I’ve dreamed about living a totally creative life for as long as I can remember. Growing up, I was always writing stories, essays and poems; drawing, painting and doing all manner of crafts; and singing with any choir that would accept me. 

 

But as I was tasked with choosing a vocation during my high school years, my well-meaning parents and teachers insisted that none of these pursuits would make a suitable career. I felt a stifling pressure to focus my studies on whatever would qualify me to land the most well-paying job so I could pay bills and buy things. This definition of success was made abundantly clear by everyone around me. No one ever said anything about happiness.

 

I tried navigating between the two extremes by choosing what seemed the safest creative path in college and studied writing. Following graduation, I submitted numerous resumes for writing jobs and received nothing but rejection letters. I lost my sense of value in that sea of ink and paper and came to the conclusion that becoming an adult meant laying aside such silly dreams. 

 

I did office work for several years to pay the bills and soothed the persistent misery in my soul by filling my off-hours with creative pursuits. I sang in choirs. I joined needlework groups. I painted scenery backdrops for church dramas. I wrote here and there when inspiration struck. But the yearning for more fulfilling work kept aching inside me. 

 

When I finally worked up the courage to dive into that pain, I realized that my creative drive was never going to go away, no matter how dedicated I was to “adulting,” so I needed to learn to incorporate it into my life in a meaningful way. With my husband’s support, I quit my office job to embark on a career reset. 

 

After a period of intense reflection, independent study and volunteer work, I joined the Morganton Writers’ Group and started writing columns for The News Herald. That first time getting paid for a creative endeavor was a huge victory! Two years later, the editor hired me to work as a staff writer at the newspaper. For the next seven years, I interviewed hundreds of people in our community and wrote about their experiences, their joys, their sorrows and their hopes. I lived the creative life I always dreamed of and won five state awards for my work. Life was awesome!

 

But all that came to an end when the corporation that owns The News Herald laid off half the newsroom staff, including me. I was devastated, but determined to continue using creative skills professionally. There was no going back now! 

 

Eleven months later, I was hired to work as the fundraising assistant at the Western Piedmont Foundation, handling all of the organization’s media communications. I didn’t think it was possible, but this job gives me the opportunity to leverage even more creative skills than I used at the newspaper. I get to be a writer, a graphic designer, a photographer, a videographer, a video editor and a media strategist – sometimes all of them within the course of one week! It’s truly a joy to come to work everyday and create again and again in service to WPCC students.

 

Serendipitously, I work on the same floor where the audio-video production technology classes are held. I came to see the program as a potential avenue for professional creative growth and started taking classes in it. I believe the AVP program will help me grow in my role as a multimedia specialist – a full-stack digital content creator combining the skills of writing, graphic design, photography and videography to serve as an in-house, one-stop media shop for an organization. 

 

The future sits in front of me like a blank canvas waiting to be painted in. I’m going to use all the colors God gives me to create a fulfilling legacy….