The Dream
I've been interested in working in the entertainment industry since I was a child. I love regaling audiences through telling stories and I've always wanted to help make television and films. My family refers to me as a "ham", meaning I've got loads of personality, I love making people laugh and I often have some motivation or wisdom to share. For me, this means that I want to be in front of or behind someone's camera, but now, I'm almost 35 years old and I found myself asking, "Is it too late?"
The Setback
Now I didn't purposely miss the boat on entertainment. In fact, I've been on track for years. I attend a magnet program in high school for communications, and I took one semester each of television, radio, newspaper and photography. Television grabbed my heart. Our class learned to edit on the best system at the time, Final Cut Pro, and we produced our own television show on local access and I got to be the host, in addition to many behind-the-camera tasks. I continued my journey in college, where I graduated with a degree in Radio-Television-Film. I was fresh out, bright-eyed and bushy tailed and ready to work in production, but there was a recession, which meant that everyone, and I do mean everyone, was on a hiring freeze. I looked and looked, but there wasn't a job open for me, so I moved to Las Vegas and started working in marketing for the Monte Carlo Resort and Casino. (I'm skipping a few details here, but if I tell the whole story, we'll be here until I graduate again.) For the next decade, I had jobs in oil and gas, non-profit, marketing agencies and more. With each new industry, there was a point I would realize -- This is not what I'm supposed to be doing, how do I get back on track? And that question would always lead me somewhere new, but it didn't seem to be towards entertainment.
The Realignment
This year in August, I happened to be poking around on the website for Full Sail University. I learned about them because one of my best friends graduated from their film program, and that day, I found a program of my own, Entertainment Business. I'm currently six months into a 12-month program. I left a very high-paying job to go back to school, because I knew school would lead me back to my goal of entertainment. In the past six months, I have been more connected to the industry than I've ever been, but that's not to say the previous decade was wasted. In all that time, every seemingly meaningless job I had was preparing me for school and my subsequent career. I had already developed necessary skills like leadership, project management, negotiation, even some law skills! Nothing I did, nothing I learned was wasted, even when I was at my lowest.
For You
So what does this have to do with you? I want you to know, whatever you dream is, it's NEVER too late to achieve it. As long as you have breath, you have a chance to make that dream a possibility. The tricky part is, you need to know what you're willing to sacrifice in order to make that goal a reality. For me, I gave up close to six figures in a place where I was uncomfortable and not being challenged creatively. My family and friends thought I was crazy, but I knew I was on a mission. So today, this is your sign. Get back in alignment, it's time to take steps towards your dreams. I'm in my mid-thirties now, I still have goals for a family, but right now, my career is coming into fruition in a way I never imagined. It's never too late. Let's go!
