We recently connected with Tiia Quinn and have shared our conversation below.

Tiia, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Do you wish you had waited to pursue your creative career or do you wish you had started sooner?

Oh, absolutely! But much of what I do now just wasn’t an option. I have always had a foot in different creative industries, but making it my full-time job didn’t seem like a possibility due to a lot of factors both in my personal life and external things out of my control. Then about five years ago, I kind of unwittingly started the path I’m on now. And the synchronicities showing up delight me. I love that I have been able to pull from my diverse background and experience while maintaining a schedule that works best for my life.

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.

I work full-time in the entertainment industry, primarily in live entertainment. I am both a performer and a manager/producer. I manage the talent and booking for the weekend variety shows and sometimes perform at a bar called Prohibition. I also travel all over entertaining at various shows, experiences, and events. I’m available both as a performer and as an entertainment coordinator for events. I also have an alternative style (simply meaning not mainstream fashion) blog.

I started dancing when I was about 5 and have dabbled in just about every style of dance, I acted and made costumes and dressed sets. Creative outlets are what I live for, and performing in the ways that I do allows me to flex my drive to create in different mediums. Including clothing and costumes, which is why the style blog feels like a natural extension. There is a science to style and how it’s used to communicate both in entertainment and in real life. I’m endlessly fascinated by it.

I really love entertaining a crowd. I love the buzz of events and live audiences and putting together an experience. I always like to add storytelling elements to my acts and shows, it adds a level to everything. I am always looking to improve and diversify my skills. Learning new things as well as mastering well-established abilities. I think that’s what sets my work apart. As well as my commitment to both growth in my skills and for my community. Looking over the past 5 years, I can see how much of my choices have been based of taking care of the entertainment community because by taking care of the community I take care of myself. And I’m really proud of that.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

That it’s still work. Entertainment and the arts, in general, are often devalued because of the ‘fun’ aspect. Yes, it’s fun, but it’s work. Many full-time performers and artists are self-employed in some way, which means we are dealing with many of the same issues as other small businesses. Difficult clients, unpaid invoices, maintaining equipment, marketing, time crunches, long or odd hours, bills, taxes, people wanting free work, insurance and licensing, etc. It’s all the same challenges and benefits. Only the equipment you are maintaining often includes your own person. I find it weird that we so equate work with being not enjoyable. And that we devalue creative labor because the person loves doing it, but we don’t do that to other industries.

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

Pay us fairly for our work. Respect our boundaries and our labor. The public is only seeing the finished product of years of work. Asking performers and artists to work for free or exposure is harmful. Performers should be asking for fair compensation, but the people hiring us should also insist on paying fairly.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.thedarkwitchutah.com
• Instagram: Instagram.com/thedarkwitch__
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roguemiller

Image Credits
Photos by FoxyB, Capture Haus, Erika