We recently connected with Bonnie (Anahata) Pettiford and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Bonnie (Anahata), thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

Learning the craft of my art therapy talent coaching has been a life long process. Since a child and to this day I am an artist first; acting, singing and creatively writing. However, when I was in college for communications & theatre arts, I had an internship at an audio visual studio that showed me my desire towards the behind the scenes journey of other artists like myself. I received a job at this internship after graduating and it’s what led me to furthering my talent coordinating/development knowledge & casting expertise. I also went back to school to get my Masters in Film & Television. Even throughout this career in talent coordinating, I kept my love for acting and even maintained an agent throughout and had a fair amount of theatre/film gigs. However, if I’m honest there wasn’t a lot of time I could commit towards acting and let me tell you I felt it. This emotional understanding in myself in relation to studying and engaging in my art (or not) is what makes me more understanding of the plight of my talent development clients and how to help them recover. This is what prompted my certification in Art Therapy Life Coaching and the beginning of my unique approach to talent development.

Bonnie (Anahata), before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I help artists to assess & recover from emotional, energetic & subconscious mindset challenges behind challenges and productivity in their artistic career endeavors. We ensure unfulfilled, studying and professional artists are accounting for their emotional states as they navigate inevitable challenges that come in artistic industries. In doing this they stay connected & grounded in their artistry & identity, ultimately maintaining value to create longevity in their careers. I combine my holistic awareness techniques and artistic entertainment industry expertise in coaching & workshops that allows artists to see the whole of what is behind their career experiences. My company, The Reel Tips LLC solves this problem of emotional burnout, lack of identity awareness, creative blocks, productivity management, performance anxiety, rejection paralysis and more. We show them how to heal their own emotional wounds themselves and create a solid foundation for their artistic journey. Whether they’re a student or professional of the craft, they can always recover from the inevitable setbacks of the industry. I am proud to have taken my own emotional & mental experiences as an artist and transmute them into not only my own recovery and something meaningful to me, but that helps other artists recover from the same issues I face.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

Many of us are aware of the backlashes of the entertainment and artistic industries, that end up creating emotional overwhelm, talent burnout, numbing party habits and even identity confusion. So why not make mental & emotional maintenance a priority on the front end of the talents’ development, This will decrease the amount of burnouts, social, substance & resource abuse on the back end of their journey. I believe society has duty to embed this type of support into the talent development models early on. Artists are literally the backbone of everyones’ entertainment needs, desires and hobbies, they should be supported as such to keep them healthy, not just for the industry but form themselves.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding thing about being an artist is knowing I have an embedded tool within myself to always feel better, heal better, be better! Seeing it in this way helps take that pressure off of art to always be this external thing for everyone else. It is for me FIRST and that feeling is what makes the product even better for others.

Contact Info:

• Website: talentalchemy.life
• Instagram: talent_alchemy
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bonnie-pettiford-49575623/

Image Credits
Carlos Samuels