We recently connected with Tatiana ‘Tajci’ Cameron and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Tatiana ‘Tajci’ thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Has your work ever been misunderstood or mischaracterized?

I became a teenage pop star in my country (former Yugoslavia, now Croatia) when I performed at the Eurovision Song Contest. I sang a fun upbeat song titled “Let’s Go Crazy” (Hajde da ludujemo) that’s about falling in love and celebrating (it’s been one of the most played party songs for the past 30+years). I was 19 and full of optimism, hope, and big dreams. I put all of my heart into that performance and people felt it. It was magic and it fit the vision of what I aspired to do: connect with people through music, and create experiences that can move people’s hearts. 

I trusted my production team with my brand and they did a really good job in terms of commercial success – playing on my youth, looks, and resemblance to Merylin Monroe. The brand became bigger than who I was underneath it. It overcame the person and the artist I was. 

We had a toy factory produce a Tajci doll. It looked like me, had my famous orange dress on, and when I held it in my hands, I felt like, the doll was me. I felt like a doll – staying silent and smiling while others moved my hands and legs, dressed me up and did my hair, and decided everything for me. 

My fans loved the girl they saw in the interviews and on stage and seemed disappointed when they’d see me in public without my stage make up, styled up wardrobe, and out of that MM-like character which I loved playing up, but didn’t want to get stuck in it. 

I was classically trained musician with theatre background, I loved to read philosophy, non-fiction and thought-provoking books about the mystery of life and love and wanted all of this to be a part of my art. So yes, I felt misunderstood and misinterpreted and that was a part of the reason I left my success in Croatia.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

My formal name is Tatiana, but most people call me by my nickname Tajci (TAI-chi like in martial arts T’ai-chi – the martial arts).

I’m a lifelong music artist, certified life coach accredited through ICF, and a mom of three amazing sons. I create events, concerts, retreats, and coaching opportunities to help people experience more joy, hope, healing, love, and connection.

Over my 35+ year long career, I’ve experienced commercial success, won awards, gone through personal and emotional struggles, built and rebuilt my business, but most importantly, I’ve been able to do what I love to do, and through my work inspire and empower people to ‘heal deeper, love more, and uplift others. 

What got me to where I am today is several things: 

1. Holding my vision. When life became challenging and the road got tough, I’d go back to the core of what I believed my purpose/ dream/ goal was. When I was 4-year-old I experienced music as a magical tool that had the power to make me feel different feelings and transform the gray world around me into a fairytale – or whatever I wished it to be. I wanted to help others experience that as well and when I was old enough to formulate my desires, I decided my lifelong dream was to tell stories through music and move people’s hearts. Remembering why I do what I do has gotten me where I am today.
2. Studying and practicing not only my craft but also being curious, exploring, and learning about the human soul and why music (and art) affects people the way it does. I read, take online courses, go on adventures that push me out of my comfort zones, and accept life’s challenges as opportunities to practice resilience and keep moving forward. 
3. Leaning onto my community – my family, friends, and those I serve. It took me a while to learn that asking for help is a strength, not a weakness. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for my family and my friends. My high school friend saved my life when I was so desparate that I just wanted to die. When my husband died five years ago, I needed my community to help carry me through the grief. 
4. Faith. Believeing that we are here for a higher purpose, and believing that each of us individually plays a part in creating the world we live in is what gets me out of bed each morning. I had fame and money, all the shoes and dresses I wanted (LOL), and none of that could ever fill that desire to have – and be enough. Knowing I am here, on this planet, in this particular time in history to complete a picture that’s far bigger of what I can see, gives my life meaning and a sense that I am more than enough – I am needed and loved exactly where I am, the way I am. 
5. Chosing to take action – even if it’s just the next little step. What got me where I am today is taking one step at a time toward the vision/ dream/ experience I wanted to live. At times scared, at times discouraged, at times carried in someone’s arms, and at times leaping and flying. One step at a time. 

And just to give your readers a breakdown of my work: I went from an average girl in little Croatia to platinum record selling teenage pop star, to reinventing myself as a NYC musical theatre triple threat; putting on plays and cabaret shows in theatres and clubs in New York City, and Los Angeles; writing and producing (and selling out) a full-length musical; co-producing and hosting a syndicated TV show “Waking Up In America” (with guests like Glennon Doyle, Becca Stevens, and Lucinda Ruh). I wrote and published five books (all are a book + music experience) and facilitated sailing retreats in Croatia. In 2015 I added coaching to my offerings, as I saw a need to support people on their journey – after they are inspired and moved. After my husband (who was also my business partner) passed away from cancer, I expanded my coaching to teaching meditation and lifestyle as medicine – which I find incredibly helpful for everyone but especially touring musicians.

I live in Franklin, TN with my youngest son Blais. I love supporting my two older sons Dante (a recent VR graduate from SCAD), and Amadeus (currently UX mayor in his junior year at SCAD).

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

Coaching. And/or therapy if you bump into blocks that need deeper healing. 

Anything that will support your mental and emotional health – exercise, sleep, nature, meditation, nutrition, support… I wish I was more aware of my mental and emotional health when I was in my teenage years and had a coach and a therapist to help me process stuff I experienced and held inside. In the absence of the awareness and resources, I was putting even more pressure on myself. For example, my extreme exhaustion was labeled as laziness and weakness and so I pushed myself harder. I was told I just didn’t have what it takes to be a rock star when I was literally collapsing from doing two or three shows a day while being put on a starvation diet to keep my skinny figure.

My depression was labeled as ungratefulness, and I was afraid to speak about my anxiety. There was also the verbal, emotional, and sexual abuse I experienced but didn’t know what do to about it – what to name it, identify it, process it, and set healthy boundaries.

All of this severely impacted my confidence as a performer and a creative artist and it took me many years of inner work to heal. 

A great resource for finding an accredited coach is ICF website  https://apps.coachingfederation.org/eweb/CCFDynamicPage.aspx?webcode=ccfsearch&site=icfapp

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

In my 20s and 30s, my resilience was reflected in my ability to pick up and rebuild my life and my career. When my world crumbled, I’d imagined myself as Scarlett in Gone With the Wind holding onto the promise of building a better tomorrow. (lol)

For example, when my career in Croatia became too toxic for me to endure, I got on a plane, left everything behind, and moved to New York. Or five years later, when a beautiful relationship I had with someone in New York got too messy, I packed my car and moved to Los Angeles. When life in Los Angeles got too exhausting, my husband and I found a house in Cincinnati, OH, and moved away from all the traffic, stress, and smog.

With each move, I was able to reimagine and reestablish myself. I’d find a new agent, a new band, new theatres, new audiences. If there were too many rejections, I built my own (agency, band, show, even a theatre.) 

Each move, each failure and new beginning was a practice in resilience.

But the real test came when I turned 40. Life got really difficult – heavy with all the unprocessed stuff I carried inside through all of my moves and re-imaginings. My husband and I got separated and although I knew how to pick up and leave, this time it didn’t feel right. I wrote in my memoir (un)Broken:

“The urge to fly away comes hard.
The need to create and reconnect piles up inside.
It’s like stuff that I sweep under the rug and wait until that ‘someday’
when I’ll find time to deal with it.

Because, now, there are
messes and noises that
I love more than the
moments of great calm,
order, and perfection.

They are the
messes and noises that
I don’t want to leave behind,
clean up, or
quiet down.
I’m not just one person anymore.

Picking up
and leaving
requires a much bigger vehicle.”

My three sons were the reason that this time instead of picking up and leaving I decided to stay and journey inward. At first I felt too broken to do it. Sitting with pain, and processing all the piles of emotional debris, unprocessed traumas, accumulated shame, and limiting beliefs, and programming was the hardest thing I’d ever done.

But with the help of a therapist I learned that resilience and strength that help us overcome challenges – and heal – doesn’t come from jumping into the next thing, distracting or avoiding the mess, but from moving step by step through the hard parts of our journeys,

The biggest test of my resilience was my husband’s Stage 4 cancer diagnosis and his passing only nine months later. I was able to sit with my husband through it all and be present to him and our children with love and hope – instead of despair which would only add to the pain we were all experiencing as a family. 

My followers comment on my resilience in rebuilding my business after my husband’s death (he was also my business partner and booking agent), and the ways I’ve been supporting our sons through high school and college – but I see it more in a way I show up on those difficult days – to use the same visual, as a gentler version of Scarlett who allows herself a good cry and says “After all, today is the only day I’ll ever have. And all is well.”

Contact Info:

• Website: https://tatianacameron.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tajcicameron/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tajci.cameron/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tatiana-cameron-24bba4a/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/tajcicameron
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAPId9nmaSGaIz91ZzjlNag
• Other: https://www.patreon.com/WakingUP

Image Credits
Will Jordan, Ivo Subic, MacKenzie Wasner, Nick Viltrakis