Living in a rural setting has both pros and cons. For those who are drawn to a quiet lifestyle surrounded by beautiful scenery, the challenge is often how to make a living. 

Arnaly Arriaga of AA MusicLab Productions has solved this problem. She found a way to leverage her talents and training to build a successful service business in Walkerville, a small community in Richmond County near the mouth of River Inhabitants. 

Born in Venezuela, Arnaly attended McGill University in Montreal to study music, before meeting her husband Ken Shasky and settling down in Newmarket, ON. But their love of the ocean drew them to the east coast, where they fell in love with Nova Scotia. In 2007, they sold their house in Newmarket and purchased land in Cape Breton.

“In some ways, I think we are a bit revolutionary,” said Arnaly. “We moved somewhere we could live more sustainably and consume locally. I think in future we will all have to change the way we live, or we will all perish together.”

Being from Venezuela, Arnaly is a native Spanish speaker, and this combined with her music training became the foundation for her business. AA MusicLab Productions provides music and audio editing, plus translation and voiceover services in both Spanish and English from a studio in the couple’s home. The internet makes it possible to both promote her business and deliver services to markets in the United States and elsewhere. 

“The US is a huge market for Spanish voiceover work, and also for English voiceovers with a Latin accent - documentaries, radio and tv ads, and corporate videos. The internet is expensive here, but we look at it as the price we pay for living in a beautiful home in the middle of nowhere.”

More recently, Arnaly has added teaching to her service offering, providing language training in both English and Spanish over the internet, and it has taken off. 

“The success of teaching over the internet was a big surprise to me,” said Arnaly. “I teach piano, I teach English as a second language (ESL), and I also teach Spanish for business or travel. Most of my mornings I am teaching now.” 

Arnaly’s next Spanish For Travel course begins on January 13, 2020. You can find out more by emailing [email protected] or calling 902.226.0663

Visit AA MusicLab Production’s website HERE