We were lucky to catch up with Allie Schnapp recently and have shared our conversation below.

Allie , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

The first time I knew I wanted to pursue a creative path professionally was probably around my junior year in high school when I started thinking about where I wanted to go to college. I grew up in New England which is full of a lot of hardworking, pragmatic, salt-of-the-earth people and until it came time for me to start considering my future, it hadn’t really dawned on me that a lot of these traditional, everyday jobs were not something that I wanted for myself. As I searched through college pamphlets and looked at different majors and courses, I found myself feeling anxious that nothing really seemed all that interesting or a good fit for me. The more I looked, the more I worried that there was something wrong with me for not being able to confidently identify a major or a career path that I wanted for myself.

I had always spent my free time getting involved in creative endeavors, whether it was constructing and selling clothes for stuffed animals, making my own movies, or acting in plays, but I had always viewed those activities as hobbies or entertaining ways to occupy my time. I didn’t have conventional artistic skills and being raised by practical parents, it was challenging for me to imagine a future where creativity was going to pay my bills. It wasn’t until a college counselor introduced me to Emerson College that I started to consider the idea of a slightly less traditional future. I remember after touring their campus, seeing their resources, and hearing students talk about the variety of creative courses and hands on internships they had participated in, I was truly excited about what my future could hold, and that felt like such a relief.

Even after I made my decision to attend, I still wasn’t sure exactly what kind of creative future I wanted to pursue (to this day, I still haven’t really made up my mind, and instead dabble in a handful of different ones), but at least I finally knew in my gut that I had found a path that felt inspiring and like a good first step in the right direction. It ended up being a motivating environment that opened my eyes to a wide variety of creative careers and helped me on the journey that led to where I am today.

Allie , 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 consider myself a bit of a Jane-of-random-trades. During the week, I spend my time as a producer at an entertainment marketing company, working with many of the major studios and streamers to create behind-the-scenes featurettes, TV spots, digital series and social content for films and TV series. During my nights and weekends, I spend my time working with friends or colleagues on their projects as an art director, puppet builder, stop-motion animator, or just as a maker of things, depending on what the job requires.

I’m really proud of the diversity of my work. For many years, I was hard on myself for not being able to zero in and identify a single career path that I wanted, but what I’ve found is that having the variety of work keeps things interesting, allows me to stretch different creative muscles, and helps me think in different ways, which just makes me a stronger problem solver across the board.

I am a big fan of all things quirky, playful and weird, so I especially enjoy working on projects where I can really lean into those qualities, but the thing that I’ve found is consistent throughout all of the work I do, is my love of collaborating with people to bring a vision to life. Whether it’s figuring out the story in a cut, nailing down the details of a prop, or exploring the character of a puppet design, I love brainstorming, experimenting and working with everyone’s ideas to solve problems and make something great.

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

It’s not exactly a lesson, but one thing that I’ve really worked hard to unlearn is how I perceive failure. When I was young it was something that felt like a catastrophic event. It wasn’t even intentionally taught to me that way, but there were expectations to perform well at school and work, and anything less than that would immediately feel like I was failing and disappointing the people I loved and respected, which felt terrible and only further motivated me to avoid failure at any cost.

What I’ve learned as I’ve gotten older, especially from my projects where I need to physically build/create something, is that failure is a necessity. I need to fail in order to work out the kinks and create the best version of the thing that I am building. It is absolutely part of the process, and it helps me build better/smarter on future projects. I even keep a notebook of project fails, an idea I borrowed from a friend, where I write down the things that didn’t work, so it can help me think differently in the future, and ensure I don’t repeat mistakes of the past.

I’m still working on reframing failure in certain aspects of my life, but when it comes to creativity, it is such an essential ingredient to making great things, that I have begun to welcome its arrival, knowing that new and better ideas are on the horizon.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

For me, there are a lot of things that I find incredibly rewarding as a creative person, but one of the things that I love is having a body of work to look back on. It’s like a visual representation of where my mind’s been and how I’ve grown and improved and evolved over the years, which I think is pretty special.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.allieschnapp.com