When I moved to New York City I was already in debt from college tuition and having lived abroad for a year and I knew pursuing an acting career would be difficult financially, but I couldn’t imagine doing anything else. So I asked a photographer friend to take my headshot photos and I dove in. It didn’t take long before I found myself in even more debt, my credit card maxed, and barely making enough money to pay my rent. As a result, my relationships were in disarray and the feelings of stress, anxiety, and unhappiness began to creep in more and more each day.

I knew I couldn’t live this way much longer and felt I had 2 choices: leave NYC and figure out something else or stay and find a way to make it work. I chose the latter…and started making some major changes. The first of which was to quit acting. That’s right, I quit my career and began focusing on making as much money as I could through my “day job”. By that point every audition I went to stressed me out because all I could think about when in the room was how badly I needed the money, which was negatively impacting my work. I was no longer inspired or deriving joy from the career that in the beginning made me feel so fulfilled.

I was raised by parents who taught me the value of a dollar and were great examples of how to be frugal and live well with the little they had so I knew what I had to do. It was time to get in touch with my inner savvy self and take control of my finances. When I quit acting, I was in debt $25,000 and also only making around $25,000 of income a year. I thought it would take much longer to pay it off, but after only 2 years I was debt free! So I came up with another plan to stay out of debt and start saving for my future and then began pursuing acting again….this time with much more success and satisfaction as auditioning was no longer about making money, but rather about stretching myself creatively. For the first time in years I felt confident in myself having gained control over the thing that had kept me from succeeding…lack of money!

Since then I have been asked over and over by colleagues and friends how I’m able to live as an artist and do things like travel abroad and not stress about how my rent is getting paid. After a while I realized there is a definite need amongst the artistic community for financial guidance and I felt it would best serve my fellow artists if they gained this knowledge in the beginning of their careers. Money is much easier to control when healthy habits are set in motion early…hence my passion for university level students about to embark on this amazing journey. Longevity as an artist has less to do with talent and more to do with the ability to sustain oneself mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually, and financially.