We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Care De Graaf a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Care thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

The concept of taking a risk is so interesting because everyone defines it differently. The reality is everything is a risk, from getting in your car every morning with the assumption you’re going to make it to your destination, to investing in the stock market, to quitting your full-time job to pursue a start-up or passion project with less stability.

Personally, I am a perfectionist who used to fear risk because it left too much room for failure. I was raised to make smart and strategic career moves that involved minimal risk. But when I took a look at the most successful people, there was no path that didn’t involve risk.

So, for me, the biggest risk I took was changing how I defined risk in the first place. I could say I have 2020 to thank for that because stability and certainty was ripped out from underneath the entire world. Every single decision, every move, every breathe at that point became a risk. So, it was no longer a matter of if I was willing to take a risk, but rather what I was willing to risk.

Risk without thought is exactly that, a risk. Risk with intention, education, and understanding is opportunity.

I have been a writer my entire life. As soon as I was old enough to hold a pen I was scribbling in notebooks and daydreaming out car windows about creating art for the world to see. At that time, my goal was to be the next Cheetah Girl group so thankfully some of my dreams have evolved to be more realistic.

While I was in university, I pursued my passion for music business and got my first internship at a recording studio on Music Row. This led into my first paid job with Live Nation, which led into my first full-time job with the Tennessee Performing Arts Center where I currently work as their Senior Manager of Programming.

Throughout all of this, I always viewed the Music Industry as my career and writing as my hobby. The potential of publishing a book was a dream or a “maybe someday” of mine. I was terrified to share something so intimate and close to my heart for fear of being told I wasn’t “good enough” at what I felt at my core was my identity. In a way, that whole ideology was very imprisoning.

In 2020, I took the opportunity (risk) both financially, mentally and emotionally and began the process of publishing my first poetry book. It was published in May of 2021 and the first shipment sold out within two days. I was completely blown away. Since then, I have raised my standard for risk and capitalize on opportunities in so many other faucets.

In October of 2021, I began hosting a monthly writers-round style event for poets and spoken word artists here in Nashville called Americano Uncorked. On the third Wednesday of every month since, my co-host and I have been incredibly lucky to fill the stage with 20+ talented writers and build a new community of creatives in one of the most talented cities in this country.

Ultimately, risk does not come without fear, but reward does not come without sacrifice. I’m not sure what my life would look like now had I not taken that risk, but I’m very happy that I don’t have to know. I am fortunate to not only have a career that I am passionate about, but I’ve poured my other passion out of my head and turned it into my reality as well.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

My name is Care de Graaf and I’m a Nashville Native, born and raised.

I am lucky in the sense that I’ve pretty much always known what I want to do with my life. Well, at least known enough to help me find the right path to wander down. Growing up in Nashville I was privileged to spend a majority of my time around music. I grew up seeing shows at Rocketown (the original Rocketown) and spent my summers at Warped Tour.

Music has always been my connection to people around me and my truest safe space. Unfortunately, my musical abilities fell a little short for that route into the industry, so I knew music business was my other option. Standing in the crowd for my favorite bands and feeling firsthand the pure joy and human connection that brought to me, my friends, and even strangers around me, I knew my passion was live entertainment.

Now I am the Senior Manager of Programming for the Tennessee Performing Arts Center here in Nashville, TN and I absolutely love it. TPAC operates three theaters and the War Memorial Auditorium. We are the home for Broadway, theater, and fine arts here in Nashville as well as having a #1 ranking Arts Education Program for students in the US.

During the pandemic, I took the time to publish my first book, titled Collateral Damage. It is a collection of poetry written through my years navigating adulthood and relationships. It is available for purchase on my website www.carethepoet.com.

Through this venture I also became inspired to host my own spoken word and poetry night with one of my good friends. For over a year now, Americano Uncorked, is held every third Wednesday night of the month at Americano Lounge on Wedgewood-Houston. It is styled like a writers round event but for spoken word artists and poets to share their work. It has been the biggest blessing to connect with so many talented writers here outside of the typical songwriting space.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

The biggest resource I have found is slowing down to utilize what is around you. For me, success was instilled in my brain as something that had to be achieved the hard way, and maybe that was the case 20 – 30 years ago. Yes, starting a new venture will always be hard and don’t discount a potentially helpful tool because it seems “too easy”.

Personally, I am fortunate to be surrounded by a very creative circle, so I looked to my friends for knowledge and help with things I don’t know how to do. I hired two friends to help with the graphics of my book, I sought out a family member who has previously published with help in the editing process, built my website by asking advice of those around me who I respected and were advanced past the point that I was at the time. Utilizing YouTube to learn website building skills or seeking out SEO experts on fiver to help with the tasks you don’t excel at or quite understand is not a waste or shameful. It’s smart and helps provide opportunities to those around you on the way up.

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

Being a creative, married to a creative, and friends with so many creatives I feel like it adds so much potential to your life. Rather than living inside the world you are in, creatives are constantly thinking beyond it. Whether it’s in an entrepreneurial sense or artistic sense, living in this world is like having your life constantly sprinkled with possibility and opportunity.

Having the purpose to create enables you to put good into the world and I firmly believe that good comes back to you in it’s own ways.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.carethepoet.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_southerncare/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/care.degraaf
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caroline-morris-writing/

Image Credits
Sam Phen Nicholas Banos