If you’re a multi-passionate artist who works in several mediums, you may have questioned at some point in your life, “Am I a Jack of all trades, but master of none?”
I have had this overwhelming fear a few times in my life and honestly, it’s something I still battle with at times.
“If I could just pick one medium”, I tell myself, “I would be a better craftsperson, could network more effectively, and could get more done.”
However, I know that my art-habit would never be fully satisfied if I stuck to one medium. My life would be missing something important.
Every artistic passion I have feeds a different part of my need to create and ability to express my ideas.
This interview with dancemaker-comedian-writer-actor-producer and self-proclaimed multi-hyphenate Katie Malia brought me some personal relief and tons of inspiration that, “Hell yeah, I can do it all. And it’s okay to do more than one thing.”
I hope you will feel similarly encouraged and energized after reading it.
It all boils down to this:
“As long as you are plugging into your heart source and being authentically you, no one can argue with your truth. Be you. Don’t compromise your creativity for anyone else except you.”
Katie Malia, Dancemaker, Comedian, and Creator of Almost Asian
As a dancer she has worked with choreographers like Fatima Robinson, Michael rooney, and Ryan Heffington. She is also a performer in, and co-creator of, the popular comedy sketch web series Almost Asian which is currently being pitched to studios with executive-producer Margaret Cho.
She’s also a teacher at The Sweat Spot in Silverlake and writer and performer in Upright Citizens Brigade sketch comedy team Golden Hour. Plus, she’s premiered original choreography at distinguished institutions like MOCA and performed stand-up all over Los Angeles.
Lucky for us, she has generously offered her insight on how she does it all.
(All subsequent quotes are from Katie Malia. Some are slightly edited for context.)
Katie Malia – Passion Collector
Katie got started in the arts at a young age with piano and dance lessons. As she got older, dance became her focus though she studied both dance and English in college. After college, Katie continued her dance career commercially, booking jobs on TV shows, movies, and commercials. Many of the jobs she got were comedic in tone and Katie found a love for comedy.
“Comedy and writing became a home for me when I ran out of dark spaces to run to. Comedy, because I love to make people laugh but also because it’s healing. There is collective power in laughter that not only has the power to change emotion but the power to create social change.”
She continued her education at Upright Citizen’s Brigade then The Groundlings where, after being on numerous sketch teams, she fell in love with stand up because it gave her “the power to write my own material solely from my point of view.”
“Probably the ballerina in me; I wasn’t really into team sports as a kid. I have more of the lone wolf mentality. Plus, I like the pressure of both the success and failure being on me!”
Piano remains largely a side-passion for Katie, though she has since incorporated piano into her stand-up.
Working on film sets of various types, Katie became enamored with call sheets.
“They fascinate me, and I find them to be a work of art on their own. I used to save and study every call sheet from my early working days because I was obsessed with learning what each department did.”
She also loves the urgency and collaboration involved in film.
“Film sets are like going to war. You’re in the trenches, and everyone is there as one unit to serve one cause: what’s captured in the lens.”
Katie’s understanding of story and humor through her English studies and comedy work, mixed with her visual/aesthetic knowledge from dance make her a distinctly equipped for success in film.
A Multi-Hyphenated Identity
There’s another aspect of Katie’s multi-hyphenate identity that seems to have both posed unique challenges to her growth as an artist and thrust her toward a sense of acceptance and fearlessness in pursuing multiple passions.
That is, her “ethnically-ambiguous,” half-Asian identity.
This aspect of her identity has created tension in her professional life but has since served as an anchoring topic for her to explore through comedy. It’s also the basis for her web series Almost Asian which even has executive producer Margaret Cho advocating for it at television studios as we speak.
She shared some horror stories with me about working commercially as a half-Asian American. Now, these stories help fuel the show.
Stories like…
“A manager telling me to take ‘Asian’ headshots (yes wtf, that is real) or an agent suggesting I use my mother’s Japanese maiden name to make it easier for the casting directors to identify me.
“Recently, I was on set and the producer said the client wants me to cut my hair like Marie Kondo to look more Asian. Yep, that is also real. I was pissed but [now I’m] actually happy about the way it turned out. For years I was trying to fit into their box.”
Katie now tells these stories through a smart and critical lens in her comedy show. Almost Asian takes a biting yet comical look at white America’s perception of Asian Americans and particularly bi-racial Asian Americans as well as problematic views within the Asian and half-Asian American community itself.
The Pressure to Pick One
The pressure to pick one identity wasn’t only applied by producers, commercial clients, and casting directors, however. Like myself, Katie battled with messages advising she choose one medium by advisors, colleagues, and media throughout her artistic journey.
“People in the industry would tell me to just focus on one [medium]! It’s confusing! But really the emotional toll was buying into the bullshit that I had to self-impose horse blinders in order to get the dangling carrot. I watched myself try to become something for someone else that I knew didn’t get me.”
Katie allows her focus to oscillate between passions. When she’s more focused on one medium, she knows the others are always available to her when she has the time and space to return to them.
“I don’t think you ever walk away from your passions, you just set them aside so you can feed your energy into the one that’s more fruitful.
“You evolve as a human and artist, so naturally your passions are going to shift too. Not ranks. But callings. Why whack a mole what’s percolating when you can peacefully ebb and flow? You also don’t want to creatively self-pigeonhole with one passion because you aren’t one dimensional. All that does is limit yourself.
“You don’t know what lies beyond the horizon.”
I asked her if she thought going into the production of Almost Asian might eat into her time on other mediums, because I knew that it would sometimes mean multiple twelve-hour days and lots of multi-tasking within the project itself. I wanted to know how this would affect her ability to dedicate creative focus to dance, stand-up, etc.
“Producing this show hasn’t necessarily affected my other creative endeavors because I actively chose to make it my priority. My other endeavors weave in and out — somehow I’m super good at multitasking (I think it came from the pressures of having to be good at everything growing up) so I just focus on what needs to get done first then move onto the next thing even if it’s three different projects a day.
“One step at a time. One brain space at a time. Focus. Do. Shift. Again, keep checking in to what’s calling you and when it feels right, obsessively channel your energy into that then pivot. Your heart knows! And your work will deepen all around.”
How to Cut Through the Noise and Find Your Voice as a Multi-Passionate Artist
“It was so obvious, but I didn’t have the emotional tools to voice my truth or trust my talents. I definitely felt like I was lying to and cheating myself from living a full creative life. I knew where I wanted to go, I just had to learn through trial and error to voice it.”
Katie struggled to find her voice and niche when she was younger.
“I definitely struggled to find or develop a clear voice because I was learning and exploring who I was. I studied French clowning and felt like a total ding-dong when I did it. Not that it’s lame, it’s amazing actually to apply to dance and comedy, but I was like, ‘Am going to join the circus?’ No. It was just another crayon in my toolbox because learning is all part of the process.”
Now, Katie sees each of her mediums as spaces to explore different aspects of herself while bringing all of her tools and experience to each.
“I’m a multi-dimensional person, so my work takes on different voices depending on which lane I’m in. My comedy is dark and dry. My choreography is technical yet fluid and abstract. And I write both comedic and dramatic scripts with the goal to create social change.
“So, no matter what medium I’m working in, my goal is to always be honest. I think when you’re starting out, it’s best to not dwell on what your brand is. Keep mining and exploring who you are as a human and what feels true. You’re going to pivot and evolve regardless.”
Finally, Katie shared some invaluable advice for other multi-passionate artists, like you and I.
Feed Your Creative Spring
“You don’t have to choose one artistic medium during your life journey —each is a gift!
“You can ebb and flow with each one because they all are being fed by the same spring. Just when you feed into one, put your all into it for the time being so your ideas don’t get scattered. I have had to learn that my spring has to be continuously fed and focused otherwise I’ll have so many projects going simultaneously that either none of them will get finished or none of them will be 100%.
“The key is to obsessively focus on the ones that speak the most to you and trust that in due time the others will get finished too. And when I say obsess. I mean eat, drink, sleep, shower, dream, drive, dance, cry, and laugh with the idea and take action.”
Failure is an Opportunity to Explore
“Each struggle is an opportunity to hone your voice, sharpen your vision, and focus your passion. It sounds so Ted Talk I know, but failure truly is an opportunity to explore and find yourself as long as you keep checking in and evolving.
“Failure is only failure if you willingly repeat the same patterns that aren’t serving you. Do it all — throw yourself into different classes and art studies, travel, GTFO of your head and into your heart.”
There is No Timeline for Success
“Trust the journey. There is no timeline for ‘success.’”
“Ask yourself what success means to you. What excites you? What scares you? The creative journey is arduous and long, who you are as a creator will not be the same twenty weeks from now or twenty years from now.
“Think of what you’re creating as a kaleidoscope of honest snapshots in time. Create now where you’re at then move on to the next project. Again, I cannot stress enough that your voice is the single most important and invaluable part of you. No one can take it away from you and no one can recreate it.
“Your mission is to nurture it and don’t worry about what everybody else is doing. Yes, be inspired by artists you admire while also knowing only you have your point of view.”
Your Artful Effort
“EXPLORE. YOUR. UNKNOWN.”
– Katie Malia
Take a moment to play and explore with an artistic hobby of yours or some passion you’ve been neglecting. Our collective knowledge and experience from all aspects of our lives feed our work. Whether you consider yourself a multi-hyphenate like Katie or not, I challenge you to lean into expanding on what your identity means to you and to make space for many passions in your life. Artistic or otherwise.
Follow Katie Malia
You can check out Katie’s work on her website and follow her on Instagram to get all the updates with a few laughs along the way.
You can watch her show on the show’s website and follow the show Instagram for updates as they shop it around to networks!
