performer
CU Denver grad Jelie performing at a Denver music venue.

“Denver rapper Jelie (pronounced "jell- eye") is a music savant. Between her beats, production, sound engineering, songwriting and music degree she’s [earned] at the University of Colorado Denver, she lives and breathes her craft." -Westword

CU Denver Recording Arts Grad and Denver Musical Artist, Jelie, Delivers TED Talk

 

Bradlie Jones '19, Recording Arts, is full of talent and determination. At 8 years old she was rapping, at 16 performing, and 19 she started her own music production company. She’s building her own performance career, and a producer and sound engineer. She has the rare skill of designing and building drum synthesizers from scratch.

Jones, who goes by the name Jelie, a mash-up of last names of her mother and father, is humble enough to stay focused, but self-aware enough to know she has skills and talents to be shared with the world. Specifically, those that want to hustle, too.

Jelie documents her beat building process on social media and YouTube, in a sort of open source resource for other producers and artists, she creates online tutorials for using music production software, and of course shares her original performances, lyrics, and beats. But she has also tapped into another talent––documenting and sharing her successes and failures to encourage others to put in the time and work to be successful.

Jelie makes it clear success isn’t about luck. It’s for those who put in the time and work to hone their talents. It’s for those who aren’t afraid to go after their dreams with fierce tenacity.  In 2020 Jelie was invited to give a TED Talk, titled “An Artist Guide to Running a Business.”


Jelie likes to talk about being successful and how she can help others do the same. She is proud to talk about one her biggest accomplishments: graduating from CU Denver with a degree in Recording Arts. And she gives props to the CU Denver College of Arts & Media for the role it played in preparing her for the TED Talk stage.

 “The College of Arts & Media was the invisible fuel to the fire that drove me to deliver my TED talk,” says Jelie. “It seems like in some college programs you are stripped of your own creative freedoms. Of course, there was rigorous course work, but reaching my creative potential was always the number one priority”

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