All photography provided by Jared Chambers

It was early 2016, my grandmother Caroline was dying of cancer, and I realized that I hadn’t done any of the things I dreamed of doing…

Traveling to foreign countries. Writing and producing a play. Pursuing voiceover. Publishing the book ideas I had. Hell, even writing the book ideas I had!

Every goal I had ever had was still sitting there waiting for me to get off my butt and take consistent and intentional action. I was like a person canoeing without paddles. All I could do

The crisis

Ever since I was three years old, I had wanted to be an actor. But for me, that meant going after the safe things, and the things I thought I could get, not the goals I really wanted. Up until I turned 18, I was an overachiever—a straight-A student who juggled theatre, forensics, and choir, and made it look easy. So long as I had someone telling me where the bar was, I could reach it and often go beyond.

In college, I continued to do well academically, but I struggled with the artistic side of things. Things that had always come easy before started to vex me. I had trouble getting cast. I auditioned for the Advanced Acting class twice and was denied (despite straight As in my previous acting courses). No one could give me guidance on what I was doing wrong, so I just kept going.

After graduation, I knew I wanted to be an actor, but beyond that, nothing had prepared me for the real world. So, I did the only thing I (sort of) knew how to do: I got a job waiting tables in a restaurant.

I had ideas for plays and screenplays I wanted to write. I started projects that I never finished. I auditioned. I took classes to continue to improve myself as an actor, but with no clear goal in sight.

I drifted from project to project without any sense of intention or purpose.

And I struggled.

The Turning point

In early 2016, my beloved grandma Konze went into hospice care in her home. This amazing woman had gotten married at age 16, raised seven children on a farm in Wisconsin, earned her GED in her 40s, was a volunteer first responder and life-long blood donor,

What We've Achieved