Q and A with Apryl from Lake Forest, California

“I see so many people scared to embrace creativity, playfulness, or spontaneity. They fear embarrassment, humiliation, rejection, or failure. It is my wish to help people unplug from those fears…”

Q: What are you passionate about?

A: I can tell you that I am so passionate about living each day of my life sprinkled with creativity. Every single “today” is a good day to learn something new, try something new, and create something new. I find it interesting as I reflect back on my 45 years of living this life that my interests in marketing, graphic design, theatre, music, coaching, spirituality, and personal development all intertwine with each other, although it may seem like they don’t go together at all.

Somehow these interests bring me a great deal of joy, gratitude, and balance. I do experience struggles just like everyone else does, yet I tend to look at those as opportunities I get to experience, learn from, and grow from. My mantra is “Everything that happens is for my benefit.” Like many other entrepreneurs, I had to make a pivot in 2020, that is when I began working with some amazing mentors and digging deep to identify how I could make money doing something I love. I began producing plays online, hosted Zoom sessions with the actors, and streamed the plays on Facebook and YouTube.

Last year, we finally got back on stage for a live production of the Broadway musical “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.” We had 6 nominations with Broadway World Los Angeles and went on to win Best Special Event. When I am not working on plays, I help entrepreneurs create marketing content, pitch decks, graphics, social media posts, swag, and banners for live events, video editing, and book publishing. I also teach people how to use PowerPoint and Canva.

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Q: What were your younger years like?

A: I was born in Utah and had many cousins growing up to play with. My family and I moved to Southern California when I was 8, and that is when I met my best friend, Scott. We have been pretending ever since; he is my theatre partner and he is the actor as I am more behind the scenes. We loved sketch comedy shows like SNL and MadTV and would often put on our own skits for our friends and family. I became a teenage mom in high school and stayed in school till I graduated. I took some vocational classes in video production while working in a movie theater. When I was 19, Scott and I went to work at Disneyland in the character department. I enjoyed portraying Mikey Mouse for several years before I got myself a grown-up job in mortgage. That was the best job I ever had, it just didn’t pay a livable wage.

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Q: What is something valuable you’d like others to know?

A: I’ve been told that when you are creating something you are connected to divinity. I see so many people scared to embrace creativity, playfulness, or spontaneity. They fear embarrassment, humiliation, rejection, or failure. It is my wish to help people unplug from those fears and hold a safe space for them to have the experience and joy that comes with creating something, making art, making music, writing a book, or anything else creative.

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Q: What does feminism mean to you? 

A: I can see this from a few different perspectives. I would like to think of feminism as being unapologetically myself, as a woman. Loving myself unconditionally. Embracing what makes me a woman. Celebrating my body, my hormones, my emotions, my choices, what brings me peace, and what completes me. Building communities with loving, wise, caring, nurturing women to heal and grow with. I don’t see feminism as a way to tear down or exclude men, but I can see how some may interpret feminism that way.

MORE ABOUT APRYL: I have spent several months preparing for a 5-day marketing and design bootcamp that I have coming up, the first one on July 22, it is my goal to host these once every 3 months. I find this is a great introduction to tapping into creativity in a non-intrusive way. I want to express my thanks to Samantha for asking me to share my story today.

Here is the link for the 5-day boot camp: https://yourcompleteagency.com/5day

Thanks for reading!