A 9-5 and Creative Passion Projects | You Can Do Both with Carley Tomlinson

In this episode, we sit down with the inspiring Carley Tomlinson, a woman who proves that you don’t have to choose between stability and passion. Carley balances a full-time corporate job while pursuing her love for the performing arts—a journey that requires determination, discipline, and heart. We dive into her story, from growing up in a small town with big dreams to navigating the challenges of juggling two demanding worlds. If you’ve ever struggled with pursuing your creative passions while keeping up with life’s responsibilities, this episode is for you. Tune in for Carley’s insights, experiences, and advice on making space for your dreams.

• Join the conversation: Let us know how you balance your creative passions with daily responsibilities? How did your weekly challenge go? Share your reflections in the comments or via our social media.
• What She Said: Today’s quote comes straight from Carley herself. Tune in to hear one of her personal mantra that has kept her motivated throughout her journey. 
• Follow us on TikTok and Instagram @generationalteapod, watch us on YouTube, and listen to us wherever you get your podcasts!
• Microphone flags by Impact PBS: https://impactpbs.com/ 
• Intro music by Cymatix
• Logo by @makariann 
• Business email: generationalteapod@gmail.com

Transcript

0:12

Let's do it. All right. welcome to another episode of the Generational Tea Podcast. I'm Kena. And I'm Ronnie. And today we have a very special guest with us, Carly Tomlinson. So welcome, Carly. We're so happy you could join us for today's episode. Yeah, happy to be here. Yeah. Today, we are really going to be digging into Carly's life and her story regarding pursuing your dreams in the arts, and also the challenges that come with pursuing those dreams and juggling, you know, life, adulting responsibilities, and how to do both of them at the same time and hopefully not lose your mind. Yep, that's the goal. Yep. Well, before we really dig into the meat of the questions and everything like that, we just wanted to once again ask for reviews and tell you guys to go check out our social media at generational teapot. Every little piece of feedback and every message we get from you guys just makes our day. So please take the time to do that after you watch today's episode and yeah, we'll get ready to start the questions if you're ready. I'm ready. Sweet. So you're from small town South Carolina, correct? Correct. Nice. Born and raised. Born and raised. Most the family was too. it's kind of funny. We live on basically the same big plot of land that my mom's side of the family lives on. So at any point during my childhood, I could have walked to a relative's house should I need them. or walk to a cow pasture and feed the cows or stuff like that. So yes. Very nice. So could you just share a little bit about your upbringing in a small town and how that maybe influenced your passion for performing arts? Yeah. First off, I'll say I owe all of that to my parents and my brother. so my dad was a traveling musician when I was very young, in a cool bluegrass band that was on the radio and lots of cool stuff. My mom was a dancer and then my brother was a percussionist growing up. Now, uh, I will say he, was more of like a metal drummer growing up. He morphed into a jazz drummer now, in his older age, which I prefer. So was I going after metal dreams like he was? No, but still it was that thing of everyone in my family had an arts passion on top of just regular life. so even though I was in a small town and that may not be. prevalent with everyone else. It was with my family. it was just right, you know, that's cool. I feel like it's kind of rare to have a family that's all has different musical talents. Yeah. Yeah. It's been cool growing up. you know, I'd have to warn my friends. If you come over At any given point at the dinner table, my brother might start drumming on the table. Dad starts singing like we all get into a whole musical ordeal. So it was just normal for me. That's awesome. So for our listeners, could you just tell them a little bit about exactly what performing arts you do? Is it mostly just dance? Yeah. So I mostly dance. Yes. Started dance at five. I started doing theater as well. Probably in elementary school also, was always singing, with dad, with churches, with that kind of stuff. So then, in high school, I kind of decided, Oh, you can put all three of those things together and perform all three of those things at one time. I want to do that. so that's when I started picking up musical theater. Nice. Yeah. When did you first fall in love with dance, and what inspired you to study it at the university level? Okay, so if you would ask my grandma, she would say that I think it was a production of Cinderella or Beauty and the Beast at the Peace Center here in Greenville, South Carolina, that she took me to when I was quite young. I don't remember the production, but apparently I was like standing up and just, that was it. That was the day that they were like, Oh, she's going to do that. It's just kind of always been there for me when I look back on it. I don't remember a certain moment being like, this is it. it just was there. I will say I tried soccer once, I think a season before I started dance. My dad was the coach for that. And I cried when I found out that you had to get the socks and shoes dirty that we just bought from the sports store and just picked dandelions instead and twirled around in the field. And they were like, we gotta get her into dance class. so dance class started at five, did that all through early age up to high school. High school was formative in terms of, we have the Fine Arts Center here in Greenville, which is also. A really, really big positive and plus here, it's really a blessing to people, in this area and it's, I think it's really what navigated the change from, oh, this is something that I do for fun outside of school to, I could do this for life. yeah, so started looking at colleges. They were a great resource. They would have career fairs and. kind of college fairs come in and have all these colleges set up that had dance as a major, whether it be dance performance or dance education, you can go different routes with it. and yeah, that solidified the decision and we looked on from there and decided to go for it. Awesome. I also went to the Fine Arts Center, if that's not crazy. I didn't know that. Yes. For dance. Yeah. Tell us a little bit more about your, university experience. Yeah. It was interesting when I first started looking for schools, I thought I have to go to a big city. I've been in small town all my life. This is where I need to be to make it work. Right. So I was looking at New York. I was looking at Pittsburgh. I was looking at all these big city schools. But when it came time to decide, I ended up choosing Winthrop, which is a South Carolina school, mostly due to scholarships, total transparency, university is expensive. So we went with the school that we felt like was the best fit and also offered the most scholarship for me. some of that being academic and some of that also being talent based, like merit, scholarship that you auditioned for. So I went in a little hesitant and a little thinking, I don't know if this is really going to be enough or really what I want. I should probably be in New York. I should probably be. And that was so not the case. I loved my time at Winthrop. I think being in a smaller environment and having more attention from my professors, more dedicated time, a closer knit group of Students who would go with you from freshman to senior year, and you would all kind of be released into the wild at the same time. That's what worked for me, and sometimes you don't know that until you're older, or on the other side, or whatever, but yeah, that was the choice. Very cool. So how many years are you out of college now? Oh gosh, I graduated in 2017, which seems crazy.. I graduated early. Yep. I've got one of those Brainiacs right here beside me too. I only went to the Fine Arts Center because I refused high school. I was like, Oh, I can spend half the day dancing, right? Let's do that. Yeah. So now that you're out of college for a few years and I'm assuming you're working full time, correct? So what is a typical day look like for you when you're working full time and you're also doing performing arts? Love this question. My days are crazy. So, a typical day for me runs from about 8 a. m. to, when all is said and done, we'll give it like 12 a. m. So, I'll get up, start my day, I have to be logged on to my computer to work a corporate job at 8. 30. luckily I work from home, which is great. that really works for me to be able to continue my creative passion outside of this and outside of these hours. so it cuts down on travel time and those kinds of things. So work from home most days that's eight 30 to five 30. Normally I've got all my meals prepped because I typically have about an hour to eat and get myself ready to go to rehearsal. Rehearsals are six days a week. So that's Monday through Friday we'll have Saturdays free and then Sundays are usually 12 to 6 p. m. So Saturdays are like my sacred days for myself. but yeah, a normal Monday through Friday is start working at 8. 30, blaze through eating dinner, go to rehearsal. You're at rehearsal until 10. 30. By the time you get home, unwind, I don't know, maybe you're doing a load of laundry while you're trying to get everything together to go to bed. It's usually about midnight before you, Get there and get wound down and get to sleep. So it's, it's a lot crazy schedule. How long have you been doing that schedule? Is it for many years now? Yeah, I have been doing that since 2021. So it's, it's pretty normal. I love it. I think that's the factor that. You have to have and all of my fellow core cohorts would also say because they all work full time jobs as well. So we're all coming from different jobs, and coming to do this at night because we love it. Yeah, that's awesome. So even if it's something you really, really love, have you ever had moments where you feel really burned out working from 8am to 12am? Absolutely. Yeah, so for the past few years, I've been doing about four shows a week. a year on top of my corporate job. with that, this, this current timeframe that I'm in. So the first half of 2025, I'm taking a small break. because yeah, you reach that point. It's easy to be like, Oh, the whole year is gone. And I had two weeks in between every show and that was my break. So. Yeah, I think I'm reeling back the amount of shows I do a year, not going anywhere, still gonna do it, but reeling those back, working on outside things too. I needed this break because I'm in the process of buying a house. so I need this time to kind of renovate, remodel, clean out. Yeah. That's very exciting. Very exciting. What are some of the biggest challenges you've faced in maintaining both a career And a creative pursuit. Other than time. We know time is clearly an obstacle for all of us. Yep. Time is the biggest obstacle for sure. And kind of what we talked about before, the burnout, that, that's a real thing that will happen. So I think you just have to really know yourself and really listen to yourself. And, make your pros and cons list, whatever it is, right? And know. For me this year, I can do two shows a year. I will still love it. I will still have time to work on this house that I'm renovating, still have a social life and see my friends and all will be well. So it just, yeah, it really comes down to knowing yourself and knowing what you're capable of. because it's a commitment. it is a true commitment. But it's a love too. So you never want to see that thing that you love become a thing that you hate. Right.. When you're so overworked and tired and stressed out, it just your propensity for injury goes way up. Oh yeah. Yeah. I'm sure that's something. are you singing a lot too, or mostly acting and dancing? Singing as much as well. So it's, it's really equal opportunity for all three. every show that I do, I mean, of course it depends on role, but like the show I was just in, in December, Anastasia, It's just as much singing on stage and off stage. I think that's what people don't realize all the time is just because I'm not on stage in a moment. Maybe it's just the two leads are having a moment on stage, but then you hear these voices behind them. That's us live. We're backstage. We might be half dressed like changing into our next costume, but we are, our mics are on and we are singing. So it is. It is a constant thing. so even when you get into performances, you think, Oh yeah, now I have this, free time, and it's, I have shows Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, but those shows are non stop, and so those whole three hours of that show, you are going, going, going. Wow, I had no idea. I didn't either. I haven't seen a lot of live shows, but. We're going to change that. Yes, y'all should. Support local theater. They're great. Next question. Have you ever felt pressure either like something you're putting pressure on yourself for or maybe like an external influence? Where you felt like you have to choose between stability and passion. So, like, stability as in your full time career, because it's probably the money maker, Right. Versus creative passions. Yeah, so I will say that was a decision I never thought I was going to have to make. but my senior semester, we had a class dedicated to essentially mapping out your future. So, you would pick three cities and map out which three you picked, what it takes to live there, how much rent is, how many jobs you would have to work, do those jobs allow for time to go audition, all the things, right? And that is kind of what started me thinking. Maybe this is not what I want to do. I was also very burnout by that point. I'd been dancing, like I said, since age five, without ever really stopping along with other extracurricular activities along the way. So just, I'd never known anything but go, go, go. And Maybe hadn't thought through everything I needed to think through that it takes to go to New York, Chicago, L. A., wherever, and have that kind of life. And so I took a year off. I went to go be an au pair in Germany and just, I stopped everything. I needed time away. I needed to figure out what I wanted, what I truly wanted, actually think through what it took. And then things evolved from there, and it became clear that you can do both, which was not something that I thought was an option. And it absolutely is. You can have the stable job and also continue. Your creative passion and that kind of blew my mind because it just felt like an all or nothing all my life, and it's not that. That's cool. How did you like being an au pair in Germany? That sounds like a fun experience. Yeah, I loved it. It was wild. It was definitely the most interesting thing I think I've ever done. Learned a lot, but learn stuff that you didn't expect to learn. Like I expected to learn the language and things about their culture, right? And then it's just day to day things that are so different and things that I never thought I would learn. So it was, it was really neat. Nice. That sounds cool. I, I, um, have a sister that's an artist and I feel like she dealt with a lot of people telling her, like, you can't do both necessarily. Yeah. And like, she went to SCAD. Are you familiar with there? Yeah, my best friend went there. Oh, nice. Yeah, so she went to SCAD to pursue illustration and, especially some people in my family were just saying because, like, one, that school's really expensive, she didn't have a lot of scholarship, and, like, also, being an artist is hard. It's not the most money making career, I guess. Right. But she dealt with a lot of that, so that's why I wanted to include that question. I was wondering if you felt the same things as a performing artist. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I definitely had the question of well, don't you want to go into the medical field? Don't you want to you know, I I heard all of those things but Yeah, I wouldn't change it Well, that's great to hear from you that you just had to take time to realize that you can do both But that's not what people were telling you wasn't really the case and you just removed yourself probably sure you had Like you were saying all kinds of influences and suggestions coming at you. So going to another country. That's getting some quiet It sure is Okay, this is just a little side what was your favorite food in Germany that was like specific to the area? Oh Okay, there was this dish that was like a traditional dish that's, I think it might have been deer meat, maybe? No, boar meat. That's what it was. It was boar meat, like goulash, with these certain kind of noodles, if anyone German is listening, I'm going to butcher the name. I didn't continue my German lessons, but Spitzle noodles, and then, red cabbage as a side that's sweet. Oh my gosh. I could have eaten that every day. Wow. Wow. It was amazing. Nice. I have some family over in Germany. I haven't ever been to visit them or anything like that, but I'm hoping to. You should. It's amazing. So how has living in a small town shaped your opportunities and challenges as a performer? I think it definitely, at least looking back in the sense of growing up, definitely shaped me to have more of a tough skin, I think, because I look back on it and at the time there were two of us in the dance program at Fine Arts Center, and then there was one art student and one music student, so four total. going from our high school to Fine Arts Center every day. That's not a lot of students. And we were doing things that our friends at our home high school may not understand at all and would not understand why you're going to go study modern dance, like Martha Graham technique. When you could be Cheerleading or whatever, which I was for a stint and, it just had to be one of those things that, you know, you knew your purpose and you knew that this was something you loved and you could potentially go far with and would benefit you. So you just did it anyway, you know? That's great. Yeah, um, and I'm sure being in a small town, the folks that are listening, we grew, Carly and myself and my family, we, her family, we all grew up in a small town called Travelers Rest, South Carolina. Um, it's not so small anymore. Greenville was also a smaller town. So I just wanted to kind of, plug that, that Greenville is much larger than it was even 10 years ago. Correct. Yes. So your opportunities evolved as I assume the city evolved. You've got more opportunities. it's hard to hide, you know, you can't. Sneak into the crowd of an audition of 35 people. Right, exactly. With just a handful, so. Exactly. For sure. So, I know you said in Greenville they have the Fine Arts Center. Do you feel like your local community outside of that supported the arts? Or have you had to, like, travel to seek other opportunities outside your hometown? Absolutely. Uh, that's one of the things I love the most about Greenville and I think it took me going away. Granted, maybe I went a little too far away going all the way to Germany. but it took me going away to realize what I had here and the community that we have here. It's incredible. The arts community specifically is incredible. The opportunities here exist for everyone. We have multiple, just really incredible theaters for adults. We also have the South Carolina Children's Theater for children. We have so many dance studios now. So, just the Peace Center itself is incredible. There are so many things here. And so many organizations that work to fight for that. Lots of my friends work for these organizations full time as well. It's just, it's amazing because it can easily be the first thing to go in a smaller town. Arts funding is usually the first thing that's cut when it comes to education and whatnot. So it's, it's really amazing. That is awesome. Yeah, I mean, I was thinking I wasn't really sure how many opportunities there would be here. I know Greenville is sizable, especially now, like you said, it's grown a lot, but I would definitely go out on a limb and say most small towns probably don't have the opportunities and support that you experienced growing up. Right. Okay, for this next question, how has dance shaped you outside of performing? Dance, theater, the whole thing. Yes. This question, I love this question. I feel like it comes up anytime I've done a job interview and I have to explain for people who may not know how rigid ballet is growing up. Cause that's what I did the most of growing up. That is a discipline that art form is a discipline and that taught me Patience, it taught me dedication, it taught me, you name it, right? It taught you all of those things. So I would not be the person I am today if I did not have that growing up. You just learn lessons that you may not have learned otherwise. Yeah. Yeah. That's the same for you. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's very disciplined and, it doesn't feel well a lot of the, I mean, you know, there's, there's a painful part of it, but you work through that. and then there's a lot of, fulfillment on the other side. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. The discipline and the lessons and just like the character development you, you gain from ballet. Do you think that's kind of what set you up to be able to maintain your schedule today? Because I mean, you have a crazy schedule and you have to be disciplined to keep that up and not get burned out. So do you feel like that connects? Yeah, absolutely. I think those two things go hand in hand. and especially since I did it from such a young age on, it's kind of all I've ever known and all I've ever wanted to know. I enjoy being busy. I enjoy Having all those things lined up and my schedule squared away and knowing exactly what my day is going to look like. I'd rather be busy than not. I'd rather be performing than not. So, yeah. Nice. Very cool. Nice. Okay, next question. Are there any particular women in the performing arts that inspired you even today or from a younger age? Yeah. So many. I wish I could name them all. but I think particularly right now, I would say my friend Victoria. She is my music director for a lot of shows that I'm in. she has master's degrees in voice and is a beautiful singer. beautiful instructor. She, teaches voice full time. So she made voice her career, made music her career, but she also still outside of teaching out of her home studio will be music director for various theaters around the upstate. And I just love that because again, I think for so long, I thought, You can't do both. You either have to go make it in New York, or the big cities, or that's it. And it's not true. You can absolutely do both. You can still have your family. She has a beautiful family and you know, you can have both. So I just love that and she's a sweet dear friend. So yes, she inspires me daily. When did you meet her? Have you known her for a long time? I met her in maybe 2022. So not very long. But it's been so nice to get to know her and get to know her quickly and just have her in my corner and learn so much from her vocally and yeah. That's awesome. I love that. We'll shout out to Victoria. Yay! So what advice would you give to other women who feel torn between practical responsibilities and their creative passions? Yeah. Again, I keep saying it, but you can do both. You absolutely can do both. And I think there's nothing wrong in craving stability. I think we're disciplined sometimes within our art forms to want to only chase that and feel like we're only successful with that to a certain degree. But you can be successful in that in any way that feels successful to you. To me, it is working my corporate job and performing locally, with the amazing talent that lives here. The people who live here are incredible. I think there's, It's sometimes a bit of a stereotype when people hear you're doing local theater and you have this idea in your head of what that looks like. It's incredible around here. So I feel so grateful for the people in this community, the talent that we have, and the ability to do both. So anyone who's facing that, that struggle, I get it. I faced it too. And now I'm on the other side and it's awesome. So if you had, uh, to our listeners, we have somebody that's listening and you're inspiring myself to like, I should get back into something. Cause I love doing it. I don't just have to perform for my family. Love it. 24 seven here. I know that's shocking to you. Oh yes. Someone, who says, I think I want to, back into the game. Is there anything, what would you suggest they do? What's the next step for that? Yeah. Especially if you're, if you happen to be local here, I can speak for here knowing that this exists, but I know it exists out there elsewhere to look up local classes for, adults, if it's an adult that's wanting to get back into things. There are so many adult dance classes around here. There are adult, painting classes that are offered that I know about. There, there are all these things and all these resources, so that you don't have to give that up. You can absolutely get back into it. There's different levels for it. There's adult tap classes, which I took one with Victoria that we were just speaking about a little bit ago. so these things exist out there and they're awesome and you will find a community within these classes too. And with these resources, you'll meet other people and opportunities may arise for you that you didn't know were out there. So just, yeah, get out there and sign up for a beginner ballet class or intermediate tap class, whatever it is that you're looking to do. There are people out there in the same boat as you. Well, there you go. There I go. Well, now I'm going to have to be accountable. This is going to get published. Yep, I'm not editing that part out. What is next for you? What do you have coming up? Yeah, so I, like we spoke about in the beginning a little bit, I'm buying a house, which is super exciting. Working on getting that to the place that I want it to be in. And still balancing how that looks with performing and my full time job. So, it's kind of a balancing act right now. But, just auditioned last weekend. There'll be some more auditions coming up. It's kind of audition season right now. Okay. And I'm just gonna continue performing. Continue working. Maybe growing within my corporate community. And working on my house. Yeah. Um, okay. what's been your favorite performance? Like as far as like, Oh, this is a hard question or whatever. Cats. This is such a hard way. I would say I have the most fun. Just being in the ensemble of Mamma Mia, I've done it twice. And that is the show that I feel like I could do for the rest of my life every single day and never get tired of it. It's just so fun. And that's part of the thing too. You love this. So you want your art that you're working on to be meaningful for you, whatever that means. If it's something intense that. Bring something out of you that you need to release or whether it's something just super joyful and fun. And that's, what I want to work on the most. And so doing Mama Mia is absolutely just joy and fun and partying and dancing and singing. And yeah, it's so much fun. I'm asking her some off the cuff questions. I've got another one. Okay. What show do you is on your bucket list? Oh Easy Chicago. Okay. Give me three top three Okay Chicago yes, that's my number one. I would also Love to do Cabaret, which they are doing locally here in Greenville, soon. Who's going to be doing that? Center Stage in Greenville is doing that one. I have some friends in that one, so that will be so cool. but I hope maybe in a couple years they do it again, because that's a, that's a dream role for me too. And then, third, mmm, so many options I could choose from. I'm going to say I'm gonna say Mamma Mia again, because I would love to do it again. Why not? Like seriously, I would love to do it again. We have to change that. I'm like, I'm ashamed to admit it because everyone says it's so good, but I'm not a movie television person anymore. So yeah, which you guys have something big time in common. Oh, this is, this is the girl. Yes. Yeah. I'm going to text you. We're going to talk about fantasy books later. Oh yes. Can't wait. I do. I have another podcast where my friend and I deep, deep dives into romances that are really popular. So I'm just going to text you later about it. Absolutely. Please do. This is a new thing for me. Just started into this world last year and I love it. Oh yes. Good. Okay. Sweet. Okay. So I don't know if you've watched any of our episodes. But we have a segment at the end, we call it What She Said, and usually we'll, like, highlight some random quote from some random famous person. But in our interview episodes, we like it to come from our interviewee, in this case, you. So, what she said today, we want to ask you, is there a quote or a mantra, like a, any, like a memory you maybe hold onto that has helped you stay motivated in your journey at the hardest times? Yeah. The one that comes to mind And I don't fully mean it in the sense that it comes across in, but the quote is fake it till you make it. I've been told that my entire life with performing and it rings true to a certain degree, right? Like I'm not saying to go out there and fake your experience or, you know, your knowledge. Yeah, exactly. That's not what it is. To give an example, there, there was a time that I was in a, production and was asked about my TAP experience in, just in life. Um, they were having us rank ourselves and I'm very much a perfectionist, ranked myself a little bit lower than I probably should have just because that felt safe. And then come to find out I could have ranked myself higher. So don't. Don't doubt yourself. Be true to your talents. Recognize them, not in any sort of conceited way, but just you got it and fake it till you make it. If someone asks you, Hey, how's your type of ability? It's great because you know you can do it. You can do it. So yeah, I think just be confident and a smile goes a long way, especially in performing like just Just be genuine, be yourself, and confidence is key. Fake it till you make it, girl. I love that. I love that. Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day. Especially now that we know how busy your days are. Yes. Yes. It just does my heart so good to watch your journey, to see you speak, to see you pursue. And you know, it reminds me a lot of Garrett because he placed in Trail 2 and it just makes me so proud that you guys, I just remember taking y'all to the little rehearsals at church. Yep. That is nuts. I know. Well, good luck to you, and we'll collaborate with you. We'll spread the word about what you've got going on and maybe you can spread the word for us. Just yeah, absolutely. Get it out there. Yeah. Thank you so much for joining us. Oh, thanks y'all. That's the tea. And that's the tea. That's the tea.