Broadway Vocal Coach

7. Meet Your Hosts! Pt 2: Chelsea Wilson

December 12, 2022 Broadway Vocal Coach Season 1 Episode 7
Broadway Vocal Coach
7. Meet Your Hosts! Pt 2: Chelsea Wilson
Show Notes Transcript

We’re back for part two of our Meet Your Hosts episode series! This time we’re diving into Chelsea’s experience as a performer turned voice teacher, the surprising turns her career has taken, and what her favorite musical is and why it's CATS.

Find Chelsea on Instagram: @chwils

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Jo...

Cynthia: [00:00:00] We're back for part two of our Meet Your Host episode series. This time we're diving into Chelsea's experience as a performer turned voice teacher, the surprising turns her career has taken, and what her favorite musical is and why it's Cats. I cannot wait to hear that story. It is the first show I ever saw though, so I'm very excited about that one.

 Hi, I'm Cynthia Kortman Westphal, a Broadway music director, conductor, voice coach, and tenured faculty member at one of the top musical theater programs in the country. 

Chelsea: And I'm Chelsea Wilson, a performer turned voice teacher to Broadway stars and vocal coach on Broadway productions like the Phantom of the Opera, School of Rock, and more. 

Cynthia: Here on the Broadway Vocal Coach Podcast, you can expect real talk about the business, practical advice, and constant encouragement.

We believe there's space for every artist in this industry. All you need is the right support. So consider us your two woman hype team. Welcome to the Broadway Vocal Coach Podcast, where we help musical theater performers get unstuck and take the [00:01:00] next step in their careers. 

So Chelsea, let's just dive in. I have seen pictures of you as a little kid. You are the cutest little kid ever in the history of little kids. So I'm so curious. Did you always love musical theater? Tell me about young Chelsea. 

Chelsea: Oh, there is a home video on VHS of me at like two years old walking into the living room and reciting with my mom all of Belle's opening speech from Beauty and the Beast, from the movie, coming in, being like, "Hello. I need a new book." And the bookkeeper's like "You've already read that one three times." Daring Prince, prince in disguise.

And like two year old me recites the whole thing. I think that was an early sign to my parents that I really had a flare for the dramatic. I'm an oldest child. I was always putting on shows for the [00:02:00] adults and I have three younger brothers and I very quickly roped them into putting on shows all the time.

The shows consisted of us putting on whatever CD we had, soundtrack. Favorites being of course, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Thumbelina was a favorite for a while, and we would just gather up costumes at home and put on shows for the family. This was just a regular occurrence. So yeah, I always had a flare for the dramatic. My parents put me into drama camps from a young age, and then when I was around 12 or 13, I was in seventh grade and I auditioned for my middle school production of Annie.

And I feel like the director just saw my curly red hair and said, yes, we will make you Annie. And, and that was really the first time. 

Cynthia: I'm sure it was only your hair, not your talent, right? 

Chelsea: It was only, it was only that. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Not the spunky personality. None of that. 

Cynthia: And the incredible voice that I'm sure you had even then.

Chelsea: Oh gosh. Oh gosh. Yeah, that was my parents' [00:03:00] first clue that I was good at singing. You know, they were like, oh, we always thought she was good, but you know, she's just always singing all around the house. We didn't realize it was maybe like she was better than average, perhaps, so that's when I got put into voice lessons and once I did that, I got a taste of the musical theater bug and I was really hooked.

I should mention here, as we said in the introduction, this is also when I got my first taste of Cats the musical, with that PBS, filmed, you know what I'm talking about? 

Cynthia: Yes, I do. 

Chelsea: That VHS. One of my friends, her name is Jane, and we were in middle school together. She was this amazing ballerina, but she had the VHS and so I would go over to her house after school and just beg her to put on Cats.

I was like, listen, I'm here to play with you. Sure. Like we're having a great time, but like I just wanna watch Cats. Long story short, I never turned into a good enough dancer to be in Cats, but gosh, it just really had a special place in my heart. 

Cynthia: Mmm, Grizabella, someday. 

Chelsea: Yes, definitely that, I can do that. That, or [00:04:00] like a pit singer, put me in the pit. Yes, for sure. But yeah, I love that. I always loved, always loved musical theater and very quickly developed a big passion for it, and thankfully got the opportunity to do a lot of community theater, school theater and had the support of my parents to be able to pursue those things.

Cynthia: So at what point did you realize you wanted to pursue this as a career? And was Broadway on your radar? Was that something you knew about? Had you seen Broadway shows? How did you set out to do that professionally? 

Chelsea: I grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, and we took an eighth grade choir trip to New York City, and I saw my first Broadway show.

It was Aida, the original company of Aida. Oh, yes. Which is still, I mean, ugh, love, love it, love that show. Such an epic production. And so that was my first, first Broadway experience and I, I didn't go back to New York until I was actually already in college, but I got that taste of, okay, wow, [00:05:00] this is, this is a real thing.

When I was 15, my family moved to Southern Utah from Atlanta. And I ended up taking voice lessons from this amazing mentor and teacher Jeffrey Skousen in Las Vegas. And he really saw something in me, and he'd worked with tons of professional singers, Broadway singers, folks on Broadway tours, very famous recording artists from bands that you would very much recognize.

And he, he just had this wealth of expertise and saw something in me and was not shy to tell me or my parents like, wow, there's something special about Chelsea. You have a really special talent. And that was just so fortunate to be able to have a mentor and a teacher who recognized something in me that was special and encouraged me to pursue this path.

And, you know, I recognized so much privilege in this that A) my parents were supportive of this path, they could afford to send me to voice lessons that I could have [00:06:00] lessons with this phenomenal teacher. You know, there's, there's a lot of things that were completely outside of my control and very much a blessing of my family and and their support.

So that was huge for me. I really owe a huge debt of gratitude to that teacher, and many teachers who believed in me. And so, that kind of started a process when I was in high school, kind of thinking outside of, wow, what could I do after this? It seems like my ultimate goal is to perform on Broadway. Well, how do you do that? Seems like a lot of people who perform on Broadway go to school to study musical theatre, and at the time I really had no idea what that entailed. I've shared a little bit about this in episode three here on our podcast. So you can go back and listen to a little bit of that story of how I went through that process. But we were kind of clueless. But again, with the support of my family, my teachers, I was able to get into a fantastic program, a little school called the University of Michigan. I think you've heard of it, Cynthia. 

Cynthia: I, I think I have, [00:07:00] yes.

Chelsea: Yeah, you have. Which is where Cynthia and I met, Cynthia as my professor there. So getting into the program and getting a merit-based talent scholarship was a huge validation for me and for my family. Like, oh wow, okay, like there's something here. We're on the right track. And I would say that 100%, that experience going to school, starting out on that path has paid off and turned into a career that I love. A little different than how I thought it would be but 100% was the right step for me to take. And thankfully I had some really great support that helped me get there. 

Cynthia: So when you got to Michigan, I'm kind of assuming that might have been your first taste in going from being a big fish in a little pond to being in a fish full of a lot of good fish in a pond. Which then leads you to New York where you then really are a little fish in a big pond. Can you talk a little about what it was [00:08:00] like to move to New York after graduation and did things go as expected? 

Chelsea: Oh yes. Wow. The move, you know? Now, as a professional voice teacher, I have a lot of clients who are fresh out of school, or maybe they've just moved to New York, or about to move to New York. I have a lot of those students who are kind of in transition. I just remember back to that first year after graduation and how much of a learning curve it was, how difficult it was, how exciting it was, how scary it was.

Your whole world gets upended. You know? I left this fairly safe bubble of college and being in a training program and being with my friends 24/7 and you know, having a supportive place to make mistakes and try new things to being out on your own. And it is, ugh, it was so challenging.

So challenging. And, you know, college had disappointments for me as well. Like, like you said, I was a big fish in a little pond in [00:09:00] my high school in southern Utah, and then showing up to Michigan, everyone is talented, everyone is competing for the, the same parts, the same roles.

Everyone's trying to do the same thing. And that was a big learning curve, number one, and then, Showcase. A lot of musical theater programs have a Showcase at the end of your senior year. You go to New York, you perform for a lot of industry professionals, agents, managers, casting directors. And that was a tough day for me, Cynthia.

That was tough. You go through this whole process hoping for the best, hoping that 20 people wanna meet with you and start your career off with a bang. And I just did not have that experience. I didn't have that experience. I didn't sign with a manager or, or an agent after showcase, and I was starting to audition and whatnot, but it was slow going and it was a real hit to my confidence.

Yeah. So no things didn't go as I expected. Again, [00:10:00] this like little girl watching the Cats VHS in middle school is like, that's what I'm gonna do. And then you get there, your first opportunity to do the thing, and you're just met with reality, which is, it's harder than you think. It takes longer than you think.

You're not really prepared for what it actually is to show up at auditions at seven in the morning and wait in lines and yeah. Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. There's just nothing that quite that can prepare you for that. 

Cynthia: I'm so glad you said the thing about showcase too, like you said, so many schools do this now. A lot of schools have these showcases and I'm so glad you normalized that process because I think that's the experience for many, if not even most. 

Chelsea: Yeah, I think you might be right. 

Cynthia: That it just doesn't quite go the way you expect or the way you hope or the way you want it to go. It's, you know, it's a reality hit and, and I'm so glad you normalized that that is the experience of a lot of people, I think. I don't think you're unusual in that, but I think it feels unusual, [00:11:00] you know? Yeah. I think everybody kind of internalizes that from, from talking with a lot of graduates that I know. I, they, they really take that very personally. It feels like just such a personal hit when it doesn't go the way you hope it will or think it might.

Yeah. So I'm really glad that you said that, especially just seeing now you're so wildly successful now and so helpful to so many others that I, I love that you can normalize that because you still went on to have this incredible career. You know, paths, paths go in different directions, not always the way we think they're going to.

Chelsea: Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Cynthia: So showcase didn't go quite as expected. But you did start auditioning and you stayed on that path for a while, all the while continuing to do teacher training, continuing to start cultivating your own studio. That was sort of your day job, right? Yeah. Instead of waiting tables or catering, you were actually teaching voice lessons. 

Chelsea: In an upcoming episode, I, I, I talk a little bit more about my [00:12:00] journey in my teacher education and teacher training journey, but yes , all the while I was going and getting my BFA at school, I was doing a private certification as a voice teacher doing teacher training through what was then an organization called Speech Level Singing.

I'm now with an organization called Institute for Vocal Advancement, and so yeah, so I moved to New York and I'm doing two really hard things at once. I am auditioning for Broadway shows. I'm in, thankfully, callbacks and really cool audition experiences for. For great, great things. I really felt I was like thrown into the deep end.

And I'm also trying to build up this private voice studio because my plan all along had been well, great. I'll move to New York and I'll support myself by teaching voice lessons. I don't need to wait tables. I don't need to babysit. Spoiler alert, I ended up babysitting a, a plenty , plenty amount because moving to New York City at 22 and positioning yourself as a voice teacher.

Wow. I mean, what a challenge. I was so young. [00:13:00] I didn't have a lot of practical experience. You know, I'd been teaching a little bit here and there throughout my college time and, and preparing and doing through my teacher training, but, New York is an oversaturated market for actors, number one, and for voice teachers, like anyone can call themself a coach.

And so me showing up, I was really climbing uphill for a while trying to start this, these two careers simultaneously. Mm-hmm. . So it was, it was really tough. And, you know, these couple of years I auditioned a lot, I performed in some regional things, did some concert work. But a couple years into New York, I, I graduated in 2012, so I would say around 2014 and certainly by 2015 I was pretty burned out and I said, I, I think I'm ready to, to pivot. I think I said, oh crap, this didn't work how I wanted it to. I certainly was not ready emotionally to make that switch, but I decided at that time I was going to. I felt very strongly [00:14:00] that I wanted to create a life and a career that I was in control of and make money how I wanted and, and not be auditioning every day. I mean, that's really what it came down to. I just needed a break from that. And so at about that time, I decided to switch my focus and start teaching full-time, which was... 

Cynthia: And how did that feel?

Chelsea: It felt hard. Mhmm. It felt really hard and you know, I, it, it felt liberating in some ways and so embarrassing in some other ways, honestly, and I'll, I'll illustrate that with, with this story, with this experience. You remember Cynthia, in like 2015, 2016, we had a big concert in New York City celebrating the then head of our department, Brent Wagner. 

Cynthia: Yep. Yeah. It was in a Broadway theater. It was with a 30 piece union orchestra. Yeah. I think we brought back at least 200 performers, I think. 

Chelsea: Oh, [00:15:00] yeah. 

Cynthia: Former graduates who had gone on to have careers that we brought back to do a huge concert. Mm-hmm. 

Chelsea: Yep. So you were pivotal in putting this whole thing on . And so this big event was in 2015 or 2016 and, oh man, I remember feeling so vividly, nervous, scared, sad, excited. Sad, scared, nervous. I show up to this event. Yeah. And a little while ago, I pulled out my journal entry from this time, and I'm gonna read it for you.

Cynthia: Oh my goodness. Okay. 

Chelsea: Get ready. Okay. This paints, this just paints, you know, the, the head space I was in and where I was at at this time. So my journal entry from about this time said, I am sad not to be important enough to be in the Maize and Blue concert. Not to not be in it, but to be of so little consequence in this field. I'm useless. I'm afraid to feel fat, unimportant, untalented by my [00:16:00] friends and colleagues at the concert tomorrow. I feel like nothing I've accomplished matters, especially in the Michigan MT context. Oh, close quote.

Cynthia: Oh my gosh. 

Chelsea: That still gets me now. You know what? You know why I think I feel so emotional reading that is cause I'm reading it to you. You know, like someone. Who was so supportive of me and still is, and has come back into my life in this really beautiful way, Cynthia. Wow. I'm gonna turn this into a love story about you.

But it felt at the time, like, I didn't wanna let you down. I didn't wanna let my professors down. I didn't wanna let my parents down, and this moment in time just felt like. Wow. This is the epitome of what I didn't accomplish. Mm-hmm. , like what I didn't achieve, what a disappointment I feel like I am for myself and for all these people who mentored me, supported me, and believed in me. Doesn't that suck? Doesn't that hurt? 

Cynthia: Yes. [00:17:00] Yes, yes, yes. And as a teacher who just adored you then and clearly adores you now cause I wanted to start a company with you. Oh, it just hurts my heart that you went through any of that. But of course you, you know, I think that's the pressure we all put on ourselves that we're so afraid to disappoint those who have supported us. We're afraid of disappointing ourselves. Even when you pivot like you did to this incredibly successful career, somehow there's still a piece of you that feels like a failure or a disappointment, or that you didn't fulfill a potential. Yeah, it's amazing how hard we are on ourselves.

Chelsea: Yeah, I think that's it. I just think at the time I didn't have the tools or the perspective or really the self-confidence yet at that point to be able to see my story as like its own journey and [00:18:00] to stop looking sideways and comparing myself to others, you know? Mm-hmm. And there, I also felt very, very clearly at the time too, like I was simultaneously thrilled for my friends who were, yeah, several of them making Broadway debuts around this time, performing in the Maize and Blue concert.

Yeah. Yeah. Like, you know, simultaneously thrilled and also just. Oh my gosh. Disappointed in myself. Yeah. Not like if they have it, I can't, or I should have what they have. None of that. Just like I didn't also achieve what I thought I would, what I wanted to. And you know, I, I feel like in that time, what I've learned since then is that, my path is not the same as yours, and yours is different from the next person's.

And when I, in my life and in my career, have let success be defined as just one narrow outcome in a world full of possibilities, I let myself be miserable. And I, when I measure myself against my friends with Broadway credits or Broadway [00:19:00] bodies, whatever that is, whatever that is, I keep happiness at arm's length.

Like that comparison is so unhelpful and thinking that there's only one way to be successful in this field is so unhelpful and frankly detrimental. 

Cynthia: Yeah. It reminds, didn't we talk about this quote in an earlier episode? One about don't let your dreams ruin your life. . 

Chelsea: Yes. Well, listen, I have the perfect follow up quote because one of my friends shared this on her podcast recently. It's from a coach, Liz Kimball, and she said, we tell our young people to go for their dreams, which is of course, important, but we don't do enough telling them that it is okay to let go of a dream or to change it or to outgrow it. We don't tell them enough that history is equally shaped by never giving up on your dream as it is by brave people, making left turns when everyone is yelling at you to turn right. What if our dreams are our containers for our next becoming instead of a measure of our ultimate worth?[00:20:00] 

Cynthia: Oh, I love that. We're gonna have to do about 10 blog posts on that quote. It's different, but similar in that when I left my Broadway show that I was conducting, which was at the time one of the hottest shows on Broadway and went to teach. I got a lot of that. How could you do, how can you leave Broadway to go teach? You know, I took a 75% pay cut to do it.

I left the city I loved, I left my friends. It was a hard one. It was a hard one to stomach, and I really didn't stomach it well for about seven years after moving here. I fought it so hard, which again, it was sort of like I let, I let a former dream kind of ruin this new life, even though I had made the choice consciously.

And, it's hard to to think, you know what I'm ready to make a change. Yeah. And I can be equally happy and fulfilled in this different way. And we should all be allowed to change our mind at [00:21:00] any point.

Yeah. You know, it's, it's one of the things that makes me a little nutty in politics too, that when a politician changes their mind or evolves in their way of thinking, and then everybody jumps on them and says, you flip flopped, and I think, well, thank goodness we sometimes flip flop. Sometimes our thinking needs to flip flop.

Sometimes our thinking needs to evolve or change or do a 180. Thank goodness for that. Otherwise, oh my gosh, what would happen if we all just were stuck in whatever our initial way of thinking was. 

Chelsea: Yeah. There's a principle I feel like I've lived my life by in the last several years, which is you can't hold yourself to a decision you made when you had different information.

Mm. Yes. Like you've grown, you've changed. Yep. Things have changed. Circumstances have changed. You've learned something about the business, about yourself, about whatever. And you can change your mind. You can change your mind. 

Cynthia: Yeah. Wow. I love that. I wouldn't have my kids if I didn't change my mind. I was well into my thirties, [00:22:00] absolutely never going to have children. And that was a mind change. Yeah. And thank goodness. But at the time, you could not have convinced me that I would ever change my mind. Mm-hmm. And now of course, thank goodness I did. I'm really happy with that decision.

So, wow. Okay. Back to getting your teaching business off the ground. Tell us, how did you eventually get to be a vocal coach on Broadway shows? So you had Broadway debuts, they just were different than the way you initially imagined. 

Chelsea: Yeah. So it was, like I said, it was, it was tough getting my teaching business off the ground. Several years in though my, my clientele was growing and I've gotta say, hugely important to me was this network of other voice teachers that I got to work with on a regular basis.

IVA, Institute for Vocal Advancement, where I did my teacher certification and continue to do my ongoing teacher training and, and now I actually get to teach other teachers and mentor other [00:23:00] teachers through that organization. But that network was so crucial to me. 

A couple things happened in like 2015, 16 going into 2017 ish that really changed my mind. Number one, an IVA teacher in Japan called me up, sent me an email and was like, Hey, I have this Japanese boy band that's coming to New York. Can you give them voice lessons? 

Cynthia: What? I didn't know about this, this is new information for me.

Chelsea: So, yeah, there was this record label out of Japan that was sending this group of like 15 young teenage boys to New York to train in singing and dancing for two years.

And they needed someone to basically give them voice lessons. Every day. All the time. Like all the time. And so I started training this Japanese boy band. And seriously, it's, it's kind of like the K-pop machine. Like, you know, this record label kind of trains these kids up and then plucks a few of them and creates a boy band. Anyway, so they've all gone on to do kind of different [00:24:00] things.

But that was huge and that came about because I knew this teacher in Japan and she knew I was in New York and she trusted me and she trusted my teaching, so she sent me this, this big thing. 

Another thing that happened around this time is I was teaching musical theater elective courses for other voice teachers so they could come and, you know, spend a couple hours and learn a little bit more about how to teach musical theater. And I ended up teaching this class and a fellow voice teacher named Fiona McDougal took my class and she lived in London, and turns out Fiona is Andrew Lloyd Webber's, like right hand gal, vocal coach, coached on all of his productions. She still does. She coaches on a lot of TV and movies and all sorts of things now.

But anyways, at the time in 2017, I think Andrew Lloyd Webber had three shows running on Broadway, one of them being School of Rock, and they needed someone, again in New York City who is gonna be able to work with their lead [00:25:00] actors weekly and also help the creative team vet performers for the show. This, this is one of those unique shows where there's one actor who plays the role six times a week, and one actor who plays the role twice a week. The character is Dewey, the Jack Black character from the movie.

And it's a tough sing, oh my gosh. I think it's one of the toughest, toughest sings. And so I got a call from the producer, I think I still have that voicemail saved on my phone. And I was like, how did this person get my phone number? And I like connected the dots. And Fiona had gotten me connected and I started working on School of Rock.

I was on School of Rock payroll. I'll tell you what, I, I think I have that first check framed like, you know what I mean? Like, that was unbelievable. And yes, and I started coaching on that show, coaching the, the singers each week in, in private lessons, attending rehearsals, taking notes, attending shows, taking notes, helping vet folks who were going in through the casting process.

So yeah, along [00:26:00] in 2017 or 2018, I saw my name in the back of that Playbill, and it was a real " I can't believe it" moment. You know, I was making my Broadway debut. I was employed by a Broadway production in a way I never could have imagined. And in a way that was so right for me, so satisfying for me, so fulfilling for me.

So right up, like what really lights me up to be able to coach and support other people and work in a behind the scenes role. Just do it on my own time and be an expert in this field. Mm-hmm. , I mean, it was just, it's incredible. It's incredible. That then turned into doing a very similar thing on The Phantom of the Opera in 2018, working with the Christines and the Megs in that production, and then working with the Christines on the international tour as well.

Cynthia: And one thing I love about that, and I think just shows the level of trust that Fiona and the Andrew Lloyd Webber team had in [00:27:00] you as a voice teacher, is that those shows could not be more different stylistically or with the vocal requirements. They really can't be more different and I love that there's such a level of trust in your expertise that they knew you could do both, you know, otherwise I could imagine very easily it'd be like, well, Chelsea's good for School of Rock, but we need to find someone who really knows this style to do Phantom of the Opera or vice versa, and I love that they knew you could be trusted for all of it. Yeah. And that your expertise is for all of it. Cause that's huge. 

Chelsea: It was an incredible opportunity to be able to coach on these productions and you know, that led to some, some other really cool gigs on other touring shows and some other off Broadway shows. And I really love that, that position, that job, it's a really unique job to be a vocal coach on a production.

You can almost think of it like a, like a physical therapist. You know? These are elite singers, elite athletes who essentially just need some [00:28:00] support. It's not like, Christine on Broadway doesn't know how to sing the part. Are you kidding me? Like she's doing it again six or two times a week. She's phenomenal.

They've cast the best singers. They just need support. They need some vocalizing. They need to use their voice in some different ways. They need a couple adjustments. A vocal coach on a Broadway show is also often kind of a go between between the music director or the music team who says, we need this certain sound, or we need this quality, or, the vibratos wonky on these measures.

I mean, the notes can be so small and so specific. Specific, yeah. And then I'm tasked with helping to implement those changes, helping to make these small adjustments, or just giving these singers an opportunity to come in and do like a vocal rehab vocalization, you know what I mean? Mm-hmm. being able to just come in and find balance in their voice, especially in a show like School of Rock, where the demands are incredibly [00:29:00] intense in a very kind of heavy, really heavy lift kind of a way, mm-hmm, for that sing, and so, It's a cool job. It's a cool role. I, I loved, loved doing that and can't wait to do more of that in the future. 

Cynthia: I love that. So now, if the Chelsea who saw her name in the Broadway Playbills of these shows could talk to the Chelsea who wrote that journal entry, yeah. What might you say, or what would, what would Journal Entry Chelsea have thought if someone had said to her, sit tight. Yeah, I know tonight's really hard. 

Chelsea: Oh yeah. I would've loved that. I think I really would've benefited from a little sneak peek , you know? And, but the thing I'll say too is I feel, it's easy to say, well, look how great your career has turned out.

So of course that that healed that part of you. Right? And it's easy to say that in like a personal life [00:30:00] too. You know, I went through some really challenging times in my personal life and it's like, oh, well look how great everything is now. Look how great it. Like it all got fixed because of this happy ending.

You know, and the thing I'd say to that is, or for anyone who maybe finds himself in that is. There's so much healing to be done and learning and like self love that really has to happen before, or, or even if those like quote, happy ending good things, even if those things never come, you know? Mm-hmm. I feel like I had the opportunity for several years to kind of sit in that discomfort and learn to love where I was and create a life that I was really passionate about even before those big jobs came along. 

Cynthia: I love that. I love that. 

Chelsea: Cause I, the big job doesn't fix all your problems. It's really amazing validation and I can't understate what those things have done for my career, those opportunities, what they've done for my career. But [00:31:00] I would, I would hope that I still would've found a lot of satisfaction and a lot of peace even if had those things not come along. Mm-hmm. I hope. I hope. 

Cynthia: Yes. Yeah. I think you would've, and I, it, it sounds like you were well on your way to that, Yeah. Point. Yeah. But I also, I, I'm glad you said that, you know, the math does not always work out. You can't always say, this was so hard, but then this happened and it made it all okay.

It's like sometimes that doesn't happen. It helps sometimes. No, sometimes the math doesn't quite work out so perfectly. And there's still healing to be done, even though other things may have turned out really well, or, you know, in a way you didn't expect, but in a good way. But Yeah. Boy, the journey is different for everyone, isn't it?

Mm-hmm. . So you have really experienced this business from many angles as a performer, as a teacher, as a coach. We'll talk about this I think in a future [00:32:00] podcast, but I wanna add in also as a wife, as a mom I'm gonna even add as a daughter, you're so present in your own family, your extended family, as well, as an aunt, as a sibling, you know, you have a very rich family life as well, which I think we will talk about in a future episode.

But let's stick to the business side of things with a performer, teacher, or coach. What do you want other performers to know? What advice do you have for them in two minutes or less.

Chelsea: I would say a couple things. Number one, don't be afraid to pivot. For me, that was leaning 100% into my teaching business, and that might look completely different for you, that might not be your path. I, you know, I've had to pivot many times. The pandemic was a big pivot. I got on social media during that time.

I built this TikTok following, that was a pivot. I, I launched BVC with you, Cynthia. I shortly then went on maternity leave. I mean, like, there's just been all of these things that have, have forced me, encouraged me to [00:33:00] find new ways of doing things and looking at things.

And I would say, don't be embarrassed to pivot. You'll probably feel that way because I certainly did. I have just expressed incredible vulnerability in how deeply embarrassing that was for me to do. But just know from me, from someone who's been there that you can create something wonderful and sustainable for yourself on the other side of that feeling. Like you're gonna have to go through that feeling.

And then the other, my other piece of advice is, is if this is your dream, if performing is your dream, and whether that takes you to New York, to the West End, to Kentucky, wherever it is, do it. Do it with all of your heart, mind, and strength. And if it's taking longer than you expected, that's okay. I want you to breathe. I want you to relax. I want you to keep working. 

And listen, if it turns out that this one avenue, this, this performance aspect in show business isn't where your heart lies. If you discover maybe there's something else you'd like to pursue, give yourself permission to follow your heart [00:34:00] elsewhere. That can look like a whole variety of things.

Your dream does not have to look one certain way. And that's the advice I give to folks. Work hard. Pursue your dreams wholeheartedly, and don't be afraid to listen to that voice or that feeling that says, let's try something different. Let's even just try this dream in a new way. Mm-hmm. You have permission to do that.

You always have permission to try something new, to change your mind and to get support and help on your journey wherever you are. 

Cynthia: I love that. I love that so much. Wise words from Chelsea Wilson. I'm right there with you. 

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