We recently connected with Meredith Ostrowsky and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Meredith, thanks for joining us today. We’ve love to hear an interesting investment story – what was one of the best or worst investments you’ve made? (Note, these responses are only intended as entertainment and shouldn’t be construed as investment advice)

The best investment in my career has been my aerial training. I was about two years into my professional dance career when I learned the value of a specialty skill to get me in doors that might not have opened otherwise. Plus I loved the combination of artistry meeting acrobatics. It challenged me both physically and as a storyteller. And the aerial community has proven to be incredibly close knit and supportive… we all know each other and constantly recommend each other for jobs. Working with friends makes a creative career the absolute best.

Becoming an aerialist motivated me to obtain other circus skills such as sway poles and partner acrobatics (known as adagio). I love the idea of different creative mediums crossing over and inspiring people in new and different ways. For example, I wanted to apply my character experience (I’ve impersonated Marilyn Monroe for many years) to my aerial work. I thought having a cultural icon take flight (literally) adds to the larger than life fantasy about a person.

The more you diversify your skills the farther your imagination can reach when it comes to communicating to an audience. I’m incredibly grateful for aerial arts inspiring me to grow and explore creative possibilities.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’ve trained as a dancer since I was a child and began my professional dance career in Los Angeles after completing degrees in Dance and Art History from the University of California, Irvine. Soon after, I began training and working as an aerialist as well. I’ve always loved the variety of being a freelance artist and I’ve had the opportunity to perform on tv, in films, commercials, live shows, and tours for the past 18 years. Some of my favorite jobs include: the film BURLESQUE, the tv show Mad Men, Radio City Christmas Spectacular, touring with Taylor Swift on the Speak Now World Tour, and working on both the performance and creative side of Channing Tatum’s Magic Mike Live. My artistic life has taken me around the world and has connected me with the most wonderful people.

In addition to performing, I also love being a creative collaborator on a various projects. Assisting Dreya Weber (world-renowned director and aerial choreographer) over the past few years has helped ignite this passion. Coaching, choreographing, and directing for live shows as well as on-camera work has been incredibly rewarding. Learning quickly and being easily adaptable have been key to working in the fast paced entertainment industry. I thrive in my attention to detail while also keeping a directorial mindset of what the “big picture” goals are for a project.

I’m most proud of how I’ve sustained a career as an artist by continuing to evolve my skills and hone relationships. The people I work with are just as important, if not more important, than the art itself. Above all, doing what I love in a joyful, nurturing, and respectful environment is the ultimate goal.

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

Something that I had to unlearn was the idea that a creative career has a linear trajectory. There is no “climbing the corporate ladder” so to speak. It is what makes being an artist simultaneously magical and incredibly frustrating. Say you book a “dream job” (a tour, a big film, etc.) early on in your career, it’s easy to think that similar opportunities will keep rolling in. But that is rarely the case. There is so much randomness when it comes to showbiz (timing, luck, environment, specifics of a job, to name a few) that you have to let go of the notion that talent alone equals success.

Instead, what I’ve discovered is that the path of an artist seems to be more circular. In an industry so reliant on relationships, and if you stay in it long enough, opportunities to work with the same people tend to come around again. Like planets in a solar system, your individual orbit takes you to all sorts of places and gives you unique experiences, as no two artist’s careers are exactly the same. So when you serendipitously re-connect, you each have more knowledge and insight that deepens the relationship. I think that pattern happening over and over is what promotes evolution and longevity in an artist’s career. It took me years to discover this, especially since being a freelancer can be so “me-me-me” oriented. But at the end of the day, our communities are our most essential business connections.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

What drives me is human connection and how important that is for our mental and emotional health. Everyone can find themselves in art. When we want to feel joy, a release, or that we aren’t alone in our struggles, art is there. The expression of the human condition, no matter how superficial or deep, soothes us. What I’ve always loved the most about performing is telling a story and making people feel something. Those are the fleeting, priceless moments that sustain me in the harsh business of entertainment. Creating work that resonates and makes people feel seen is my ultimate goal.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.meredithostrowsky.com
• Instagram: @merostrowsky

Image Credits
Max Torandell, Gaby Duong, Kristi Griffith, Alena Mealy