Meet Simon Benegas | Musician, Artist and Co-Founder and CEO of Nómade

We had the good fortune of connecting with Simon Benegas and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Simon, how do you define success?
I think success is being able to do something constructive you love and being able to grow with it over time.

Objectives and ambitions change so, although normally one would say success is being able to achieve the goals one set out to achieve, those also change as we grow. So part of it I guess is being able to live in the present and allowing oneself to be aware of the growth and the changes while they are taking place.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I search for simple ways of expression with every thing I do, whether it’s my music, or Nómade, both projects share that same premise. I’m also kind of “rebellious” against the “established” ways, not in any negative angry or expressive way, I just think things in this industry tend to be overcomplicated just to fit the agenda of someone else’s interests, which I don’t care to “bring down” or anything, I just strive to create an alternative route that leads me to not having to deal with any of those “established complicated nonsense”. My goal is for it to have no relevance in my life. It’s always a work in progress in that sense, but as long as it can grow and make me happy, I know that I’m on the right path.

I’m really proud of how Nómade has been able to land here in Miami and quickly find a new home, my good friend David Molho from Groovyland Studios definitely deserves a shoutout here for helping me get it going, I don’t think we would have been able to do this much without him. It gets me really excited to see so many new people coming to the concerts every time and so many coming back regularly, the community of Nomads is growing weekly, and with a tempo like I haven’t seen before in my 5 years of doing this. Miami is definitely a magic city, there’s so many amazing artists here, and they’re always willing and wanting to collaborate, express themselves and communicate their art, they are true Nomads and the whole reason we are doing this for.

Personally with my music, I’m really excited about all the new songs that are being born every day, hopeful, as always, that they’ll get to the accompany some nice moments and create loving memories.

I feel like I’m in the right place here in South Florida, an ever growing landscape where I can see opportunities around every corner, and it makes me want to never stop creating and pushing.

In terms of challenge, making life-changing decisions is the big one. I always know in the back of my head that whatever I end up choosing will be for the best, so that makes it less challenging I guess, but it’s still a struggle.

The last big one was moving here to Miami from Buenos Aires, but it was actually one of the easiest decisions we ever made, knowing that back in Buenos Aires there was no possibility for us to grow past what we had already accomplished, and the neverending lockdowns where not letting us work at all. It was easy making the decision, it was and still is very hard to get through, but it has been 100% worth it for us.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Depends on the time of the year, right now I would definitely end every day at 6pm at the beach, drinking mate, and hanging out, it’s just a perfect time. I would usually say do it in the morning but now it gets hot really quickly. But even when it’s hot, the beach remains my favorite spot. Any beach will do but Surfside is my favorite here in Miami since it’s also where I go kiting when there’s enough wind.

So, beach to start and end the day, for lunch I love Juice and Java or Sproutz, I’m in Sunny Isles so those are my home spots, or we could go to I think she coffee in Brickell , and then hang out around the city.

I don’t go out much other than to Nómade, but on the night that there’s no Nómade I’d definitely go to Oak Garden and/or lagniappe for some nice live music.

For sure one day would be spent at Delray Beach, one of my favorite places in South Florida.

I still have a lot of exploring to do, we’ve been here only for 9 months, so we might go somewhere I haven’t even seen too.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
To my parents first and foremost, for never doubting that I could make and build my path, and allowing and encouraging me to pursue it. That already gave me a head start. Then to my wife, for being my biggest fan, and for always being there to help out in any and every way she can, wether it be on tour, a show or producing a concert with Nómade, she’s always ready to get out there and get things done, and that’s always essential in order to stay focused and motivated.
And then there’s my friends who also became business partners, Nico Boskis, who started helping and managing my music career ever since I released my first EP in 2015 and is still helping out in any way he can whenever it comes to my music. And Jero Saravia, the co-founder of Nómade and former guitarist of my band, who’s always been an accomplice for every crazy idea I tell him about, and has always been there to listen and help make those ideas a tangible living thing.

I’m grateful to them and many more friends and family that deserve much more credit than I usually give. I realized while thinking about this that it’s all been a team effort even though it feels really personal and even lonely at times doing what I do. But I couldn’t see me doing anything else.

Website: Https://linktr.ee/simonbenegas

Instagram: Https://instagram.com/simonbenegas

Youtube: Https://youtube.com/nomadesomos

Image Credits
Delfina Molina, Mario Chalela