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

NaTania, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. 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 would like to say I’ve been lucky to be able to make my living this way, but luck has nothing to do with it, it’s because of how hard I work. My love for being creative and my hate for “regular” jobs come together to make sure I earn my living creatively. Now in most cases that includes multiple projects at a time, but I carefully make sure they all lend to my artistry in some form or fashion. I graduated from a performing arts conservatory just last year. However, I wasn’t your average fresh grad. I went to college straight out of high school to a traditional liberal arts university, went for about three years, and that didn’t work out for me. After that, I took a couple years to find myself. I was extremely fortunate that my mom let me live rent and bill free while doing so. I had free will to pickup and put down jobs like a child does toys. So I tried everything. I also did a ton of traveling and gained so much life experience. It was in the midst of my heavy partying/bartender days when I went to this community theater audition on a whim. I hadn’t taken performing seriously in awhile, then went and got cast the lead in a show with a strenuous score! That experience reminded me exactly what I was supposed to be doing with my life. When I finally buckled down and went back to school, to a very rigorous conservatory no less, I knew exactly what I wanted my post-grad life to look like, and everything I didn’t want as well. The semester leading up to graduation is supposed to be dedicated to auditioning and getting ready to enter the industry. I can’t speak on anybody else’s work ethic, but I was auditioning for everything I qualified for, sending in 10+ tapes a week. I was determined to be able to afford to live in NYC when I graduated, and to do that I must have a job, and to keep myself happy it couldn’t be just any job. I booked my first show about a month before graduation and I have stayed booked creatively since then. The funny thing about staying booked creatively, you realize how many things you never thought people cast actors for. I’ve been able to take advantage of some pretty unique opportunities because of how wide I cast my net when searching for creative employment. I haven’t been in a traditional actor role, on a traditional theater stage, in forever. I’m excited to get back soon, but I have to say, I’ve enjoyed the talking points and intrigue that comes from reading my resume. One big point I stress to people who ask me how I keep booking work is that I never stop auditioning. I book contracts that go as long six months sometimes. There’s not a time during that entire timespan that I’m not actively working towards what’s next. Honestly I probably could do a little better basking in the present, because my mind is constantly thinking towards the future. I audition like I’m unemployed always, but minus the desperation. Of course sometimes my schedule gets so crazy that I don’t have time to audition because I’m working multiple shows already, but these are great problems to have. My work ethic keeps me employed and my heart makes sure I’m applying my talents and energy to all the right places. My process was exactly what I needed for me, and I wouldn’t change it or speed it up one bit. I think I’m the smart performer I am now because of everything I went through to get where I am.

NaTania, 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?

NaTania B Parker is the daughter of Desiree L Parker and the late Donald Allen Jr. She started off doing activities as early as a pageant at just six months old. At the age of four she began dancing at Miss Barbara’s School of dance, which sparked her passion for the performing arts and groomed her for the stage. A few other notable achievements over the years have been earning her black belt in Tae-kwon-Do, being crowned Young Miss Buffalo 2009, and graduating from the American Musical and Dramatic Academy Conservatory of the Performing Arts in New York City. Growing up, NaTania was blessed with an amazing support system which allowed her to explore any and all of her interests. Nothing ever topped her love for the stage though. Due to the pandemic, like a lot of students, she was sent home from school to do classes online. After months of dancing in the concrete driveway, tearing up dance shoes, and then realizing COVID wouldn’t just blow over, her family turned one of their properties into NaTania’s personal dance studio. During the summer semester, there was a discussion about branding. This made her to think about her own brand, how she wants to market herself, and the mark she plans on leaving on the world. The brand started with a merchandise line: NaTania B Parker LLC. NBP merch was created as an activewear line for artists, made by an artist. It was used as a tool to stay creative during a time when performance wasn’t an option. It became a way for friends to show their support for her artist journey. Miss Parker has always had a goal in life to give back to the village that raised her and the next generation of artists. The plan was to wait until she had the big gigs and money, but she came to realize she had so much to give where she is right now: Community resources, over twenty years of dance, college training, endless passion, and the list could go on forever. That’s when she decided to start a 501c3 non-profit organization: NaTania B Parker Foundation Inc. This foundation was created to provide both monetary and mental health resources to young and aspiring students of the arts. It is of the upmost importance that she gives students some of the many opportunities she was given, and the support it takes, both emotionally and financially, to take advantage of them. NaTania would like to thank God, her family, and friends for their continuous support and keeping her grounded always. She grew up in her home as an only child and only grandchild, but she wants nothing more than to share all of her gifts with the world.

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

So life happens to the best of us right? And the pandemic happened to all of us right? So 2020 from my point of view went a little like this: I was living my best life, living in NYC, attending my dream school, I had finally figured out what I wanted and began paying the dues to get there. The world closes down, all live performance is cancelled, school sent us all home. So I’m back in my hometown, without the outlet that was bringing me my happiness. This is March (my birthday month), looking back I wish my birthday being cancelled was the saddest part of that year. In April, my father passed away. Losing a parent is a feeling you can’t even imagine until it’s you. I knew then I could give in to grief or I could use it as a reason to go even harder. I kept going. Soon after, I had lost an extremely influential family friend. Aside from how much that loss hurt by itself, when I was leaving the house to go to her memorial service, I had walked outside to find my truck had been stolen out of our driveway. I kept going. I began making some legacy moves. My clothing line and non profit foundation were forming. Everything I did became bigger than me. A couple days before my clothing line release party/photoshoot, I was in a car accident, literally with the car filled with my inventory. I kept going. Did I mention I was in school this entire time online? Going to a performing arts conservatory online is the exact hell it sounds like. But due to the car accident I couldn’t participate due to injuries I had sustained. I had to write papers in some classes to substitute for the movement I couldn’t do. I did the papers, I kept going. Soon after that semester ended I found out I had been essentially dancing on a fractured foot/ankle for a year. This has now progressed to needing surgery. I got the surgery. By this point I am at the absolute lowest of low. What else could I have lost at this point? I was literally in therapy re-learning how to walk because they completely reconstructed my foot. Laying there in bed with the year I had, I thought I had nothing left. I remember during that time, the clubhouse app had gotten very popular. There was a chat dedicated to actors and just talking industry from those that worked in it. We were all sitting at home, why not share gems for when the world comes back. It sounds like hyperbole, but that chat kept me alive during this time. Feeling like I was still learning and still in touch with my dream, somehow it kept me on track. They talked about how the shutdown was temporary, even though no one really knew. I knew they felt how hard not performing had hit us all. It was a community that I needed to keep going this time. Those moderators could never understand how important that was in keeping me out of spiraling depression. I was motivated to work my way out of my cast. I was going to heal fast and get back to it. I decided I didn’t go through all those things in vain. I made it out because my life had bigger plans. Making it through 2020 really showed me how strong I am, and that I can persevere through anything, Do I still have the occasional breakdown? Of course. This career is hard. But that girl that thought that year was going to take her out, wouldn’t dare not bask in the days she never thought she would see. Resilience is mandatory for me at this point.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

They can start by acknowledging what we do is a real profession, that deserves respect, and recognition. Especially in minority communities, creative careers are a myth to children, because it’s not one of those “respectable jobs” like being a doctor or lawyer etc. Making a living off of being a creative is real and doable and should be on the table as a career path. Arts also needs more money, more funding, but also people to come watch and appreciate it. Society should actively try new mediums of art. Consuming music is great, but what about a gallery showing or a broadway show. Society should be able to spend more time in creative spaces. Love on the creative people in your life, those are the innovators!

Contact Info:

• Website: nataniabparker.com
• Instagram: its_nataniabparker
• Facebook: NaTania B Parker