About the founder

Meet Robby Valderrama.

The story behind Unleash — from Silicon Valley to Nashville, choir stages to studios, and the founding of the infrastructure this whole ecosystem is built on.

Robby and Bria leading worship together on campus at San Jose State University — Bria and I sharing music on campus at San Jose State — the college years where the story starts.

01 · Where it started

Silicon Valley to a college campus ministry.

I grew up in Silicon Valley and started leading worship in my teens. In college I was active in campus ministry — which is how I met my wife, Bria Jean. Almost immediately we started writing music and leading worship together, and eventually began releasing songs.

I studied business finance in school. Music and money have always been braided together in my life, though it took me a while to understand why that connection mattered.

02 · The finance chapter

A founding partner at a Biblically-based investment firm.

In my twenties I became a founding partner of Inspire Investing — a Biblically-based financial company. Building that business is what opened my eyes to how Corporate America shapes the daily lives of ordinary people.

When you spend enough time looking at the plumbing behind the everyday economy, you start to see the same architecture underneath a lot of things you'd never thought of as commercial — including, as it turns out, the songs we sing on Sunday morning.

Robby Valderrama with Bria and their daughter at the New York Stock Exchange, in front of an Inspire Investing banner — Ringing the opening bell for Inspire Investing at the New York Stock Exchange.

03 · The Nashville move

From one of the least-churched regions of the country to one of the most.

In 2015, Bria and I moved to Nashville. I knew we were leaving one of the least-churched parts of the country and arriving in one of the most. What I wasn't prepared for was the Christian-branded racial and economic segregation I encountered here.

It sent me looking for hard answers to hard questions — about Christianity and American culture, about how the word "Christian" is used as an adjective, and about what it should and shouldn't be used to describe.

04 · Praise Hands

A podcast on church, race, music, and economics.

Those questions eventually turned into a podcast — Praise Hands — which examined the American intersection of church, race, music, and economics. I interviewed guests I'd looked up to for years: John Perkins, Shane Claiborne, Anthony O'Neal, and others.

The conversations sharpened what I'd been seeing informally. The music the Church sings and the money it moves are inseparable from the racial and economic order it operates within.

Robby Valderrama interviewing Anthony O'Neal for the Praise Hands podcast — Interviewing Anthony O'Neal on the Praise Hands podcast.

Robby directing a choir on stage behind Brooke Ligertwood at a Passion event — Directing the choir behind Brooke Ligertwood on "Honey In The Rock" for Passion.

05 · Choir at The Belonging Co.

From the choir loft to the stages of Christian music.

Around the same time, I was invited to help launch a choir at our church, The Belonging Co. That role opened doors I didn't expect. One thing led to another, and I found myself in studios and on stages with some of the most influential names in Christian music.

06 · Spring Hill Studios

A live worship project — and the beginning of an agency.

As I slowly phased out of my career in finance, Bria and I put together our own live worship project, Live At The Silo. When it came out, independent Christian artists started reaching out asking for help — with production, with writing, with figuring out what to do next.

That led to us starting Spring Hill Studios, our Nashville-based Christian music agency. We've since served hundreds of independent Christian artists and songwriters through it.

Robby and Bria Valderrama directing a choir formation under a chandelier in a silo venue — Directing our own choir during our live worship project — the moment that opened the door to Spring Hill Studios.

07 · Why Unleash

The infrastructure I wish existed when I started.

Despite the things I've seen inside the church over the years, I've never wanted to disaffiliate from Christianity — and I've never wanted to concede the adjective "Christian" to those who misuse it. My heart has always been to create infrastructure that lets Christians express Spirit-breathed creativity in a way that brings glory to God and is a light in the world.

Unleash is the product of that heart. My hope is that you're inspired to join us — and to make a change in your own circles of influence, in your own way. To unleash the creativity of the Church.

Unleash

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A note on where we are

This site communicates the vision of Unleash. Some elements described here are already live; others are in beta or in active development.