We were lucky to catch up with Michelle Oppedisano recently and have shared our conversation below.

Michelle, appreciate you joining us today. Are you happier as a creative? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job? Can you talk to us about how you think through these emotions?

This question is asked all the time and, yes, I do wonder all the time. But the reality is that I’ve gotten a taste of it with my survival jobs, and I just want to be creating. I have to be performing. It was terrifying, but I finally burned the boats and jumped all in, and I’ve never been happier.

Michelle, 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 got into performing because of my mom, She was a theatre critic since before I can remember, and I knew at a very young age that I wanted to perform for a living. I literally never wanted to do anything else. My entire life was leading up to me moving to New York City and starting a musical theatre career, but my path to “success” was not linear. Fear held me back tremendously, and it started showing up in my personal life in huge ways. I ended up married to the wrong person and miserably working non-performing jobs for many years. Along the way, I found yoga, which, now, I cannot live without. It changed my life so much that I actually became a yoga teacher. I was even going to become a nutritionist and start a yoga/wellness brand, but I knew deep down that I would never be happy unless I was performing. I still love teaching yoga, and I might do something with the wellness brand someday, but even if I don’t. my yoga/wellness journey serve my performing career in ways I didn’t know were possible.

I am most proud that I was able to reroute my path back to a life of happiness, doing what I love. I am now fully making my living performing. That was not easy, but it’s important to know that *IT IS POSSIBLE.*

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

It sounds cheesy, but it’s true: my mission is to spread sunshine and tell stories.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I touched on this in the previous question, but at one point I found myself married to the wrong person. I was very young when I met him, and I ignored many red flags. Without going into detail, it was a very, very bad situation. On top of that, my career kept slipping further and further away. I knew deep down that I had all of this potential that I was throwing away, but I kept feeling more and more stuck. The stress was taking a toll on my body. I was having panic attacks regularly, and my health and fitness kept getting worse and worse. One thing that I have learned is that everything is constantly in a cycle, and it’s either going up or it’s going down. I was in a downward cycle for many years. Because of yoga, I finally hit the bottom of the cycle (“rock bottom”), and slowly started climbing back up. Getting divorced was the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make, but once I made that decision, everything else started becoming clearer and easier. I lost 40 pounds, stopped having panic attacks, and I eventually began living up to my potential. As I said before, I am now fully making my living performing, which makes my heart so happy. If I could go back and tell that version of myself anything, it’s that it *WILL* get better.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @michelleoppedisano and @live.well.w.michelle
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michelle.m.oppedisano/
• Other: Threads: michelleoppedisano

Image Credits
Andrew Mauney, AJM Photography Ai Toyoshima Shawn Morgan Owen Smith Hannah Lake Photography