To do the work you love, you’ve got to unlock a few doors. UNLOCKED Stories are honest conversations with people who chose a path and made it happen.

A note from Ellen: Do you ever feel like you have “too many” passions or “too many” great ideas and it’s impossible to choose “just one,” especially when it comes to your career? I can completely relate to that feeling. So can my friend Elizabeth Rainer, the multi-talented woman who is sharing her story with us today.

Elizabeth is an actress, artist, photographer, chef, creative retreat leader, blogger, and the founder of Little Box of Joy, a new company where you can order a “mystery box” full of enchanting surprises and have it delivered to your doorstep. (So sweet!)

During our conversation, Elizabeth described her career to me as a “patchwork quilt.”
A collection of various passions and skills, all lovingly stitched together to create her very own “dream career.”

As you read along, I invite you to ask yourself, “What are my biggest passions? What do I love to do? How could I stitch several passions together to create a beautiful ‘quilt’ that feels just right for me?”

Your career really can be any kind of “quilt” that you want it to be…

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What do you do?

[Elizabeth]: I am an actress, artist, photographer, chef, and creative retreat leader..

That’s a long, beautiful string of “job titles.” Tell us about your acting work, first.

[Elizabeth]: The theater company that I work for is called Living Voices.

Through Living Voices, I perform one-woman educational outreach programs across the country. Each show combines live theatre with archival film footage. The programs range in topics from Anne Frank and the Holocaust, to the women’s suffrage movement, to immigration through Ellis Island at the turn of the century.

I feel proud of this educational work and grateful that I can teach through my acting.

In addition to acting, you also do photography and other forms of visual art. Tell us more about that.

[Elizabeth]: Every day, I post a photograph on my blog, Little Cup of Beauty. I enjoy going out into the world and finding beauty even in the most tattered or unusual places. The practice of looking at the world through the lens of beauty has enriched my life.

Two or three times a year, I also co-lead an event called the Radiant Life Retreat with my dear friend, Heidi Rose Robbins. We gather circles of women together for several days of rest, play, music, art, food, ritual, and astrology. It’s such a unique experience—so peaceful and restorative—and so much fun! It’s like summer camp for grown-ups. I can’t wait for the upcoming retreat in March in Ojai, California!

You’ve been able to create a career that blends all of your passions in interesting ways. If there’s a “theme” or a “purpose” that ties all of your various projects together, what would it be?

[Elizabeth]: That theme would probably be… “transformation.” I try to create an experience of transformation with everything that I do.

When I am onstage, performing in one of my shows, my hope is that each person in the audience walks away from the performance feeling educated, inspired, and transformed in some way.

Off the stage, I love creating art, ceremony, ritual, making things sacred and unlocking beauty. At the retreats that I co-lead with my friend Heidi, I provide food and music and I love creating a nourishing atmosphere where people can experience that feeling of transformation, too.

When an experience touches your heart and “changes” you, in a positive way, that is pure magic. I love creating those types of experiences, onstage, offstage, at retreats, through food, all kinds of ways!

Your job sounds so magical! But, just between you and me and the Internet, are there any aspects of your profession that you don’t like?

[Elizabeth]: I have to do quite a bit of traveling for my job. Sometimes I will be “on the road” for three or four weeks at a time.

While I love to explore new places, being away from home for such long periods of time can be tiring. I definitely love flying home to my own nest. (My husband is always happy to see me walk through the door.)

How do you begin your day? What’s your favorite morning ritual?

[Elizabeth]: I love starting my day with a big mug of hot tea with cream. My favorite is Harney & Sons Earl Grey Supreme with a touch of Paris. It is a yummy combination. I use loose tea and make a whole pot.

When you’re having a difficult or stressful day, how do you get through it?

[Elizabeth]: When I am really stressed out, I might call a friend or lay on the floor.

But the thing that has consistently helped me through the years has been to go on a walk. Walking calms me down and smoothes out all my crinkles.

If I am upset or need to work something out, the best remedy is to put on my walking shoes and step out into the day.

What has been the most challenging moment of your career thus far?

[Elizabeth]: Early in my acting career, I got cast in a Broadway show. I felt like I had finally “made it”. I was so happy. But then, due to a personal conflict, I was let go and I lost the part. I was stunned. It was hard for me to understand what had happened.

How did you get through that “locked door” moment?

[Elizabeth]: I cried a lot, took long walks and talked with friends. I was also writing in a journal every day during that time. I was writing what Julia Cameron calls “the morning pages.” That daily writing practice helped me to throw my pain onto the page.

Not long after that, I moved across the country and began a new chapter. I was able to dust myself off and continue with the work I love.

Do you ever fantasize about having a totally different career? What would you do, in your fantasy-world?

[Elizabeth]: The nice thing about my life now is that I get to combine all the little snippets of things that I like into one big ol’ crazy quilt of a career.

But… I will say this: I once played Peter Pan and had the enormous fun of being able to fly in the production. I do fantasize about really being able to fly!

Who are your personal heroes and role models?

[Elizabeth]: Juliette Binoche, Cate Blanchett, Helen Mirren, Vivian Maier, Deborah Madison, Kate Bush, Paula Moderson Becker, Paul Klee, Joseph Campbell and my truly wonderful mom.

What’s the next project that you’re unveiling for the world?

[Elizabeth]: I am currently working on my new project called Little Box of Joy which blends art, ritual, and sacred celebration… with snail mail!

Basically, I am offering a mystery box full of surprises that gets tailored to you and shipped to your doorstep.

You can check it out here.

Last but not least: what is your biggest piece of advice for anyone who wants to do amazing work in the world, stay motivated, and unlock major doors?

[Elizabeth]: Everything that I am doing now required me to face tremendous fear of failure or rejection.

One of my motivations has always been the mantra “TRUST IN LOVE.”

Every time I start to worry that the sky is falling, I ask myself, “What do I love most?”

I try to follow what I love most.

This brings me back on track and reminds me that I have so much to be grateful for.

Unlock Yourself

Three questions to think about, write about—or talk about with a friend.

1. Elizabeth has lots of passions and skills: acting, photography, music, cooking, leading retreats and rituals. Rather than choosing “just one” pursuit to focus on, full time, she has figured out a way to swirl several passions together.

What are 5 – 6 of your biggest passions or skills? If you could wave a magic wand and swirl them all together to create your fantasy job or career, what would that look like?

2. Elizabeth says that “taking a walk” is her favorite way to de-stress and clear her mind.

What’s your favorite de-stressing activity? Could you make some time for it today?

3. Elizabeth’s latest project is a side-business called Little Box of Joy. You can order a mystery box full of delightful surprises and Elizabeth ships it to you!

Do you enjoy writing letters, mailing gifts, or doing “random acts of kindness” for people, just to brighten their day? What’s your favorite way to “make someone’s day”? Is there a way that you could turn that passion into a business or side-business? What would that look like?

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For more UNLOCKED interviews, click over here.

Know somebody that ought to be spotlighted? Write to me here.

See you next time for another inspiring conversation!

To do the work you love, you’ve got to unlock a few doors. UNLOCKED Stories are honest conversations with people who chose a path and made it happen.

A note from Ellen: I was introduced to Ann Randolph through a mutual friend, and as soon as Ann and I started chatting I knew: this woman is OUT OF THIS WORLD.

Ann is an award-winning playwright, actor, comedian, and performer, though she prefers to simply call herself a “storyteller.”

Ann’s plays touch upon the dark, messy, uncomfortable aspects of what it means to be human. Audiences leave Ann’s shows feeling cracked open and cathartically transformed, like it’s finally OK to share feelings they never thought they could share. The Washington Post calls her work “inappropriate in all the right ways” and Mel Brooks calls her “a genius.”

Buckle up for Ann’s story, which will inspire you to keep marching towards your dream, even if the journey tests your faith and patience to the limit. If Ann can find the inner grit to keep going, keep writing, and keep putting her work out there… why not you?

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What do you do?

[Ann]: I am a storyteller. I write and perform solo theatre shows. I also teach people to speak their truth for the page and the stage in writing workshops across the U.S .

What types of shows?

[Ann]: Most of my shows deal with situations that people may find uncomfortable to witness or talk about. Situations and topics like sex (not PG13-rated, Disney-fied sex, but raunchy, awkward, messy sex), grief, insanity, illness, and stories about marginalized people in our society who often get ignored.

How did you become a storyteller and performer? Where did this all begin?

[Ann]: I was always doing these things. As a little kid I would impersonate different people. I was attracted to oddballs—misfits — people living on the margins of life.

In college, I needed to get a job and there was this mental hospital. Built at the turn of the century, old Victorian, just rotting and decrepit.

They told me they didn’t have any jobs available. But every semester, they let six college students live there—with free room and board—if they’re studying Psychology.

And I go, “I’m not studying Psychology, but I could write plays for the patients.” They said, “You can move in.”

I was assigned to the Schizophrenic Unit. It smelled like urine and dirty feet. Practically my first day on the job, I see a guy walking around with no pants on, masturbating. These patients had no filter, no censorship. It was so hardcore.

I’d never been around the mentally ill before, but somehow I felt pulled to be with these people. Oddly, I felt right at home.

I wound up working there for four years. I wrote plays. I would cast the patients in my plays as a form of “creative/art therapy.” That was the beginning of my “official” playwriting career!

An unconventional beginning! What happened next?

[Ann]: After graduating from college, my goal was to write and perform on Saturday Night Live. My dream was to live in NYC. But I had no money. That was a problem.

I read in the back of a magazine that I could earn $20,000 dollars for one summer’s worth of work cleaning fish in Alaska—so I went there and I got a job on a slime line cleaning fish.

I lived in a tent. I was terrible at that job because I was very slow. I got fired. Then I saw an ad in the paper from a local school seeking a Professor to teach Humanities and Playwriting. I’d never taken a Humanities course in my life, but I walked in there, lied, and said, “Yes I can do this”… so I got the job. I even wrote the first play for the college based on my experiences at the mental hospital.

After that (this is the hyper-accelerated, sound-bite version of the story…) I joined a comedy troupe in Boston, then I spent a year in NYC, then bounced back to Alaska to clean rocks after a huge Exxon oil spill, earned a ton of money there, then went down to New Mexico and moved into a mansion with three professors studying Chaos Theory at the Santa Fe Institute.

While living in Santa Fe, I had this vision of building an outdoor theater in the mountains. I was singing at a local church, and—as it turns out—the church owned some land and they offered to give it to me—for free—if I’d build the theater there. I happened to be dating a contractor at the time, so I used my Exxon oil spill clean up money, hired him to help, and built the theater on the donated church land.

When the theater opened, I put on my first show. Well, at least… my first show outside of a mental institute!

Tons of things happened after that show debuted: you got cast in a movie, moved to L.A., and signed with a talent agency. You also worked at a homeless shelter. That’s not exactly the “glamorous Hollywood actor lifestyle” that most people envision. What was that experience like?

[Ann]: After moving to L.A. I worked at a homeless shelter for 4 nights a week from 7pm to 7am shift. I took the graveyard shift because I was allowed to sleep part of the night. I needed my days free to create. On my days off, I received reduced rent from where I was staying because I only slept there 3 nights a week.

Meanwhile, I was part of the Groundlings comedy group alongside Will Ferrell, Chris Kattan, and Cheri Oteri. All these incredible performers were my peers, but I felt ashamed, like I was living a lie. I was performing, but I felt I had much more to say then a 3 minute sketch. I was at a choice point. Do I stay with Groundlings or quit and focus on solo shows. I quit and focused on returning to solo shows.

Everybody thought I was nuts to do this but I had to listen to the stories that wanted to come through me and they were not always funny. Also, it was terrifying financially because who makes their living from solo shows? Who goes to see a solo show?

For the next 10 years, I wrote and performed 4 solo shows in addition to other plays and sketch shows. These shows would win awards, get great reviews, but I made no money. All the money I saved went into renting theaters and never an apartment. I never had my own place.

I really struggled with comparison, jealousy, and questioning my level of talent. My career seemed like it was crawling along while my peers appeared to be soaring. Deals would come my way but then nothing panned out. People told me I was too outrageous, that my characters needed to be toned down. It was now 10 years at the shelter making $8.60 cents an hour and well, I just plain lost faith. I lost my mojo.

Finally, a mentor told me that I needed to stop hiding the fact that I worked at a shelter, and instead, I should write about it.

That’s what I did—and that choice changed my career.

I wrote a play called Squeeze Box, all about my experiences working in a shelter, and in writing that play, I rediscovered myself and found my faith again. The show was discovered by Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft. They optioned the play and helped me hone my chops for over a year, before they opened Squeeze Box Off-Broadway.

Being a professional writer/performer is rarely an “easy” road. You’ve had to endure so much rejection and frustration along your path. Yet you keep going. Where does your “grit” to keep going come from?

[Ann]: I’ve had a lot of successes and also a lot of failures. But each failure made me more fearless. Each time I got knocked down, it gave me something deep and gritty to write about. It gave me more courage, too. At a certain point, you’re like, “What have I got to lose?”

I’ve learned that things are rarely “linear” in this business. My career path has been extremely swervy and loopy, not a straight line. I’ve had incredible opportunities handed to me—Broadway opportunities, Hollywood film deal opportunities—only to have everything fall apart at the last moment due to uncontrollable circumstances. Frustrating things happen. But miraculous things happen, too. Like I once received a $10,000 check—out of the blue—from a woman who saw one of my shows and wanted to support me. Then at one of my lowest moments, I got a phone call from someone who loved my work and wanted to help me set up a national tour so that I could perform all across America. Totally unexpected. You just never who’s going to email you or call you up… or who’s going to be sitting in your audience one night… or what’s around the corner.

When you are having an exceptionally difficult or stressful day, how do you get through it?

[Ann]: Should I lie or tell the truth?

Tell the truth!

[Ann]: HAHAHA! I eat a bunch of crap. I have this thing with McDonald’s. That’s my unhealthy coping strategy. I’ve done that. I also love to spend time alone in the woods. That’s my healthy coping strategy.

So McDonald’s and Nature?

[Ann]: McDonald’s and Nature!

I love that. Aside from getting recharged by French fries and forests… who are your personal heroes and role models? Who inspires you?

[Ann]: I have so many. Astor Piazzolla, who’s an Argentinian jazz tango artist. His music inspires me. Carol Burnett, definitely. As a kid, it was Pippi Longstocking.

What’s next for you? Any new projects on the horizon?

[Ann]: I’m premiering my new solo show, Inappropriate in all the Right Ways” at the Marsh. The Huffington Post just gave it a wonderful review and said, “It’s a show like no other” That’s the best compliment because I have combined my love of performing with teaching. I perform and then guide the audience in telling their own stories, so by the end of the show, the audience takes the stage. It’s super cool and inspiring. If you live in SF, please come to the premiere.

Also, this past summer I got to help create a story to Saint-Saëns Organ symphony. It was digitaly mapped in front of 35,000 people with this amazing orchestra playing in front. I love the idea of creating stories to classical music.

I am going to begin my interviews in November and then I will go from there.

What is your biggest piece of advice for anyone that wants to do amazing work in the world and stay motivated and unlock their major doors?

[Ann]: Surround yourself with people who believe in you. People who can be your champions. That’s HUGE.

Who believes in you? Only go to them.

People often give up on their career dreams because they feel too lonely or someone put fear in their bones.

To really do something big, there’s got to be that encouragement. If you don’t have anybody to provide that encouragement right now, create a voice in your head that champions you.

Unlock Yourself

Three questions to think about, write about—or talk about with a friend.

1. Ann says to surround yourself with people who believe in you: your champions.

Who is your biggest champion? Who roots for you to succeed? What could you do to deepen and strengthen your relationship with that person even more?

2. Ann has had a series of peculiar jobs—working in a mental institute, a homeless shelter, gutting fish in Alaska, cleaning up after a huge oil spill—yet each “odd job” provided a ton of inspiration/material for her to write about in her plays.

Have you ever had a really “odd” or “random” job? Did that job teach you something important—or influence your life in an unexpectedly positive way?

3. Ann isn’t afraid to talk about the dark, messy, gritty aspects of being human—and by sharing her experiences onstage, she gives the people in her audience permission to open up and share their feelings, too.

What’s something about yourself—or your past/life experiences—that you’ve always kept quiet? Would it feel healing to share that story? Would sharing help others to feel less alone? What’s stopping you from speaking about it?

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For more UNLOCKED interviews, click over here.

Know somebody that ought to be spotlighted? Write to me here.

See you next time for another inspiring conversation!