise above all the things that might distract ordeter them from their goals. In the past, Ms. Berry released a song called Puton for My City, which has become an anthem for togetherness. She is extremelydriven to keep improving her craft and she’s passionate about her purpose, andthe music isn’t about ego for Chakalatay who explains she isn’t in it for fame.Instead, she’s in it to touch the lives of her listeners. For her, it’s aboutusing her God-given gift to make this world a better place while she’s here.This young lady is the epitome of greatness. Once the world gets a glimpse ofChakalatay Berry and her many talents everyone will cling to her like glue.