We recently connected with Christine Blackburn and have shared our conversation below.

Christine, looking forward to hearing all of your stories 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.

After college I became a flight attendant for USAir. I flew for over seven years and traveled around the world with the airline and also in my free time. It was a wonderful job to have in my 20s. But as you know the first day on the job as a flight attendant is the same thing you’re going to do on the 10th day of the job and the 30th day, after five years and after 10 years. You are serving people in the sky. You will never be promoted. You’re not going to become the pilot. I decided I didn’t want to serve people anymore I wanted to help people. So I applied to the United States Peace Corps.

The application process was long and arduous but after year I was accepted. I took a risk and resigned from US Airways to become a volunteer in the Kingdom of Tonga. I completed the six weeks of training in Tonga and was given my placement to teach English to high school students on the main island of Nuku’alofa. But after being in country only 2 1/2 months. I became very ill. After trying to receive medical care in Tonga, it was decided to medevac me to Hawaii for further testing. There I learned my very unfortunate fate of having a tumor in my kidney.

I was sent to Washington DC to have a radical right nephrectomy. I assumed I could go back to Tonga to finish my service but was told I needed six months of chemotherapy. Instead of going back to my island paradise in the South Pacific, I was back in my hometown of Pittsburgh going through chemotherapy. I learned I could not go back to Tonga until I was five years cancer free. I went back to the airline and tried to get my job back but they said ‘No. Thanks for flying with us. Bye-bye.”

I had nothing left to lose so I packed up my things once again and left Pittsburgh heading to Los Angeles to begin my career as an entertainer. I had risked it all to go to Tonga and I believe it saved my life.

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 Christine Blackburn and I am a comedian and a podcaster. I started my first podcast Story Worthy in 2010. I had been enjoying listening to Adam Carolla’s podcast and also Marc Maron’s podcast and I saw that podcasting was something that was feasible. Since it was on a consumer level, you didn’t have to be on the radio, you could be your own station. I could do this!

The idea of Story Worthy came to me from doing the storytelling series The MOTH. It’s a show where every day people get up on stage and tell a true five minute story based on a theme. I went to many shows and also performed in a couple of them. When people were on stage telling their stories, I would have questions. But then their story would end and they would leave the stage. I found myself chasing people to their cars, “And then what happened??” This became the idea for Story Worthy. And 13 years later I’m still doing the exact same show with the same premise- comedians and comedy writers come on the show and tell me a true story, after the story is over, I ask questions I think the audience would be thinking about as well. I have now produced over 800 episodes of Story Worthy and I am very proud of my catalog.

My other podcast is called My Life In 3 Songs. This show is my real passion. I ask comedians about the three songs impacted their life and then we listen to the song. I am using the program Spotify that allows Podcasters to use their music catalog. I was hesitant to start My Life In 3 Songs for many years because I knew that the show could only be heard on Spotify. Nowhere else. But after careful consideration and prompting from my Story Worthy audience, I decided to go ahead and start the show.

Comedians immediately responded positively. Just as I suspected, comedians love music, and every story behind each song paints a picture of their life. You cannot take away the importance of music in someone’s life. And hearing about their choices tells you who they are as a person and a comedian.

I have now had on over 25 comedians and I personally listen to the shows over and over again because I enjoy the content so much. The audience is responding as well.

One of the impetus’s for starting My Life In 3 Songs, is my personal musical hero Neil Young. When I was a girl growing up the youngest of six in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania I loved listening to the music my brother was playing in his room. My sisters were enjoying the Beatles and the Bee Gees and Neil Diamond in the living room, but my brother was playing Led Zeppelin, Boston, and my hero Neil Young. I remember when I was 14 years old and hearing the album Rust Never Sleeps. On the first side, Neil opens the album with the acoustic version of “My My, Hey Hey.” He sings about how rock ‘n’ roll won’t fade away. On the flipside of the vinyl, the last track was called “Hey Hey, My My,” it was a duplicate of the first song on the album but this time it was an electric version, much louder, “Hey hey, my my, rock ‘n’ roll will never die.” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I asked my brother “How can he do this? How can he just rename the song and do it twice? The songs are so similar but yet so different! How can he do this??” And my brother simply said “Because he’s an artist.” That stuck with me, it still does.

Fast forward, I recorded two or three comedians and then it was my turn to record the 3 songs that have impacted my life, which of course included Neil Young. Well guess what? Neil Young’s music is not on Spotify. He pulled his catalog after Joe Rogan promoted not getting vaccinated. So I changed one of my songs to a Peter Frampton song- Show Me The Way, which also influenced me with his “talk box” and wailing guitar solos. But truth be told, it is Neil Young that has ‘shown me the way.”

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

Money. I struggle to understand this as well. But what I do understand is that wealth does not bring happiness. I have known many people that have been extremely wealthy and completely miserable. Money and happiness do not equate.

What people outside the creative world don’t seem to get, is that making my art is enough for me. Having people listen to my podcasts and come to my shows is success to me. Of course I would like to make more money, but I am not willing to give up my creative life to do it.

I would rather live without a washer and dryer in my home then go to a job I don’t feel valued at. I would rather never have a garage than work at a job that saps my soul. I may rent for my entire life and never have that big yard with a pool that I’ve dreamed of, but I know I will have spent every moment possible on my craft and with my daughter. Sure I have side-jobs I don’t love, but I can get a different one if I need to. My time is the most valuable I have. Money is simply, not everything. Sometimes getting by is enough.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

The first rules of social media are to make it simple and have fun. That may be over simplifying things but at the end of the day an audience can tell the difference between being sincere and posting out of torment and necessity. Whether you enjoy posting every day or not, the fact is social media is the game that is being played now, and a social media presence is an absolutely necessity (especially if you are selling something- i.e. yourself.)

That being said, I do not think you need to be active on every social media platform, but since starting a profile is free in most circumstances, why not establish a presence on as many platforms as possible. In the profile area you can always tell people where you do spend your time. You can, for example, direct the audience to your Instagram page or Facebook page, or maybe just direct them to your website. Social media is a win-win for everyone involved. You do not have to spend time on social media but you do need to have some sort of social media presence. If you do not people think you simply are not in the game, or worse yet they won’t think of you at all.

Get in the game. Get on social media. And remember, it’s a SOCIAL thing, you have to comment and like other people’s stuff too. It goes back and forth. Oh, and don’t just post ASKS, post things you find interesting as well. Or just post a photo of your cat. Everyone loves a sweet cat.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.christineblackburn.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/storyworthy/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/christine.blackburn.10
• Linkedin: https://bit.ly/3hTaroc
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/StoryWorthy
• Youtube: https://bit.ly/3jpZJDA
• Other: Blue Sky-https://bsky.app/profile/storyworthy.bsky.social https://www.storyworthypodcast.com/ https://www.mylifein3songs.com/ https://www.storysmashshow.com/

Image Credits
Troy Conrad Jefferson Graham Mikel Healey