Welcome to the third podcast episode of Sustaining Craft, a series that began in 2016 featuring those making a living with their art or craft to encourage those in creative industries. Sustaining Craft transformed into a podcast July 2018 and is a project of Hew&Weld Writing, story-based marketing crafted for local business. Listen below or keep scrolling to read the article about Melissa Diller and her work with Drama Kids!
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Melissa Diller had once dreamed of being an actress or a model, but she found herself in her early 20s with a corporate job instead.
During a conversation with her husband, their childhood dreams resurfaced, and they discussed her finding acting work and him following his dream of police work. “We kind of encouraged one another to go for those things, but on the side of our jobs,” Diller shared. “I went and I auditioned at a talent agency in Charlotte, NC. The fifth biggest city in the US where actresses make a living doing that.”
Diller was accepted into the agency and started booking model and commercial jobs. Soon after that, she found stage theater. “I fell in love with having an audience — a live audience,” Diller said. “I started jumping full head into the theater community.”
Photo courtesy of Melissa Diller
She started producing children’s theater and teaching drama in schools. “I fell in love with it,” she said.
For ten years, she taught at local libraries, community theaters, and schools on and off while working for Verizon. “Even though I had found something I liked in corporate America–and it took me a long time to find that job in corporate America that I liked–I still had that calling to teach drama to kids,” Diller explained. “I knew how much it had benefitted to me. I could give speeches in front of hundreds of people in my corporate job because of my drama experience on stage.”
Diller had grown up in Medford Lakes, NJ, and ended up moving to the Little Rock area three years ago, following her parents, who loved the area. “And it really is a hidden gem,” Diller confirmed. “My husband was not happy when we moved here, but he said he’s not leaving now.”
Photo courtesy of Melissa Diller
She at first transferred her Verizon job and then quit and started Drama Kids, a franchise that has existed for the past 30 years. “We teach educationally-based drama to all school-aged kids,” Diller explained. “Basically all we’re doing is building confidence in public speaking through fun drama activities so that kids have the confidence to be whatever they end up being, whether it’s a doctor, or stage performer, actress.”
Working with a franchise framework still meant that Diller had to develop her business from the ground up, building relationships, growing her outreach, and finding business mentors. “As a business owner, you have to think outside the box, and my mentors were the ones who really taught me that,” Diller shared. “[It’s] thinking outside the box, [and] not listening to the voice inside your head that says ‘really?’”
Photo courtesy of Melissa Diller
Diller has found it important to protect her dreams, which can mean examining that inner critic. “That’s one thing that will hold you back from finding your creative voice […] limiting beliefs,” Diller shared. “I think it’s everybody’s job to explore their limiting beliefs and why they have them, that voice in your head that says that you’re too old to dance is probably someone when you were a little kid. It’s something you heard. It’s not even valid.”
But with considering limiting beliefs comes adjusting goals. “I don’t think you can be married to any expectations when you start a business,” Diller said. “As long as you love what you’re doing and you’re passionate about it. The call for Drama Kids was a 10-year call. It was pulling at my heart for 10 years. And all the jobs I had along the way, I can look back and see how beneficial they were, and how I needed all of those particular positions to allow me to have the tools to do what I’m doing today.”
Her advice to others in a creative field is simple. “If you’re passionate about something, you’re going to do it regardless of whether you’re being paid, regardless of whether or not you’re able to do it all the time,” Diller said. “If you have only five minutes a day, if you’re passionate, you’re going to take five minutes a day to do it. And that’s going to be enough.”
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Episode 3 is up! There is MUCH, much more in the episode not covered in this article. Take a listen below:
Find Drama Kids at their website, visit them on Facebook, or see what drama they’re getting into by checking out their Instagram.