We recently connected with Tillie Howard and have shared our conversation below.

Tillie, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

In the last year I was fortunate enough to combine my work as an actor and as a counselor for a bilingual industrial shot for the Reproductive Health National Training Center. I played a medical educator modeling how to have pregnancy options conversations with people identifying as LGBTQ+, particularly nonbinary people. The training videos will be shared with thousands of nurses and health educators across the country, and it was a privilege to be part of such an important and far reaching project. I feel very strongly about expanding and solidifying access to reproductive rights, which are so terribly jeopardized and impacted in our country. Working as an actor (and in Spanish to boot!) with some of the top practitioners and activists in this arena could not have been more meaningful.

Tillie, 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?

I am a proud actor and education consultant, satisfying the two distinctive sides of myself that sometimes feel at odds: highly organized & practical (consulting) and deeply imaginative & collaborative (acting).

My love of performing started at age three in dance class and developed into 20+ years of classical ballet training and a BA in Theatre, but I hit pause on these pursuits for a decade. I found my way into higher education admissions thanks to an internship at my beloved undergrad, Whitman College, and launched my career in an effort to help others find paths of equal substance and wonder. Eager to establish deeper relationships with students and families, I earned my MA in International Education Management from the Middlebury Institute, and became a college counselor for high school students. Counseling took me from Canada to Bangkok to the San Francisco Bay Area, where I most recently worked as The Athenian School’s Co-Director of College Counseling.

My expertise and commitment to education access and equity extend beyond day-to-day counseling. I’ve served as the Professional Development Chair and an Executive Board member of the Western Association for College Admission Counseling (WACAC). I’ve chaired and presented at numerous conferences on topics ranging from decoding racism in admissions to personal writing in college applications. I am also particularly proud to have co-created and facilitated the California Teacher Development Collaborative’s (CATDC) “Centering Equity in College Counseling” workshop.

In October 2021, I had what I call my “COVID epiphany,” realizing that I deeply missed my creative life and would feel serious regret if I never gave myself the opportunity to try acting professionally. So, I saved my pennies, packed my bags, and drove to Los Angeles in fall 2022. I hit the ground running, motivated as ever to make the most of this major life change. I have since booked lead and supporting roles in several short films, feature films, music videos, game shows, and even a bilingual industrial. I’m proud of getting commercial representation (despite the 2023 strike!) developing a supportive network of fellow creatives, and of my continued pursuits in writing, improv, and most recently, producing a hilarious comedic short film titled “My Little Hobby” (coming soon!).

Now, I am self-employed twice over, as actor and an independent education consultant (IEC) – gotta keep those bills paid! As an IEC, I currently present essay workshops to students across the globe and consult for a variety of counseling organizations across California. I am also a seasonal reader for the University of Southern California (Go Trojans!) and review incoming first-year applications for the Office of Undergraduate Admission. My experiences living overseas (I was raised in Nairobi, Kenya!) as well as my background in theatre, communications, and admissions inform my approach to both counseling and acting. I run both my businesses with vision, energy, professionalism, lots of OliPop soda, and a very healthy dose of humor.

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

My ultimate goal in coming to LA is twofold: pursue acting and develop a more balanced, healthy lifestyle than the one I was living in the Bay. I think it is exceptionally hard to be a creative professional without also taking very good care of your mind and body. There is so much uncertainty, instability, and lack of control inherent in this industry. Knowing how to consistently get enough sleep, eat well, move your body, connect meaningfully with others, and grow outside of creative work is a challenge, as I think most of us know, AND it is more important than booking a role. I am constantly reminding myself of this truth, and it will likely be a lifelong endeavor. I need to feel alive and well as a human, so I can be alive and well and fully open as an actor.

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

I feel that the present moment in the entertainment industry is testing and strengthening my resilience. I arrived in LA on the tail end of COVID, while energy was high but the gears were just beginning to turn again in an attempt to return to some normalcy. I had given myself 6 months to get my feet on the ground, get back into acting class, understand the ins and outs of the new (to me) online world of auditions (Actors Access? Self-tape set ups? Zoom chemistry reads?). I began auditioning in February 2023 and weeks later the mumblings of the strike surfaced. As the WGA and then SAG hit the streets in protest, I joined them proudly, and could fortunately still book work because of my non-union status, but my timing could not have been worse. We all had hopes that early 2024 would bring a flood of opportunities, but no such flood has come to the industry. I have stayed strong by delving into producing and assistant directing work, taking improv classes at Upright Citizens Brigade, and developing several scripts that have gone untouched for too long. Oscars parties, networking dates, and hiking training for a long walk on The Camino in October also keep my spirits high. Now, more than ever, I am betting on myself!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.tilliehoward.com
• Instagram: @tillie.not.tilly
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/tilliegottlieb

Image Credits
Jackson Davis