Debbie Millman’s ongoing project “What Matters,” an effort to understand the interior life of artists, designers, and creative thinkers, is now in its third year. Each respondent is invited to answer ten identical questions and submit a nonprofessional photograph.
Rose Albanese (Rows) is a singer-songwriter born in Brooklyn, New York. When she’s not in the studio recording music, she’s at SYLVAIN working as a Senior Brand Strategist, where she helps create new value for the Now, Novel, and Next for some of the world’s most influential brands. Rose is working on an EP that will be released in Spring/Summer of 2026, follow along on @rows.wav to come along for the ride.
Pronouns: she/her
What is the thing you like doing most in the world?
It’s a tie between decluttering my mom’s crowded vanity (I’m a fixer–– for better or for worse, I can’t help it), and recording music in the studio.
My mom is my favorite person in the whole wide world–she came to the U.S. from Haiti in the late 80’s with my grandma and aunt, worked in factories and at McDonald’s, and now she’s a DNP and professor of nursing at Mount Saint Vincent College in Riverdale. She’s a lifelong “put everyone before myself”-er, and nothing brings me more fulfillment than making her feel like the Queen she is, even if that means purging 10 empty mascaras from her vanity. It’s the small things. Anything to pay her back for all of the sacrifices she made to give my siblings and me a good life.
Making music is the closest I get to being an alchemist. I’ve always wanted to be an alchemist. I’ll get a melody in my head, and sometimes, if I’m lucky, a few words will come into my awareness. I immediately sing the line into my iPhone Voice Memos, flesh the song out with my amateur guitar skills, then hit the studio (my college buddy Collin McClutchy records, masters, and mixes all of my songs) to turn what was once a disembodied melody into several disparate strands of sound that layer into a song. It’s magic.
What is the first memory you have of being creative?
I grew up in a pretty loud and turbulent household–lots of big feelings everywhere, all the time. My earliest memory of being creative is drawing a rainbow and my family on a landscape-oriented 8×11.5 printing paper. I was 4, I think. Today, I still have this childlike optimism about how art can bring about change for the better.
What is your biggest regret?
I know this might feel like a cop-out answer, but I wholeheartedly don’t believe in regrets–– at least within the context of my life. I can’t speak for others. I overthink the hell out of every choice, big or small, in my life, and feel quite resolute about the choices I’ve made, even the choices that hurt me because they’re critical parts of my “beingness”. No, I do not regret double-texting… crying in public… or changing career paths.
How have you gotten over heartbreak?
Working through it in therapy 🙂
What makes you cry?
Currently, the song “Bless the Telephone” by Labi Siffre. Some of my closest relationships are almost 100% phone-call/text-based due to distance.
How long does the pride and joy of accomplishing something last for you?
Incredibly short self-life. I have an insatiable appetite for dopamine hits. I get a sort of high from accomplishing difficult or scary things, especially in front of crowds. I was an opera singer before pivoting to brand strategy and writing my own music. I don’t think that hunger to be seen doing something difficult will ever leave me.
Do you believe in an afterlife, and if so, what does that look like to you?
Yes. The Law of Conservation tells us that “Energy can neither be created nor destroyed; rather, it can only be transformed or transferred from one form to another.” I hate the idea of deaths, goodbyes, or breakups (platonic or otherwise), and this helps me sleep at night. I also think this law can be applied across a few religions.
What do you hate most about yourself?
God––I’m a live wire. I’m incredibly sensitive because my moon is in Cancer, and ridiculously self-aware and hyper-vigilant I’m trying to learn that nothing is ever that serious. And if it is, I can act accordingly.
What do you love most about yourself?
* I have a bottomless pit of capacity for holding emotional space for those around me. I understand everyone a little too well. I just want everyone I know to feel seen.
What is your absolute favorite meal?
My mom’s Haitian eggs with boiled yucca on the side.
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