Today we’d like to introduce you to Roy Moye III.
Hi Roy, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My name is Roy Moye III, and I’m a singer, speaker, aerospace engineer, and the founder of STEMusic LLC. I did most of my growing up in Raytown, Missouri, where I graduated from Raytown South High School. From a young age, I was drawn to both music and aviation. I sang often in school and around the house while also developing a fascination with what would become my first love—airplanes. I was also active in extracurricular activities, including choir, cross country, and track and field.
After graduating from Raytown South, I headed to Wichita State University, where I earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering with a minor in Mathematics. While in college, my love for singing continued to grow, and I gained valuable experience performing the national anthem, participating in talent shows, and singing at community events.
After graduation, I began my engineering career as a Structural Design Engineer at Spirit AeroSystems, now Boeing Wichita, where I continued pursuing music on the side. As an engineer, I had the opportunity to help design parts for the Boeing 737-8 MAX, Boeing KC-46 Tanker, and Boeing 777-9, which is currently undergoing flight testing and is expected to enter commercial passenger service in 2027.
After six years as an engineer, I made another career pivot into Talent Acquisition, where I helped recruit engineers for the company. I was particularly passionate about increasing the representation of Black and Brown engineering talent in the aerospace industry and creating opportunities for people who may not have traditionally seen themselves represented in those spaces.
After three years in Talent Acquisition, I took a leap of faith. On September 3, 2024, I left my corporate career to pursue my music career full time through my company, STEMusic.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Some of the biggest obstacles I’ve faced throughout my journey have been imposter syndrome, disappointment, and learning to trust that one closed door doesn’t mean the journey is over.
Imposter syndrome was especially challenging during my engineering career. I’m incredibly proud to say that I became an aerospace engineer, because that was my first dream. At the same time, my years in engineering were truly challenging. Part of that challenge came from often being the only person who looked like me (Black, Puerto Rican, Mexican) in a room full of engineers. Another part was that the work itself wasn’t always as fulfilling or as straightforward as I had hoped it would be. I always like to remind people that there are so many different career paths and roles within aerospace engineering. Looking back, I sometimes wonder if I had explored another engineering role, I might have found something that was more fulfilling for me.
Music brought its own set of challenges, particularly when things didn’t go the way I wanted them to. I auditioned for American Idol when I was 15 years old at Raytown South High School, but I didn’t make it past the first round. A few years later, while I was a sophomore in college, I auditioned for The X Factor and made it to the second round. Then, in 2016, I auditioned for The Voice. At the time, I was very committed to pursuing a career as a gospel artist, and I communicated that to the producer. Ultimately, that effectively ended my opportunity to move forward on the show.
Then came an incredible opportunity in 2019 when I auditioned for Sunday Best. I made it all the way to the Top 20 and had the opportunity to perform on television for BET. Unfortunately, I was cut at that round and didn’t make it any further. That was truly one of the lowest moments of my music career because I thought this was going to be “THE MOMENT”—the moment when I would finally be able to quit my job and pursue my music dreams full time.
Through all of those highs and lows, my faith in God has always played a major role in how I respond to obstacles and challenges. When things are difficult, when it feels like there’s no way through, or when it seems like everything is over, I try to make sure I’m communicating with God and taking time to pray about where I am and what He has for me next. Ten times out of ten, God has something waiting around the corner that completely blows my mind.
One of those “blow your mind” moments came in the form of a Grammy nomination.
After Sunday Best, I was at one of my lowest points in music. It was during that season that I decided to finally pursue a music idea I had been carrying with me since 2016. Earlier that year, I had been asked to provide a math lesson for a nonprofit working with young Black boys. Instead of teaching a traditional lesson, I decided to remix the popular song “Watch Me Whip, Watch Me Nae Nae” into a song called “Watch Me Solve the Equation.”
What happened next was something I’ll never forget. The entire room transformed. Students who initially didn’t want to do math were suddenly fighting over the dry-erase markers because they wanted to solve the equations. I knew something special had happened in that room that night. It got me thinking: “What if I used music to teach kids about Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math? And what if I called it STEMusic?”
That idea stayed with me for three years. I wrestled with it, thought about it, and once again battled imposter syndrome. Eventually, I decided to take a chance on the idea, and on November 1, 2019, I officially created STEMusic LLC.
Then, of course, the pandemic happened.
After performing four STEMusic concerts, the world shut down, and I honestly thought STEMusic was over before it ever really had a chance to begin. That became another major obstacle. But, like so many other people, I had to pivot. I began doing virtual events and concerts, and before I knew it, I was sitting in my apartment singing to my laptop while getting booked for virtual events across the country.
It was during that season that I realized there was something truly special about STEMusic.
As my STEMusic profile continued to grow online, I was discovered by the children’s music community. They welcomed me, took me under their wings, and helped me officially find my place as a children’s music artist. As I became more connected to that community, conversations began about creating a group or collective of Black family and children’s music artists. The goal was to serve Black and Brown children who were experiencing and processing so many difficult things happening in our communities at the time, including the murder of George Floyd and the broader racial tensions across the country.
That group became 1 Tribe Collective.
As a collective, we decided to create an album entirely over Zoom. We wanted to address the difficult issues facing our communities while also creating songs of encouragement and celebrating a wide range of topics and experiences. I submitted a song called “Black Lives Made STEM History,” which became the tenth track on the album, titled “All One Tribe.”
We submitted the album for consideration for the 64th Annual Grammy Awards—and we were nominated!
That was another one of those moments where I had to step back and say, “God really did His big one.”
Although we didn’t win, the experience was incredible. For the first time, we were able to meet together in person as a group in Las Vegas and celebrate what we had created. What started as a collection of Black and Brown artists coming together over Zoom during an incredibly difficult time became a Grammy-nominated album that made an impact in our community and beyond.
Looking back, so many of the moments I thought were setbacks were actually leading me somewhere I couldn’t see at the time. The rejection, the imposter syndrome, the disappointment, the pandemic, and even the moments when I thought it was all over became part of the story that ultimately led me to STEMusic. And that has taught me that sometimes what feels like the end of your story is really just the beginning of the chapter you didn’t know was coming.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
As a music artist, I sing R&B, Gospel, and children’s music, but my current focus is children’s music through my company, STEMusic LLC. Through STEMusic, I get to teach the next generation about Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math through the power of music. It’s a unique opportunity to combine two of the greatest loves of my life—engineering and music—and use them together in a way that I believe serves a greater purpose.
As a business, STEMusic offers concerts for libraries, children’s museums, festivals, and schools, as well as workshops for students, teacher professional development, and keynote presentations for organizations and events looking for inspiration. Just this summer, I took STEMusic on tour, performing 30 shows across the country. It has been an incredible experience to see how music can make STEM exciting, accessible, and memorable for children in so many different communities.
Most recently, on June 19, 2026, I released my debut album, STEMusic Takes Flight.
STEMusic Takes Flight is an album that teaches the next generation all about aviation. In many ways, the album is a love letter from me—children’s music artist and STEMusic founder Roy Moye III—to the world of aviation. I often say that I fell in love with airplanes at just three weeks old, when I took my first flight from Kaiserslautern, Germany, where I was born, to the United States. That love of aviation eventually led me to become an aerospace engineer, and now it has come full circle through my music.
The songs on the album explore everything from the science of flight and aviation careers to the rich history of aviation in Wichita, Kansas, my hometown and the “Air Capital of the World.” I essentially took everything I learned while earning my aerospace engineering degree and turned it into a children’s music album, giving kids an opportunity to celebrate the wonder of flight while learning about the science, technology, engineering, and math that make flight possible.
What makes this album especially meaningful is that it truly was a community effort. STEMusic Takes Flight is a Wichita, Kansas, album, with all of the songwriters, producers, and most of the featured artists coming from this midsized Midwestern city. The album also features students from three Wichita public elementary schools, students from two summer camps, my parents, and all four of my grandparents. So while the album tells a story about aviation, it also tells a story about community, family, and the people who helped make this dream possible.
This album is truly a labor of love. My hope is that it inspires children to fall in love with the wonder of flight while also showing them that they can have a place in the world of aviation. Whether they dream of becoming pilots, aerospace engineers, mechanics, scientists, air traffic controllers, or one of the many other professionals who make aviation possible, I want them to understand that the sky is not the limit—it’s an invitation.
And perhaps one of the most meaningful celebrations of this journey will happen in September 2026, when I’ll have the opportunity to perform songs from STEMusic Takes Flight at the National Air and Space Museum on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. To go from a little boy who fell in love with airplanes as a baby, to becoming an aerospace engineer, to creating an album that teaches children about aviation through music, and then getting to perform those songs at the National Air and Space Museum is an incredible full-circle moment for me.
It’s a reminder that sometimes the dreams we have as children don’t disappear—they evolve. And I’m incredibly grateful that I get to use both of my passions, aerospace and music, to help the next generation dream even bigger.
Listen to the Album Here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mNwikNV7Zl26EKLcExQvlKr1_Vpshp198
Note: The album is also available on Spotify and Apple Music
You can find the Song Commentary and More at the link below.
https://www.thestemusic.com/fyc
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
Regarding the industry outlook, it is a great time to be a children’s music artist. So many different topics are being explored, and an increasing amount of music is being produced to inspire children and help them develop a sense of self. Our industry is a unique pocket of the broader music industry and it is highly community-oriented and always willing to support both newcomers and those who have been part of the industry for years. As we look toward the future, I think we will see more collaborations, diverse perspectives, and innovative ways to continue making children feel seen, valued, and like they belong.
Regarding the STEM and engineering industries, artificial intelligence is certainly a force to be reckoned with, but we will continue to need the human touch to develop the next big ideas and find solutions to complex problems. From an aerospace standpoint, I’m excited to see advancements aimed at reducing the carbon footprint of air travel through alternative forms of propulsion and fuel, from electric aircraft to planes powered by sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). I’m also interested to see whether commercial supersonic air travel makes a comeback while addressing the environmental and noise-related challenges associated with it. Companies such as Boom Aerospace are utilizing advanced aerodynamics to develop aircraft capable of traveling at supersonic speeds over water and designated land corridors while minimizing disruptive ground-level sonic booms.
For STEM more broadly, I hope to contribute to efforts to bring more Black and Brown professionals into the field. I’m currently pursuing my master’s degree in education with a focus on learning and instructional design so that I can develop STEMusic curriculum and help advance that effort.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thestemusic.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestemusic/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thestemusic/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@STEMusicNation
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/album/035fDZ47MlH2at0WK7Lsju?si=nTEqGJsaRryRW7ZDUejGnw
