We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Krys a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Krys, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your creative career sooner or later?
I am a firm believer in the “everything happens for a reason”, but I’ve constantly looked back and thought, wow… what if I was able to start all of this so much earlier in life?
To be honest, I was discouraged, a lot. Which was a little strange because I came from a family of performers, I learned to sing and dance when I was a toddler. I read a lot through school and found my love for writing that way, and because it all ties together in imagination and performance, I later discovered that I loved to act.
Over time, I expressed that this was my passion, and dream. But then, reality hit like a truck: I was constantly teased by someone (who is no longer in my life), saying my books would never make it, and that writing was a waste of time. I was told by many, that my figure and or face wouldn’t make it in the acting world, theater or otherwise. I was asked to sing back up for some things, which was fine by me, until I was picked up and then immediately dropped and ghosted by some musical acts. It took the wind right out of my creative sails.
*This was before I found my metal bands, and I had a great time performing with them. But even then, my insecurity told me I wasn’t a good enough singer to be a part of those gigs. Thanks, Impostor Syndrome.
Performing (singing, writing or whatever), was not a lucrative enough career path in the eyes of my family. I changed my major a lot, frantic and rushing to find an interest that appeased my family. Something that would promise enough money to simply… survive. I also had a very rough start post-college, and had to figure out how to balance life and bills and other challenges. I remember telling people I wanted to go to Juilliard, that I wanted to study vocal performance and opera elsewhere, and they laughed at me. So with that, and years of retail later, performance sadly fell to the wayside.
I do have some minor regret having lost those years where I could’ve been doing what I love. However, the pieces fell into place and I’m happy where I am now, and with everything I have accomplished so far. I’ve met incredible people along the way, and I don’t know if our paths would’ve crossed if my timing was different. I don’t know how many times I tried to study medicine, languages, science… and every road continuously pointed me back towards art. It wasn’t until I was essentially given no choice, that I took a leap of faith and dove right back into art. So the timing, honestly, was spot on.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I come from a Filipino-American family in Central California, the middle child of three, with two brothers. My mother was a nurse now retired, my step-father works in tech, and my father is a chef.
I am proud to say I am a full-time artist, working in Voice Over, Music, and as an independent author.
So for the “origin” story, as it were, performing has always been a part of my life, as artistry runs in my family. Whether it be singing, dancing, playing an instrument, doing martial arts, at any given time, someone did something creative in my family. Of course, I had lots of ideas when it came to what I wanted to be when I grew up, and my path changed several times. I wanted to be a nurse (like my mom), I wanted to be a marine biologist, author, astronaut, journalist, psychologist, translator/ linguist, work in law enforcement, or become a singer (in theater or opera), a pop star, Rockstar, etc.
As time went on the one and only constant that I found any joy in was the arts. I wrote a lot when I was young, making up silly stories with my best friend. That blossomed into fanfiction, which further bloomed into writing my own novels and series. When it came to music, my mother and grandmothers were all incredible at singing, so being around them growing up, I of course followed their lead. I am classically trained, and sing in various genres from classical, to pop, to jazz, metal and so on. I learned to hula when I was a toddler, since my mom used to perform in Hawaii with her dance troupe, so that lead into my theater days and fitness dance instruction, later in life. Finally, when it came to acting, that was the last thing I picked up, that really became a strong interest. I regret not doing it more through high school, but when I auditioned for my first musical in college? I was hooked.
Of course, once those college days were over, balancing extra-curricular things like theater and a full-time job became difficult, when establishing yourself, and finding your footing “in the real world”. I’d just moved out of my folks place and found that the priority had to go towards my bills, and sadly the arts slipped farther away. I did a couple of community shows and even became the lead singer of a metal band… but even those became more difficult to manage. So, I gave up on performing for a while, which turned into several years, in which I worked several retail jobs, either with tech, video games or clothing– until my last day-job as a Sales / Experience Consultant for a [Phone Company].
That was, until 2015, I awoke with a surprise which was not so pleasant… vertigo. It was so bad I ended up in the ER. I was grateful for the staff and my friend who picked me up that day. Because if she hadn’t, and they hadn’t treated me, they would’ve never found the chronic illness in my stomach that would later take me out of work indefinitely. I was diagnosed and effectively taken out of work, and to be quite honest, I felt lost and confused for a long time. Doctor visits came up with no answers, and I was never cleared to return to my job. Eventually, I was let go. For the first time in a decade and a half, I had no job, no clue what was going on, no idea what I would do from there.
I became homebound, and unable to rejoin the day-to-day work force. I had to figure something out that was remote, and/or would accommodate for my ever-unpredictable illnesses. At the time, I’d already established a small circle in the indie author network. Good friends from my area of CA, and that’s where this all really starts.
With very limited, self-taught techniques, I had a thought to delve into cover design for authors. A friend of mine, also an author, encouraged me to do so. It was hobby for a while, which, rapidly and unexpectedly grew into a networking exercise, nudging me into an industry I never even thought I’d be in touch with. Ever. Sure, I’d published independently at that point, I shot my book out into the universe quietly and with very little knowledge of what I was even doing at first… but this was truly a blessing in disguise.
From there I got in touch with so many authors and everyone who worked in the book world. PAs, formatters, editors, publishers, audiobook narrators. There are so many moving parts in the world of books.
By pure circumstance I was linked up with three different authors, two of whom would later be my rock(s) in the audiobook world. An author I designed for was talking to me about producing her books on audio. I said I’d always wanted to voice act; At the time I had a very low quality mic, a very low end laptop, and absolutely nowhere stable to record, but I still managed to figure out how to make very quick demos to start. My original pursuit had been video games and anime or animation, mostly because those were mediums I was very familiar with. However, I did grow up listening to books on tape with my best friend and her mom, when we went on road trips, and I never considered that to be an obtainable thing. But I did love telling stories.
When I told her that, that I was an actor, interested in finding a way to voice act, she told me to “just go for it!”
My first, quiet muttering to myself: “but HOW?”
I had no clue. But somehow, the two others I mentioned before knew her. So by her recommendation, I shot my shot… and the next thing I knew? BAM. I had an audition in front of me, and an opportunity to get my foot in that door.
Did I land my first audition? No.
But did I quit? Also no.
I’d grown up performing for years only to know that *that* part is the nature of the beast. Don’t get me wrong, just because I’ve been performing for 30+ years doesn’t make rejection any easier to bear. Not to mention, battling the self-doubt, the impostor syndrome, the negative words from people who thing it’s “silly” or “stupid” or say things like “that’s cute” and roll their eyes at this and ask about me getting a “real job”. But I digress.
This one chance-interaction was the catalyst that set me on the path to becoming an audiobook narrator.
I have not looked back since.
I have now been an established audiobook narrator since 2018 with over 140 titles. I have been award-nominated with the SOVAS for multicast work, and Audiobook of the Year (Playground) at the AUDIES with a Pulitzer Prize-winning author (Richard Powers) and award-winning castmates. One of my first video game appearances was a game called Sacred Fire with Doug Cockle of the Witcher, and I played the lead character Alexandra in HeistGeist from Doublequote Studio. Thanks to this being my main line of work, I was able to sing again, and have remotely collaborated with friends and artists to make music. And of course, I have never given up on telling stories. While my writing takes a little longer to come out, I still find such joy in crafting the stories myself or with my friends, and publishing once they’re all ready to go.
I thought I’d never get to perform again. I figured once I was sick, that would be the end of any dreams like this. Mostly, I never would have imagined that the day my step-dad gifted me a condenser mic, pop filter and interface, my mom and dad helping me get a decent computer together for work — would be the tools that brought me to my real calling, and new career.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
Share.
If a friend of yours has something they’ve made themselves, whether it’s photography, a song, a crocheted teddy bear, and they’re proud of it? “Smash the like button” — content creators say it for a reason. If they’re trying to signal boost something on socials? Share or repost it! It is absolutely free to like and support that way, (and dependent upon the platform of course) but for most of us, our advertising comes from word of mouth. The best way is to pass the note along like we used to pass notes in school, right? ;)
Don’t Steal.
I guess in the era of AI-generated content, it’s quite a hot topic that I probably won’t get into here and now. But art-theft is most definitely nothing new. Credit your artists. Pay them for the art you consume, and share it so others may discover it too.
The arts are always under attack as “unnecessary” or “frivolous”… I remember when I was in school, the first funding to get cut? Arts and music. I will never understand this, when art is all around you. The video game you’re playing, the music you’re streaming on repeat, the television show you’re binging, the movie you’re excited to see next, the book you’re reading, and so on.
If you have any way to support artists, I encourage you to do so, even if it’s just posting a kind comment on your friends work. It helps us keep going. Trust me.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
I’ve always found that performance to be thrilling. Finishing that book after months, or years of drafting? Getting through a dance routine after fumbling on a move or two? Finally hitting that high note when it has not been reachable– or even nailing a character accent I’ve just learned? It all feels so good to reach those goals or wrap up a piece.
In addition to that, I’d have to say, seeing the reactions, whether good or bad, is rewarding. Of course you never wanna see bad marks on something you’ve done, but it happens. Sometimes it only takes one out of 100 good reviews to really tear you down. With that, I’ve been told that “you can’t please everyone” or “you may not be for everyone” and so I keep that in my mind. Ultimately I want the performance to resonate with everyone in the audience. I tell myself that if the majority loved it, if I know I gave everything and poured my heart into the performance, and of course, most importantly, if the author or developer loved it, then it’s going to be alright.
And we pick up, and carry on.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.krysjanae.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/krysjanae
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/krysjanae
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@KrysJanaeVoice
- Other: tiktok.com/krysjanae
threads : Krysjanae
Bluesky : Krysjanae
Image Credits
Images are taken/owned by me.