We recently connected with Collin Howard and have shared our conversation below.

Collin, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

When I think of taking a risk, I think of the time I made a decision to not only move cross country during a pandemic but also do a major career pivot. All on gut instict. So I’ve been singing my whole life. Like a lot of people, I first found my voice in the children’s choir at church. From there I joined youth professional choirs through out my home state. I eventually started performing in musicals in high school. I knew instantly that acting and singing what I wanted do until I could no longer sing or walk. After graduating from college, I moved directly to NYC where I found moderate success Off-Broadway and in regional theaters throughout the country. I like to say when it came to my Broadway aspirations, I was always the bridesmaid but never the bride. During the lean times (which there were many) I supported myself by waiting tables. How original. For 16 years I worked at some of New York City’s most well known restaurants. I didn’t know it at the time but my time served working in the hospitality industry was preparing me for my career now. Fast forward to 2018, disenchanted with where I was in my professional and personal life I decided to step away from performing and try my hand at a “normal job.” I was tired of the hustle and I was craving “stability.” I didn’t know where to start. As an actor and waiter, what was I qualified to do? So, I got my real estate license, my life insurance license; and when that didn’t work out I tried managing a restaurant. In the end nothing felt right. I was lost and empty.

Then the pandemic happened and my restaurant shut down. While my roommates and I were sheltering in place, they both decided they weren’t going to renew the lease. I tried to find people to move in but as one would expect, nobody was moving trying to move to NYC during Covid. Then it happened. I remember the moment clear as day. I heard a voice say, “Let it go. Move to LA.” I truly believe that was my Higher Power giving me explicit directions to follow. I had been to LA once and didn’t particularly care for it at the time but I listened. Within a month I gave away most of my belongings, packed a suit case and cried my way to the airport.

I decided to stop in New Orleans first because, why not. While I was out exploring one day another thought popped into my head. A lemon tree. Where did that come from I couldn’t tell you but the thought became an obsession! I went and had lunch at Dooky Chase and struck up a conversation with the only other customer; a lady who lived in Los Angeles. I told her my story and explained my lemon tree obsession. She matter of factly told me, “baby if you want a lemon tree you’re gonna have to go to Home Depot.” HA! Meanwhile, I had two days left in New Orleans and still hadn’t found a place to live in LA. The day before I left New Orleans, I found a listing for a room on Facebook that seemed fine enough for the moment. I accepted and made my way out West.

Talk about taking a risk and being full of fear. I moved to a city where I new almost no-one, signed a lease to a place I barely saw and new nothing about the four men I was moving in with. I allowed my fear to be my fuel. As my new roommates were taking me on a tour of the property, pointing out the amenities and such we ended up in the backyard. As we were walking back inside one of the guys, casually mentioned, “by the way, we have a lemon tree.”

Collin, 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 didn’t find television and film production. It found me. As I previously mentioned all I wanted to do was theatre. When I decided to make the geographical leap to LA from NYC, I purposely decided to start fresh with no agenda. I was leaving all the decisions up to the Universe. I am fortunate to have a cousin, Angela White, who is a film and television producer with over 25 years of experience in the industry. She threw me a bone and hired me as a PA on tv show. I took to it like a fish to water. Although I didn’t know some o the language or how a set work; I was able to use my experience as a waiter to navigate and succeed on set. I was promoted to KEY PA within two days and thus my career took off. Everything aligned in that moment. I think the combination of my East coast work ethic coupled with the back log of work due to Covid sped my advancement in the industry. Within 5 months I was working as a Producer Assistant on the Emmy nominated day time talk show, “The Real” and a few months after that I took my first role as an Associate Producer on my first docu- series, “Blowing LA.”. Since then I’ve had the privilege of being a part of the Producing team for the Emmy award winning reboot of “Password” with Jimmy Fallon and Kiki Palmer, Emmy nominated “Peace of Mind with Taraji P. Henson” and most recently as a Segment producer on the Hallmark Channel’s first foray into unscripted television, “Celebrations With Lacey Chabert.”

Having only been in my industry for a relatively short amount of time and experiencing its volatility, I’m super proud of my accomplishments. I didn’t realize until I started producing that the skills I learned working in restaurants were 100 percent transferable. It’s all waiting tables. If there’s anything I learned it’s that you must trust your instincts. I have soaked up so much knowledge with on the job training. The entertainment industry is in a precarious time right now. Work has slowed down considerably and it’s absolutely frightening but Instead of spiraling and waiting for someone to hire me (like I used to do as an actor), I’m creating my own projects. This is the time to do it because at some point the pendulum will swing back and the cup will overfloweth. We just have to hang in there. The struggle is real but I love the life I’ve created out here.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I grew up in a very traditional Black household. My parents raised me the way their parents raised them. It was obvious pretty early on that I didn’t fall under the stereotype of what a Black boy should be like. I always did my own thing. I had a flair for the theatrics, a big personality and I was not afraid to let it out. I think this freaked them out. I believe my parents had the best intentions and were shielding me from the world by trying to get me to conform to what society deemed acceptable. I heard, “you’re too much” or “can you tone it down” A LOT. My mom still says it to this day. I wasn’t until I started therapy many years later that I realized how negatively those phrases affected me over the years. I felt like I was doing something wrong just by being myself. When I was released to the world after graduating high school and no longer under the watchful gaze of mom and dad, I wasted a lot of time and energy trying to figure out who I was in all the wrong places. I am now at a place (mostly) where when I hear people say, “you’re too much” my response is, “maybe you’re not enough.” I am authentically me and that’s the most important thing! Nobody has the authority to dim your light!

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

When I have conversations with people who don’t work in a creative field, often times, the hardest thing for them to comprehend is how unstable the creative world is and why anyone would subject themselves to that type of life. First I remind them that stability is a myth (I’m looking at you 2008 financial crash). Secondly, I jokingly tells people that being a full time creative is much easier if you have a trust fund. I then try to explain to them that for many creatives, we didn’t choose this world. It chose us. For me, being a creative is a calling and sometimes a calling feels like a heavy burden. When I was at my lowest point and “gave up” performing for a “normal” life, I really thought I was DONE! I mourned my decision like I had just put a love one to rest. But what I’ve learned since embarking on my second career is that you can’t ignore your calling and you certainly can’t outrun it. It will always catch up to you. Once I accepted that thought as fact, I was able to surrender to ebbs and flows that comes with this life. I think this is true for anybody who is called to do something. It’s scary but let fear be your fuel.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_culture_enthusiast/#
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/collin-howard-6867a6228/
• Other: https://pro.imdb.com/name/nm12534654?ref_=hm_prof_name