Ok, so I know it’s been a while – but boy is my life changing. I have to say the greatest and latest hurdle I overcame was entering the modeling world through a hair show. Yes, I gave myself up as a guinea pig in order to become a model – but just hear me out here!

It all started with a mysterious email from the agency reporting that a couple of hair companies were seeking out models for a show in Oakbrook, Ill. Okay, not New York City fashion week – but I’ll take it, I thought. The directions instructed models to arrive at the hotel at 5 p.m. and to meet a representative from the company in the lobby.

Of course never having gone to a modeling cattle call I expected the casting to be an organized interview in which I would immediately be adored and cast in the show because – who wouldn’t love me? I mean seriously?

“Okay, so I’ll take you, you and you. Okay all of you who weren’t cast, head over to room A. There’s another casting there.”

And there went Brittany’s ego. I stood in a the middle of a crowd of more than 200 hundred models all in all black outfits. There were so many with the same look on their face as me…."Pick me. Just pick me!" It was weird to say the least.

The next call was much different than the last. Instead of immediate dismissal, the hair dressers had those who were willing to get certain hairstyles stand up. And then they picked them – one by one. I stood several times and found myself sitting down again over and over. I should have known….

But then, something happened – I was beckoned on stage. I found myself walking back and forth on the runway and having some of the world’s most famous hairstylists touching my hair….and one by one – again with the suspense of the picky thing – some of the models were eliminated – but I remained.

I smiled at the model next to me. “I’m so nervous!” I said, but she just kind of gave me a rotten look and said “Yeah, whatever.” Ugh…I don’t think we’re in Rhinelander ... [Read More]

I could probably talk till I'm blue in the face about what it's like to be cast in a show or what it's like to audition for a theatrical production, but what happens when the try out turns out wrong?

Show business is all about rejection (and acceptance)! But more so about rejection. So when I, yes I the drama queen of the Northwoods, tried out for the musical here at Cardinal Stritch University and was turned down (I know it's hard to believe) I didn't freak out. I'll tell you why: I have:

The Fool-Proof 15 Ways of How NOT To Deal with Rejection!! 

1. Burst into tears in the middle of a piano lesson.
2. Burst into tears in your dorm room.
3. Burst into tears in a public restroom.
4. Okay, any type of crying in general is pretty bad.
5. Eat obscene amounts of fried foods in short periods of time.  
6. Swear you'll never audition for another show ever again and that you're absolutely done for in the entertainment industry.
7. Over-focus on all of your weak spots and get the idea that after five hours in the practice room one night they'll disappear.
8. Compare yourself to every actor who got in the show and swear you'd get revenge by winning a Tony someday and slandering them in your thank you speech.
9. Call home the day the cast was posted.
10. Not call home for a few days and hold it in. 
11. Snap at everyone who asks you a question even as minute as "could you pass the ketchup?"
12. Lose sleep.
13. Think you didn't get cast because "Those directors just don't like me."
14. Did I mention crying already?
15. Tell yourself it's because you aren't good enough.

The ONE FOOL-PROOF WAY TO DEAL WITH REJECTION:

              ACCEPT IT AND MOVE ON!

There is no room for pansies in show business! Haha! There are several factors that ... [Read More]

I stood at the foot of the orchestra pit at the lyric opera of Chicago and ran my fingers across the score of Tristan and Isolde which the director had been using to monitor the dress rehearsal. Cardinal Stritch’s music department had brought all the music majors to Chicago to watch the final dress rehearsal of a production being put on by one of the greatest opera houses in the world.

Sneaking into the VIP section was a piece of cake. I simply walked down the aisle of the ground level and pretended to look into the orchestra pit during the first intermission. I wondered if anyone would stop me if I just sat down right behind the director or next to the press…..

“Well, I do write a blog – so technically I’m a press person...” So I sat right down in the third row from the stage. After all, it was my god given right as a writer.

The colors and makeup and movements were amplified one hundred times up close. It was beautiful. Isolde’s cries of desperation for Tristan were like vibes running through the air…I knew someday I would make it here. I had a dream that seemed all the more distant by looking at where I was – in the audience. From the moment Brangane hit her high note I knew this dream to be a professional performer would take work – and a lot of it. I would do whatever it took to get to where I wanted to be.

Fast forward to music history a couple days later at Cardinal Stritch...

“Okay, you three figure out the melody on the piano, and Brittany, you, uh…let’s see…You play this!” Mr. Wenzel handled me the most pathetic little piece of metal usually used to summon children of the Old West to supper. Many know it as the triangle. Seriously? Everyone else was playing the piano and I was clanking a metal triangle??!!

It just didn’t seem fair. Doug Clemons, a sophomore at Stritch, had toured with Michael Buble, and what was I? The triangle master.
I felt like my abilities had been questioned at school the past c... [Read More]