Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Marjuan Canady. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Marjuan, thanks for joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I’ve been involved in the arts since i was five years old. I was fortunate to take dance, music, and theatre classes and be exposed to visual arts, theatre arts and music performance as a young person. I started taking it seriously when i was 14, when i attend the Duke Ellington School of the Arts for high school. From there, I went on to college to study Theatre and African Studies and then to NYU where i received my Masters in Arts Politics. I have learned the actual techniques of theatre making and performance through 22 years of study but i learned what it really meant to be a working artist by creating my own work, learning new skills, using my resources, taking risks and failing over and over again, and learning many more lessons. I don’t think i would have “sped” up anything i learned. I learned everything in the right order, in the right time. You learn what you need when you have to, at the right time. The skills that were most essential to me, was learning the techniques of the actual craft. At the end of the day, working in the “industry” is a long road of challenges, triumphs, and a bit of luck but when an artist is rooted and grounded in their craft and their purpose, no one can take that away which is what gives you longevity. You have to love it.

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?

Marjuan Canady is a Broadway Producer and award-winning Caribbean-American artist, entrepreneur, educator, and literacy advocate. A native Washingtonian, her work spans theater, film, television, children’s media and literature. She is currently a Co-Producer on the Broadway production, Death of a Salesman. She was the 2021-2022 inaugural Front Row Productions Fellow / Adjunct Research Scholar at Columbia University Theatre Management and Producing Program. Her original work has been seen at The John F. Kennedy Center, Sesame Street, The Smithsonian, The Lincoln Center for Performing Arts, The National Theatre, Miami Book Fair, Ryan Seacrest Foundation and the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute. She is the CEO/ Author and Creative Director of the children’s media brand, Callaloo Kids. She has held fellowships at The Schomburg Center, the DC Commission on the Arts, the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute, Lincoln Center, Harlem Stage, and the Anacostia Arts Center. She is the Founder of her production company Sepia Works and non-profit, Canady Foundation for the Arts. Canady is a graduate of Duke Ellington School of the Arts, Fordham University and NYU Tisch. She is a proud member of the Producers Guild of America, Actors Equity Association, Dramatist Guild, and the Parent Artist Advocacy League. She is the proud mom of her two year old daughter, Savannah.

I am most proud of developing my own work, building my businesses, serving my community, and being a mom. Being a mom has reshaped my whole life as an artist and a woman.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

One crucial time in my life where I had to pivot was when i was in my late twenties, living in Los Angeles, CA. I had moved to the west coast to pursue my dreams of acting in film and tv. I had done a few commercials and films, here and there, but it was not turning out to be exactly what i wanted. I was downright miserable. I was so far away from family and had lost the fire and Spark to be an artist. Just a week before I had to renew my lease, I decided to pack everything up and move back home to DC. I just listened to my gut and decided to focus on my building my own work and career on the East Coast. I was afraid and felt like I let so many people down by moving to LA and taking that chance. But really, by living in LA for three years, I learned so much on what I didn’t want to do, and wha it needed to focus my energy on, and really what made me happy as a person first, because that ultimately would reflect in my creative work. So I moved back to Washington, DC and began building my production company Sepia Works, with a series of film and theatre works, and building my non-profit organization, the Canady Foundation for the Arts. I’m so glad I did listen to myself and focus on my own journey and not what others wanted of me, or what the standard was for making it in Hollywood.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

Yes, some of my favorite books that have impacted me as an artist, activist and entrepreneur are:

“The Courage to Create” by Rollo May

“The Year of Yes” by Shonda Rhimes

“The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron

“Atomic Habits” by James Clear

“Use what you’ve Got” by Barbara Corcoran

“Hustle Harder” by Curtis Jackson

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.marjuancanady.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marjuancanady
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/marjuancanadyofficial
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marjuancanady
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/marjuancanady?lang=en
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/user/canadymt

Image Credits
Diangela Paynee Carl Gray