Today we’d like to introduce you to Brittany Renee.

Hi Brittany , thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.

I grew up wanting to be a professional dancer. That was the dream as a kid and up through high school. Then right before college, I decided I didn’t want to be a dancer anymore and pivoted to acting. I auditioned for a bunch of schools and actually started college at the University of Kentucky as a double major in Theatre and Arts Administration. Somewhere along the way, I boomeranged back to dance, accidentally ended up being a poet, and after many years away from acting, am back to doing theatre again, along with dance and a bunch of other random stuff. All of that is artistic/professional but processing stuff from my childhood, struggling with my mental health, experiencing heartbreak and rejection has all influenced me profoundly as well. It has been a very non-linear journey, but I’ve learned to just lean into it, rather than trying to plan. I save myself a lot of stress that way! For me, art is never separate from the person creating it. Our art exists only because we do, in our own unique way. But through everything, the through-line has always been art as a beautiful outlet and medium for connecting with myself, the world, and others. And I’m just getting started!

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?

Absolutely not! But if it was, that would be really boring. One of my biggest struggles has been battling imposter syndrome. I think it’s so interesting because when we’re younger, we are constantly told to “believe in ourselves” but we don’t talk enough about how much it takes to truly know and appreciate the value of what you bring to the world. It’s very easy to accept the lie that success, true community, and love are things reserved for “other people”. So when it comes to ourselves actually receiving or pursuing those things and opportunities, we balk. Especially if we’re at the beginning of our business or career. We want to wait until we’re better and allow someone else more “qualified” to experience the things we so badly want. But who says? One of my biggest lessons lately has been choosing confidence even when I don’t feel like I’ve “earned” it. Fake it till you make it, right? Because all the people watching you don’t know the difference. People tell me all the time how confident I am and it always makes me chuckle a bit. To me, confidence feels more like an aspirational thing than just a simple fact. However, I’m starting to view it more as a direction than a destination. It (like a lot of things) can be something you move towards rather than a place you definitively arrive. When I published my first book in October of 2024, it was extremely scary to put myself out there like that. I didn’t really have a large social media following, huge publishing house, or any awards or prestige to back it up. I just knew I had something to say and so I gave myself permission to say it. I recently played Sinderella, a young enslaved woman from Kentucky, in a production called Broken Wings Still Fly. In the play, she sings a song by India. Arie that says, “I was born for this mission/I do not need your permission/to be who was I born to be/That’s me”. That line has really been a guiding light these past few months. When you know that you were meant to do something, it really doesn’t matter what anyone has to say about it.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?

I am a multidisciplinary performing artist. I dance, teach, act, write, blog, and perform poetry. With so many passions, it can be a blessing and a curse, simply because it’s hard to manage your time and energy between so many things. It’s been helpful for me to focus on certain mediums at certain times and switch, rather than try to do them all at the same time.
Although I’ve danced all my life and trained mostly in classical ballet, modern, and jazz, most of the people that have met me recently know me as a Latin dancer. I do a lot of performing with Derby City Latin Dance and we perform salsa and bachata at various social and cultural events throughout the city. That passion has only sprung into being in the last couple of years but has really taken on a life of its own.
As I mentioned, I’m also a poet and at this junction, I’m most proud of publishing my debut poetry collection, Finding Phillis on the Dark Side of the Moon. I self-published through Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing and it was such a long process that required a lot of faith, really, and a lot of trust in the process. I was totally winging it, man. But I wrote, compiled, edited, and ordered all those poems. Hired a graphic designer and got some help. Had a team of beta readers read it and provide feedback. And googled a lot about trim sizes and mirror margins. So. Much. Googling. But I’m just proud that I made that commitment to myself and was brave enough to ask for help and be vulnerable. I did not do it alone. My village and God made it happen and now it’s out in the world. It has been so wild to have people buy the book, send me pictures of them with it, and tell me how it’s impacted them. My co-worker gave a copy to her 10-year-granddaughter and told me she loves it. Stuff like that is so inspiring for me to keep creating because you never know who is benefitting from your authenticity.

There’s been a lot of opportunities in the past year that I could have said no to but ended up being really beautiful. I think what sets me apart is my ability to see art in everything. I used to joke with friends that I could find a metaphor in anything, and I really do. I’m very observant and that allows me to make a lot of connections and be endlessly inspired.

Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?

Right now, I”m absolutely obsessed with The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer. It’s rooted in spiritual practices modeled by Jesus and is all about how we need to eliminate hurry from our lives (surprise), slow down, and rest in order to live fuller, more intentional, and fruitful lives. I’m about to read it for the third time because I’m a “go-er” and am constantly on the move, left unchecked. But reading that book reminds me to focus on what truly matters and chase after contentment and peace instead of material things and success. I think it’s especially poignant for me as an artist because while I love to create, it’s tremendously easy to fall victim to the idea that I have to constantly be grinding and hustling, marketing myself, updating my social media, and just generally being “better” in order to matter. But no. It is okay to rest and not have to fight to be relevant because a) my work speaks for itself and b) I am not what I create. I am who I was created *by*.

Pricing:

• Finding Phillis on the Dark Side of the Moon (book)-$16.99

Contact Info:

• Website: https://brittanyreneeofficial.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/britt_thecreative/
• Other: https://www.amazon.com/Finding-Phillis-Dark-Side-Moon/dp/B0DL3TVP55

Image Credits

Michael Lamsfuss
Elliott Kelly
Kriech-Higdon Photography
Stephen Cohen