In the midst of a burgeoning career, managed by one of the finest New York agencies, singing in a top-tier Young Artist Program, and already landing main stage roles at A houses, a very talented singer I know decided to slow down professionally and focus on other life goals: marriage and family. She fell in love, married a baritone, and started a family. Now over five years later, she sings less and mothers more, focusing for now on her three children a little more than her career, very content with her life.
This singer made and continues to make decisions about areas that affect all of us, singer or not: the choices surrounding work and life and the constant balancing and juggling of the two.
Canadian-born tenor Richard Margison, featured in this month’s cover story, has had years of experience balancing his roles of father and husband with world-traveling singer. In this exclusive interview, he gets candid about his relationship with his wife and daughter, how music has drawn them together, and how they manage to stay close while being physically apart. He also shares how being adopted and then reunited with his birth mother has impacted both his personal and his professional life.
Three women, once singers now administrators, also weigh in this month on the challenges of balancing work and life. Read how administrative life differs—and doesn’t—from a singer’s life. Two with children and one without, these three women share how they make time for themselves in the midst of long hours and financial concerns.
Staying in tune and being true to ourselves is an integral part of the work-life balance. In her monthly column, Lisa Houston shares some valuable lessons about finding that sense of self she learned in a very unexpected setting: the Westminster Dog Show. Read how the show’s underdog made a comeback to defy odds, impress, inspire, and ultimately win.
When I asked the busy mother of three who slowed down her fast track career to focus on family about a possible interview for the magazine, she graciously declined. She and her manager didn’t feel it was in her best interest. Indeed, those in the public arena experience the added challenge of managing a public profile and image in the process of balancing work and life.
The increasingly popular social networking site Facebook presents a sort of microcosm of the two worlds of professional and personal lives colliding. Tech-savvy singer Amanda White shares tips and tools for creating a more public image on Facebook that you can use to market yourself as a singer, while still keeping your private life just that—private.
Don’t miss Cindy Sadler’s column discussing the first five deadly sins of presentation. She discusses some recent rather embarrassing faux pas she has seen, and advises how to avoid them. Ensure that your public image is exactly what you want it to be by following her five tips, and then tune in next month for the second five sins.
Balancing, separating, and merging the personal and professional aspects of our lives presents many challenges. May this issue help you find ways to find greater balance and more fulfillment in both.
