We were lucky to catch up with Meghan Shanley recently and have shared our conversation below.

Meghan, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

I have lived in Nashville now for 22 years! I went to school to become a broadcast journalist, but fell in love with music and singing along the way which changed my whole trajectory. I grew up as an athlete and didn’t;t even know that I could sing until I was 17. I wanted to compete in a. Miss America preliminary pageant but didn’t have a suitable talent. Can’t exactly bring a softball bat on stage for a pageant :) So I attempted singing. I sang in front of my mom but interacted her not to look at me since I was still too timid. When I finished singing the song, she looked at me shocked and said “Where did that come from?!?!” Apparently it was good enough to do in public…so I entered my first pageant and wouldn’t you know…..I Won!!! I was rough around the edges and young as all get out, but I found myself on the way to compete at Miss Virginia at the ripe age of 17. That was a massive learning year, but the bug of performing and music bit me good. Over the next 3 years I continued performing wherever I could to get stage experience and confidence, as well as strengthen my craft of singing. There was a lot of trial and error, which I think is so important as a growing artist. Finding out what you don’t do well at is just as important as finding the things you are great at. On my third try for Miss Virginia I finally won the title and that night all of my college loans were paid off with the scholarship winnings I was awarded! I had an incredible year of experiences including competing at Miss America. Our class of contestants were there when 9/11 happened, so it was an incredibly impactful and tough year to watch the country go through that attack while we were all there representing our respective states. After the year of Miss Virginia, I was so in love with performing that there was really no other choice in my eyes but to move to Nashville and pursue it. Over these 22 years the biggest lesson that I have learned about mammon a full time living at music is to learn how to think outside of the box. I have been presented with opportunities that didn’t necessarily fit into the label of what I thought success would look like , ie, getting a recording deal and going on tour. But I learned to give each opportunity a fair shot and then decide if it was right or wrong for me. Some of the opportunities I would have normally turned my nose up at, like being in a corporate party band, have given me some of my best performance skills and greatest experiences in this career. Due to keeping an open mind when interesting opportunities are presented, I have been cast in production shows throughout North America, I have recorded my own album, toured with a high energy party band, and now am currently performing in Nashville’s first of it’s kind residency show called Shiners. There were lots of ups and downs and lots of “valleys’ where I wasn’t quite sure what the heck I was doing, but I just kept trying to uncover opportunities. Lots of those chances were brought to me by never stopping the networking process. It is like a game of dominos. One person leads to another person leads to another. It’s really neat how that works, but it’s not going to happen unless you put yourself out there and put in the effort.

Meghan, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I included a lot of how I got into the industry in the last question. But when I was Miss Virginia I also had the spark to really make the most out of that opportunity to do good and encourage the generations after me. I love the quote that “To him whom much is given, much is expected.” What good is it to not try and do good with the gifts and talents that you have been given? So during that year and the years to follow I became a speaker who goes into schools to bring positive messages to kids. By pairing music and encouraging messages I felt that I was utilizing my gifts to do well. Through years of doing that I was inspired to write my first children’s book. I wrote Vincent Plays His Part as a way to encourage kids that we all have unique gifts to share with the world. In the age of social media, the comparison game is at an all time high. Kids, and to be fair a lot of adults too, are trying to be just like others they see around them which is a huge source of discontentment and can be quite dangerous in the adolescent years. I think I am most proud of that book. It was a huge undertaking and pretty expensive to self-publish, but was such a worthy undertaking.
When it comes to my singing/performing I think what I get the most joy out of is looking out into the audience and seeing people get a break from “real-life” if only for a couple hours and get to laugh, sing along, and just be present. It really is the best reward to be able to bring joy to people.

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

Our society is so driven by achieving, making money, acquiring “things”, etc. Most times I feel like that diminishes the importance of the arts and creative endeavors in the minds of most people. Clearly it is important to be able to support yourself, but I feel like people get so locked in to finding a stable job and then get stuck in that job for years that they rob themselves of the time to really find where their passion lies. Throw on top of that building a family and now they have other people to support and lack the freedom of being able to pursue a passion because of sheer responsibility. I think our society needs to find a way to encourage artists in the early stages of adolescence and young adulthood. BUT, it needs to be paired with lessons of how to make a living while pursuing those passions. For example, teaching artists how to search for opportunities to make money utilizing their gift. One great example of how I have done that is that I do a Patsy Cline impersonation act which can get booked for corporate events. There is great money in corporate events. I know painters who do a ” paint your event” service and make great money. There are all kinds of possibilities to make money at your passion that might not fit into the box you initially set out for yourself as “Success”. Did I originally think of “success” as impersonating a country singer? Absolutely not, I thought of it as being a massive star on tour and on the radio, BUT I quickly learned that, for me, success is having the freedom and flexibility to pursue the things that bring me joy and that I am passionate about. Performing is one of those things. So I think tangible real-life skills and training for artists pursuing a career would be a great benefit to our society to encourage the artists and entrepreneurs of the world.

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?

I was chatting with a cast-mate the other day and we were discussing how hard it is for non-creatives to understand the energy output that comes with being a performer. Many non-creatives can look at us and think we are being lazy if we go into zombie mode for a day or two after a weekend full of performing. And to be fair, I was rather hard on myself for many years because I thought that I was being lazy as well. But when you think about how much energy is going into performing you realize that it’s not just physical energy. It is physical , it is emotional, it is spiritual. You are opening up just about everything about yourself to the world in a very vulnerable way. The same can be said about any creative or entrepreneur. You are risking everything by presenting new ideas and concepts to the world. So it is so very very important that creatives make sure they are recharging themselves to fill back up the energy that is depleted. For me that looks like getting into nature, exercising, playing with my dog, praying, and SLEEP! :) Taking care of yourself is massively important to avoid burnout. In any career!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.vincentplayshispart.com
• Instagram: meghanshanley
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meghan-shanley

Image Credits

Steve Herlihy
Dan Peer
Dustin DeYoe