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

Mikaila, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

I am a multi-disciplinary artist, meaning, I do not like to box myself in. The most important thing to know about me is…I don’t like knowing that there’s a creative expression that I can’t do. So even if I have no one to teach me how to be good at something, I learn, I study, I research, I challenge myself, and I grow, This process has helped me with every single aspect of creativity and spirituality that I now express in my business.

It started in sixth grade, when I had a language arts teacher introduce the class to limerick poems. She described the poetic form, how to write it, and unleashed the assignment onto the class. We only had to write one, but this assignment proved to be one that would change my life forever. After the class was done writing, the teacher asked students to volunteer to share their poems. No one did. She locked eyes with me and I begrudgingly agreed: “There once was a girl named Sally. She grew up on the streets of Cali. She got hit by a bus and her mother did fuss ’cause she couldn’t go to Death Valley.” Simple and funny, but my teacher was so delighted, she complimented me in front of the class. From then, I was obsessed. I wrote poems every chance I got. I had notebooks filled with all kinds of poems – Limericks, Haikus, couplets, rhyming, freeform, everything.

English class became my favorite as words became my home, my spark of self-expression. Then, when I was introduced to Theatre in High School, my world imploded in on me! I was amazed. Not only could I write, but I could learn to act too? I can act in the things I wrote for myself? Pure insanity….who would’ve thought that’d be possible? I’d have assignments about writing plays or monologues and I loved them so much that when I graduated and enrolled in college, this was my focus. And my love for writing and performance continued to grow from there! Everything in my life became writing and theatre. I’d spend lunch hours, free periods writing everything I could imagine – more poems, short stories, articles, etc. I had my work published in the school literary journal – a prestigious honor for undergraduates at the time. I had my monologue chosen for a theatrical showcase, another honor.

Then, when I left school, I continued with theatre, learning every aspect of it – acting, directing, stage managing, lights, sound. I had learned to write scripts in college, so I started adapting my old short stories into scripts. During these years, even though I was doing everything I could to express myself in my work, a lot of times they had darker themes. It was reflective of the mental health struggles I faced. I had unreleased and unaddressed trauma, so my mental health had been in steep decline. Eventually, I went to therapy. My therapist, Michael was so great. He helped me to truly believe in my writing capabilities. At that point, even when people told me I was good at something, being an artist while being depressed can feel as if nothing is ever good enough. But I was figuring it out. I was getting better.

With the Pandemic, things were thrown out the window, projects were halted, progress was slowed. But then, I decided to turn inward and expand my inner world, before applying it to my outer world. I did this through honoring my spiritual journey. So in all, learning the craft takes time and pure dedication, it takes pivoting, and it takes awareness of the place you’re in and the spaces you wish to reach. There were so many times I quit, I cried, and I grew frustrated with my work. But for some reason, I haven’t given up. I’ve kept going even when it didn’t make sense. And even though now, I’m still not totally sure what all of my work will accumulate to, I’m very excited to see the results.

Mikaila, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Hello. I am Mikaila Simone Mack. I am a Writer, Filmmaker, and Spiritual Consultant based in Atlanta, Ga. I provided a bit of my back story in my previous question, but I’d like to simplify it by saying, I got into my craft by seizing opportunities and allowing myself to be led by what excites me in the moment. Back in sixth grade in my Language Arts class, I was excited by poetry, by words and rhythm. I’ve allowed that spark to carry me through my life, introducing me to theatre, to film, to performance, to publishing books, and even to spiritual consultations.

In my business, the question I solve for my clients is: “What excites you?”

In my spiritual consultations, I answer it through astrology or the akashic records. My clients ask questions about their life and I am able to convey meaning to them that is both accurate and eye-opening. They leave feeling connected and inspired by the insights I have to share. My favorite part is turning skeptics into believers and providing services for an wide array of clientele, including: creatives, influencers, celebrities, and even tech executives. My way of making abstract topics accessible is what sets me apart in this arena.

In my writing, I raise thought provoking opinions that capture the mind and introduce it to a new perspective. If I’m editing someone’s work, I am pulling out the very best of their storytelling abilities so they remember how to write with passion. What sets my writing apart is I write with a sharp honesty. I will say things directly and plainly, leaving no room for confusion. But at the same time, even in its seeming simplicity, you will always find something more with repeated perusal. My books can be read a multitude of times and still someone will tell me how they find something new to absorb and ponder.

In my filmmaking, I am triggering my audience to take a deeper look at themselves without the fogged lens society has blinded them with. I aim to center the rawness of uncensored emotion and mental illness through my work. My favorite aspect of this is the emotional aspect. I’ve made people cry, feel, and connect. My goal with my filmmaking is to bring back feeling and care. What sets me apart is that not only is it my goal, but I as a filmmaker am not afraid to break down. There’s a fearlessness that comes from breaking down and building yourself back up and I’ve done it enough times to be fully confident in my expression and the version of myself I showcase in my films.

What I want the take away of my work to be is….regardless of what service or content or consultation you receive from me, it has my entire heart in it. Everything I do, every service I provide, every project I create has a quiet intensity to it. It’s not loud, but it’s the kind of intensity that changes you the second you come into contact with it. You only have to experience it to believe it.

Have you ever had to pivot?

As I shared before, my creative journey is rooted in my interests in writing and theatrical performance. I got my start by writing poetry. In high school, I was inspired by poets like Rudy Francisco, Sarah Kay, and others. They way they’d tell stories in their poetry inspired my to start writing my own slam poetry and I’d perform them at school. One high school I a held events called “No Fear Night,” which was a sort of mini showcase where drama kids would perform skits. I would do improv scenes and perform poetry. It was amazing. So years later, when I got my first official “Adult Theatre Job” and when I was gaining momentum in the poetry world by performing my pieces, it was a very exciting time for me! I dedicated myself to getting better and expanding my reach in these fields. Eventually, people were recognizing me and being inspired by me!

And then…the Pandemic hit.

The shows stopped. I had no inspiration to write. This was when I learned to pivot. Because even though I wrote, performed, and stage managed constantly, I wasn’t living with enough intention. I didn’t know the direction I was going in. So I had to pivot to connect to myself and figure out what it was that I wanted. So as the world descended into seeming chaos, I found myself being pulled to create with a deeper meaning and purpose. I did this through awakening into my spirituality. I became drawn to Astrology, meditation, and spiritual consultation. So after much studying, I pivoted to Astrology. I started learning the stars and their correlations to human behavior…and became scarily accurate. After people encouraged me to charge for the consultations, I started my Spiritual Consultation business, which helped me through the pandemic and also helped me to uncover a plan for myself – one that’d ensure that once we as a society came out the other end, I’d feel comfortable with spreading my wings and taking risks.

So then, I expanded my business. Instead of just offering astrological readings, I offered writing services: script writing, editing, article writing, etc. I offered photography services (another skill I had picked up in high school and developed over the years) and made jewelry. I performed poetry online and went viral. I wrote two books, I even learned to cook and bake. I learned how to be good at every avenue of artistic expression so that whenever an opportunity came, I’d be intentionally ready to share the talent and skill I had to offer.

I learned that when I reached a wall, I needed to pivot, take a step back, and survey the area to find a new route. Sometimes things work, and other times they don’t. But I am always watching to horizon, even when I’m fully present in my task. This is how I stay at the top of my game and how I’m able to reinvent myself over and over again as a creative and spiritualist.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I was in therapy for four and a half years. In these years, I had been hospitalized twice for suicidal ideation and at another point, I was sleeping in my car. I had been at the lowest points in my life multiple times. I reached these points because even though I had been well-recognized for my work and had been a budding success creatively, mentally, I was deeply unwell. I didn’t know how to take care of myself and on another, deeper level…I didn’t want to. I didn’t think I was worth it. I didn’t think I deserved to experience the good parts of life. So I often sought to end my life, or I put myself in positions that would place me in a spot of extreme struggle. It was as if I had to prove to myself I was worthy enough to experience knidess, comfort, respect, love.

I was on a very harsh and severe self-sabotaging path. Therapy helped, but it truly started to change when I discovered and prioritized my spirituality through meditation. When I did that, slowly, but surely, my world started to open up. I started to create from a space of love for myself rather than pain. And I started to learn how to forgive myself for the trauma I experienced and the self-sabotaging patterns I exhibited as a result from it. I believe this illustrates my resilience because each of these experiences – the mental hospitals and the homelessness – are markers of extreme turmoil one should never have to experience. These experiences have shaped me and the way I express myself for the rest of my life. I am still here and I am very proud of that one simple fact. It is a monumental choice to choose to stay alive even when every bit of your circumstance tells you you’re not worth it.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.mikailamack.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mikailaisawesome/
• Twitter: https://tiktok.com/@mikailaisawesome
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@mikailaisawesome
• Other: https://linktr.ee/mikailaisawesome

Image Credits
Photos taken by Szurai Ciara and Jerome Purnell