The Importance of Being Yourself

By: Brooke Wilson

After over a decade and a half of being a professional actor, I am certain I have the secret to true success. It isn’t something you have to pay for, or go to school for and study at length. It is not a magic tool or secret that someone gives you. It is within you…
It is simply being yourself. Now, how many times have we heard that?? 
It seems so cliché, which is probably why I had a hard time applying it at first. I was always trying to be true to what makes me happy, but I would sometimes feel I needed to apologize for the things that made me who I am, the things that made me different. Things that made me stand out. Things that made me…ME!!

After spending 8 years in New York City, you find yourself trying to fit the mold of what you think a casting director or choreographer wants of you.
“What leotard should I wear, what song should I sing, should I curl my hair or wear it straight?"
All questions that race through our minds at lightning speed as we try to think what they want to see behind the table. But then I realized…they want to see ME!! The second I let those questions go and the constant doubt that perhaps I was not singing the song they wanted to hear or wearing the outfit they wanted to see, I found my power. I went into the room and represented myself. I represented what they would get if they hired me…and I found a new confidence!

If we don’t believe in ourselves and represent ourselves, how can we expect anyone else to? We are our only salesperson. We have to market our “product”, and our “product” is who we are.

Think of it this way, Coca-a-Cola isn’t going to start a marketing campaign based on a product that is a lemon lime soda. They are going to market their product based on what makes it different, special and something that the public must have. We have to do the same for ourselves. Be your best champion. Be nothing less that your authentic self. The payoff is substantial and is truly the best secret to finding happiness and peace in a business can that be so hard.

This is something that rings true in our daily life as well. If you are who you are and you make no apologies for it, then the stress of constantly having to fit in goes away. I hope all young women and men can take a hold of the things that make them unique and special and embrace it…and embrace each other’s differences at the same time. Let’s hold onto confidence, kindness and authenticity, and then we can truly find success and a full heart.


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