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

Hi Roslyn, thanks for joining us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

As a group I think we are forever learning and always want to be students of the craft. While we are confident in our abilities, we are also humble in the knowledge that something new can always be learned and your craft can always be enhanced for an ever evolving industry. Individually, i think most of us began the same way, with short stories and poems that we kept in journals as far as the writing goes. Understanding the business aspect was something that came as a trial and error and sort of living in those moments, taking those experiences and using them for any possible obstacles. Obstacles for us I would say mainly were lack of an understanding of resources, but it just took time to sit and analyze a few things to figure out what our next moves needed to be.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I feel like each of of got into this industry for similar reasons, those being a love of creativity, self expression, and a need/want to let others know that they are not so alone in this world. When you’re able to stand on a stage and be your most vulnerable self, then to have someone in the crowd/audience say that they were helped or healed from what you said or that they too share that same experience, that’s priceless and I would say it’s the most rewarding of what we do. If I were to name things to be most proud of when it comes to PowerLines Poetry, I would have to say the longevity would be the first thing. We’ve been together for 10 years now and we feel like we have a lifetime ahead of us. We’ve begun to shape a legacy now documented in history books for generations to come in the form of awards and projects we’ve partnered on within the city. To know that we’ve accomplished that and still going and growing, is a sense of pride like no other.

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

You cannot be together as a troupe for 10 years and not experience several forms of adversity and I truly believe what kept us together is how we dealt with it. Poetry/Spokenword is not always the easiest to sell in the entertainment industry and can sometimes mean a lot of closed doors and people refusing to give you an opportunity to showcase what it is you do. However, every opportunity we were given was one that we had no problem working for, which is what we used for motivation to keep going. It definitely became discouraging at times, but it’s during times like those when it pays to have people around you who genuinely see eye to eye on your mission and goals and have no problem coming together to make something happen.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Being able to create is a reward within itself, but knowing that someone, somewhere, can relate to what you say or write is amazing. As humans we are all connected in some way shape or form, this type of artistry and creativity allows us to build those connections.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.powerlinespoetry.com
• Instagram: @powerlinespoets
• Facebook: PowerLines Poetry