Student Blog: The Tale of Two Cities, Two Selves, and One Dream

When I stepped off the plane into New York City’s electric pulse, I had only two things on my mind: the city and the version of me that comes alive there. Back home in Canada, I’m grounded, introspective, and quietly ambitious. I’m the Miley Stewart of my story, building dreams in my home office, editing podcast episodes and emailing artists I once thought were out of reach. But in New York, I transform. Like slipping on an invisible wig, I become louder, braver, bolder, ready to take the stage like Hannah Montana. It’s not a costume. It’s a transformation. I’m not two different people, I’m one story told in two voices.

That story began in an arts-focused elementary school in Toronto, where I first fell in love with the magic of theatre. As a theatre major at a performing arts high school, I’ve spent years studying character, discipline, and collaboration, not just to become a better performer, but a more intentional creator. And I didn’t wait for permission to start. In the quiet of my Canadian home, I launched The Inspiration Show, a virtual interview series spotlighting artists who’ve inspired me. I’ve now hosted over 100 episodes featuring Broadway and television professionals whose journeys continue to shape my own. What began as a dream became a platform, built with passion, Zoom, and a refusal to believe access was limited by distance.

Canada gave me roots. New York gave me wings. The city flips a switch in me. Zoom interviews turn into face-to-face conversations. The Playbills I once studied online, zooming in on every cast list and creative team, are now creased in my hands, collected from the theatres I used to only imagine. The city that once felt like a dream now feels like a doorway. That doorway opened wider with my Off-Broadway debut at The Green Room 42, performing The Journey of Inspiration Through Theater, a show I wrote about my creative journey. Sharing the stage with Broadway performers who had joined me on the podcast was a turning point. On that stage, I didn’t just perform. I told the truth. Sharing my story of doubt, drive, and discovery deepened my love of performance, but it also sparked something bigger: a mission to help others find their voice, their platform, and their place in the spotlight.

Returning to Canada after New York always feels like leaving home to go home. It’s where the invisible wig comes off, where Hannah fades and Miley returns, and where the distance between me and Broadway stretches just a little farther. Storytelling has always been my bridge. It connects two places, two selves, and one unshakable dream. It’s how I stay grounded in who I am, even as I grow into who I’m becoming. 

Between Canada and New York, between quiet work done alone and moments shared under stage lights, I’ve learned to love the climb itself. As a performer, a creator, a podcast host, and a student blogger for BroadwayWorld, I’ve come to understand that the magic of theater doesn’t only live in the spotlight. It lives in the process, in the conversations, in the stories artists carry with them long before an audience ever applauds. Writing, performing, and producing are no longer separate paths for me, but extensions of the same purpose: to document the climb, honor the process, and amplify the voices that make this industry what it is. 

I’m not just chasing Broadway’s lights. I’m learning how to shape their glow, for myself and for others. Because for me, just like Miley and Hannah, it’s never just been about what’s waiting on the other side. It’s always been about the climb.