We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Marissa Neola. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Marissa below.

Marissa, appreciate you joining us today. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

Wooooo, ok this is a question I get asked a lot by my students and parents. Wondering how did I manage to make a living and not go to college. Thankfully both my parents instilled in me from birth that financial stability is key to an easy adulthood. When I moved out at the fresh age of 18, I thankfully already had a job at one dance studio. Now once the bills started rolling in, I knew I needed more income. I started working 4 days a week at dance studios, and one day a weekend doing choreography. That kept me a float for a while. When the industry jobs started coming in, I would miss days from work and my paycheck would be lower and lower every month. Unfortunately, industry jobs go by the NET30; meaning that after I’ve completed the job I would have to wait 30 days to receive payment. During that 30 day period, I had to take on a house cleaning job, which is the only job I’ve ever had outside of dance. I’m very organized and clean when it comes to creating so I didn’t mind cleaning another person’s things. Some months I would have to ask my bosses for an advance, but thankfully my timeline has worked out where I always had something in the bank and could remain financially stable. Most dancers now a days have their parents paying for everything, which makes sense because industry jobs come and go so quickly. I don’t have that luxury, but I definitely think that would have helped in some times. Flash forward 4 years, I’m now 22 and only work in creative revenue. I’m grateful I never asked my parents for help though because it made me become independent and financially mature faster.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Hi! My name is Marissa Neola. I’m a professional dancer, choreographer, and teacher based out of Atlanta and Miami. I’ve been dancing for 17 years, I know that’s a long time. From my first ballet class, I knew I wanted to dance for the rest of my life. I’m so thankful I have been able to make my dreams a reality. Every day feels like a movie.

I got into dance pretty much how most people do. My mom signed me up for the 5 year old little ballet and tap combo class and I fell in love with it. I tried gymnastics, but dance was my thing for sure. I loved being on stage, putting on a costume, and performing for people. I still love it to this day. Now a days, I market myself as a business as an independent contractor in dance, choreography, and teaching. I have an incredible agent who handles my industry side of my life. This allows me to focus on the choreography and teaching aspect of things. I choreograph and teach class for many of the Atlanta competition dance studios. I am an award winning competition choreographer and IDA nominated. This past summer, I’ve had the opportunity to choreograph some professional work for Admix Project, a dance company in Atlanta. I believe my industry side really plays the biggest role in my teaching experience. I have a lot of students who want to pursue dance and thankfully my career allows me to answer those questions that they or their parents might have. I think that is one thing that sets me apart from other teachers is that I’m in the current market and have real life experiences to teach these up and coming dancers. I really got into teaching because I want to inspire kids with the same passion I felt that encouraged me to take on a life of dance, and I feel that’s exactly what I’ve accomplished.

I think I am most proud of myself for not giving up. There were many times when I felt that I started my career too late. Or made the wrong choice in where to train as a kid. I always felt like I held myself back because I would see these other kids doing what I wanted to do. I would think “why can’t I do that?” and I now know that it wasn’t meant for me at that time. I’m happy that I trusted my path and kept persevering because it led me to this wonderful life and career that I now have. I want all my aspiring dancers to know: no matter who tells you you’re not talented enough, pretty enough, or where you should train, do not let that change you. Do not be a follower. Individuality really shines in a creative industry. Do what is best for you and your goals. And be intentional with your choices!

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

My current goal as a creative is to get into the Latin pop industry. While I love my ATL fam, I have been breaking into the Miami market. It definitely feels like I’m starting all over again, but I know it will be worth it. And not living in Miami makes the process so much slower. I have always been the type to go with the flow and follow where my intuition takes me. Latin pop is really one of the first industries I’ve genuinely felt connected with and I’m excited to explore it!

My “end all be all” goal is to eventually open my own professional contemporary dance company in Atlanta. I love choreographing so much, and eventually I would like to retire and still have the option to create and give other dancers a platform to perform and get paid. I feel so connected to this goal because it is a goal I once had of my own, but my path did not take me to it.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

In our current society, clients have an issue with paying creatives what they deserve for their services. I have done jobs where we sign a contract with an agreed upon amount, and then when payment time comes around, the amount is lower. And unfortunately there is only so much that can be done about it. I feel like all dancers have done a job and not gotten paid for it. Many platforms have been started to protect creatives and educate those hiring us. Every artist wants back up dancers now a days because dancers truly elevate the performance. But we are literally breaking our backs and giving 100% every performance, and we deserve to be paid for it. Even choreographers go through it. Many people will steal choreography off of social media platforms and the choreographer will not get paid for it. Is it plagiarism? Yes. And nothing is done about it. As the creative community keeps elevating, society needs to protect and nurture it instead of exploiting creatives for a free job.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.marissaneola.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marissaneola/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marissa.neola.3
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCszDSUv26m36xBNHOEczyrA

Image Credits
Photographer: Bubba Carr Photographer: @beanfdc