I was interviewed by Canvas Rebel regarding my journey of becoming a motivational speaker and making a full time living as a creative. Some of the original article is below.

The full article can be found here: https://canvasrebel.com/meet-stacy-pederson/

(There’s is much prettier. 🙂 )

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Stacy Pederson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Stacy below.

Stacy, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

Earning a living has been a slow steady process I started over thirty years ago. I discovered I was a, “Creative” by winning essays for local competitions as a child. I even one a real life lamb! I went to college on a full ride talent grant to study theatre. I then made money here and there with acting gigs and teaching acting. I stumbled into doing stand up comedy, and since my comedy was “clean”, I learned there was a market for it. Events, churches and companies began hiring me. Next, I almost died a bunch. (Long story.) People continued hiring me as a comedian, but asked me to also share my story. This is how I fell into being a speaker. I have always excelled at the creative side, it was the business side I lacked. The reality, for me anyway, is if you want to make money as a creative, you have to learn to run the business side. The reason? A creative hustle without sales, is a hobby. I wish I had done that from day one. Taken the time to understand and learn what is required to get events, make sales, even be professional in certain settings.

Stacy, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I loved acting and writing. I stumbled into stand up comedy as an accident. However, nothing has been as personally fulfilling to me as being a motivational speaker. I’m able to share my story of struggle, illness and loss in a funny way, that helps shed light on mental health and bring hope to others. One of the main reasons I have done well as a speaker is my creative, humorous side. Being able to speak in an entertaining and fun way sets me a part from most professional speakers.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I unexpectedly got sick twelve years ago. I went through several bouts of illness, surgery, not being able to walk, etc. I eventually lost almost everything. I was diagnosed with PTSD from almost dying so much and went through about one and half years of dark depression. Through that time, I realized the value of hope. Hope is the one thing that can get us through the next ten minutes, hour or day. The wonderful thing about hope is that it is free to give. Hope can come as a smile to stranger, a compliment, a kind word – anything that shows the other person they matter. For me, when things were so desperately hard, I figured I was alive for a reason still, so I might as well do the best with it. I had hope that all the struggle was for a reason. It was.

Rest of the article is here: https://canvasrebel.com/meet-stacy-pederson/