Composer Paola Prestini has been named a Top 35 Female Composer in Classical Music by the Washington Post, a Top 100 Composer in the World by NPR and a Top 30 Professionals of the Year by Musical America. One can learn a lot about how to become a successful Classical Musician from Paolo Prestini.

As Co-Founder of National Sawdust, she has collaborated with luminaries like poet Robin Coste Lewis, visual artists Julie Mehretu and Nick Cave, and musical legends David Byrne, Philip Glass and Renée Fleming. Her works have been performed throughout the world with leading institutions like the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Opera, Dallas Opera, London's Barbican Center, Mexico's Bellas Artes, and many more.

Prestini sits down with Michael Brandvold and Jay Gilbert on the Music Biz Weekly Podcast to discuss the unique - and often surprisingly not unique - challenges that she has faced and overcome as a modern classical composer and musician.