We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Nattalyee Randall a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Nattalyee , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Do you feel you or your work has ever been misunderstood or mischaracterized? If so, tell us the story and how/why it happened and if there are any interesting learnings or insights you took from the experience?

As a bigger black woman, people expect me to only sing gospel and R&B. I do love to sing that type of music, but there is so much more to me. I am a musical theatre nerd and love the different layers of musical theatre. I grew up going to church and then coming home to watch the VHS of the musical Annie. I sometimes get overlooked for projects because people will stereotype me into a certain box. When I in fact do so many things!

Nattalyee , 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?

Nattalyee Randall currently resides in NYC but is originally from Springfield, IL. She attended Western Illinois University for Music and English Education. She is an activist, ultra marathoner, teacher, director, producer, writer, and actor. You can catch her in the movie “The Ghost Who Walks” on Peacock TV. She just recently Associate Directed “Hot Wing King” at Hartford Stage and Assistant Directed “Sister Act” at Cape Fear Regional Theater. She directed and executive produced the award winning documentary “The Race Against Race” which world premiered at DOC NYC, the Trail Running Film Fest, Over the Rhine Film Festival, and also played on PBS. The film chronicles Nattalyee’s story of how she transformed “Running while Black” into an act of protest in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement. Her next doc “Don’t Look Too Far Ahead” is currently on the film festival circuit this year. Insta/Twitter: @Nattalyee @50MileRunForJusticeProtest

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I had to have surgery on my vocal cords in 2014 because I had vocal polyps. I thought my career was over, and I would never sing again. It was a dark time in my life. I went home and got the surgery and stayed there for a month after. I was looking into leaving NYC, but my Mom encouraged me to go back and helped me get a new voice teacher/speech therapist who literally changed my life and helped me sing again. Six months after the surgery, I was playing Effie White in Dreamgirls and getting my Equity Card.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

What society can to do to help creatives survive is to buy locally. Go see that independent movie that doesn’t have much buzz, go to the concert of that small jazz band at your local pub, or go see a musical that tours into your hometown’s civic center. If you can’t attend, buy a ticket for someone else to attend. If you can’t financially attend, sharing a post about the show on your social media is free. I’ve literally had people come see a cabaret of mine because someone who couldn’t afford to come shared my post. Also, let’s normalize artists having in between jobs. You can still be a THRIVING artist and also have to pick up a few babysitting gigs to make ends meet for that month. Let’s not make fun of an artist who is living their dream but also has to support it too.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @nattalyee
• Twitter: @nattalyee
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Nattalyee