Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Arielle Beth Klein. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Arielle, appreciate you joining us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

Sure! A story comes to mind.

It’s the morning of my PSATs in 10th Grade and I’ve snuck into the bathroom to call my dad. I’m panicking because they want me to fill in my intended major on the PSAT form. My dad assures me I can put in anything it’s only to send us marketing materials but as a Virgo with anxiety and a little bit of perfectionism, I need to fill in the “right” answer. To calm me down my dad says “You work at that summer camp and you’re great with kids so just put down early childhood education”. He’s right, so I do. Two years later I chose a college with the best early childhood education program and six weeks before graduation I almost dropped out.

In school we always did musicals and I wasn’t a strong singer so even though it was the thing that brought me the most joy, I remember thinking I can’t go to school for theater anyway; I’m not that good so I’ll never make it. So when I was miserable student teaching my senior year, so close to graduation – I panicked.

My mom rightfully told me “You’re 6 weeks out, just finish the degree”! So I graduated, refused a job recommendation letter from my advisor because “I won’t be pursuing a teaching career”, and started acting classes in NYC. With no prior training and just my drive, I completely changed the course of my life. It was the first time I took a real risk and trusted my intuition. Now it’s been 10 years and I’ve never looked back!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

One thing about me? I’m a lifelong student. I’ve taken every type of storytelling class under the sun: solo show writing, acting, clowning, playwrighting, screenwriting, improv – you name it. So during the 2020 quarantine when I lost my in-person job, I decided to start my creative coaching podcast & business called Just Start Storytelling. I truly believe everyone has a story and I love working with my clients to craft their stories, set attainable creative goals, and encourage them to keep going.

As an actor, published playwright, and produced filmmaker I know about a lot of different storytelling mediums. My mission is to use what I’ve learned to make your process easier. I’ve already made a ton of mistakes so you don’t have to! You’ll make your own, but you don’t have to also make mine :)

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Regarding my creative career, the biggest thing that I had to unlearn was that it would always feel inspiring and joyful to create my art. When you choose an artistic career sometimes it just feels like a job and that is okay. I found the importance of creating routines for myself and my clients so that on the days when I don’t feel super inspired I have a plan in place so that I can still meet my creative goals.

Ultimately this is a business as well as a passion; I really had to reframe my mindset in recent years to manage my expectations. I remember the first time I learned this in my acting career was when I took a business of acting course when I first moved to New York City and the teacher was extremely blunt with his feedback on my headshots, resume, how I present myself when I walk into an audition room – I left most classes crying. Did he have to be so harsh? Absolutely not. Was he right about a lot of things? Absolutely.

When I coach my clients I definitely take a softer approach, more encouraging approach to feedback but I won’t bullsh*t someone. If something feels unclear in their storytelling, we will address it So much of being in the creative field feels very personal to artists – we are vulnerable putting ourselves out there a lot of the time. But being able to see our work as a business – and hear critiques and take on board feedback that is meant to help you grow was a huge lesson I learned.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

Something that I wish non-creative career folks realized is that everyone measures their success differently. If someone is working on independent films that you haven’t seen because they never make it to traditional theaters that doesn’t mean that they don’t feel successful.

Just auditioning consistently feels like a huge success to me so even if I don’t book a ton of jobs in a year doesn’t mean that I don’t feel successful. Sometimes even within the creative career community we can place expectations on each other or compare ourselves to other people’s trajectories and honestly, no one career path is the same. So when you’re asking your creative friend questions about career milestones I would let them lead the conversation.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.ariellebethklein.com/coach
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ariellebethklein/

Image Credits
Rebecca J Michelson (also included on the image)