Are you interested in the constantly changing careers of people with many interests (Scanners)? Do you love to learn about people who don’t have only one true calling and who don’t stick with one wonderful thing forever – because they just have to move on to the next wonderful thing? Then get to know about multipotentialite Felicia Ricci.
If you’re a Scanner, the phenomenon of changing careers may seem familiar to you. Have you experienced that at all? You might find it inspiring to hear about this particular curriculum vitae.
Felicia Ricci received her degree in English from Yale University, where she won the J. Edward Meeker Prize for nonfiction, the Saybrook Master’s Award, and the Louis Sudler Prize for the arts.
Multipotentialite Felicia Ricci: actor, singer, songwriter, author, and singing teacher
Felicia started a career on Broadway as actor and singer in several musicals, including the difficult role of Elphaba in the musical Wicked. But instead of heading for a long term contract, she wrote a book (and a blog) about the experience and left the theater world to start something new.
“The experience of being in this mega musical was so bizarre to me, and I couldn’t believe that no one had written about it,” she said in a Case Study with AWeber. “It was fulfilling and rewarding in a lot of ways, but it made me realize I didn’t want to do theater my whole life.”
This is the book: Unnaturally Green: One girl’s journey along a yellow brick road less traveled
Free singing videos
Next, Felicia used her singing experience to start her own business as a Voice Finder. Her YouTube channel has earned over 500,000 subscribers. I absolutely recommend watching her free YouTube videos. There are many, they are short, and they will help you sing better right away, each one of them. Give it a try: Free singing tips on her website.
It’s also a vlog where Felicia talks about topics like Why Do Mean Online Comments Hurt So Much? and I Hate My Singing Voice, Help!
Singing programs
As a Voice Finder, Felicia created several singing programs, some are for free and some larger ones for purchase such as
- The Lazy Singer’s Warmup
- Belt Your Face Off and
- Singing Transformation – 360° of Vocal Training.
After working with her free videos for quite a while I purchased the Belting Course and and Singing Transformation and I’m enthused because these are simply the best singing lessons I’ve had so far. Also it’s a very holistic approach that includes both the physiological and the psychological side of singing.
Check out her singing programs. The Lazy Singers’ Warmup and Belt Your Face Off are still available, and Singing Transformation hopefully might be again at some point … (Maybe you want to subscribe to her newsletter to learn about it as soon as it happens.)
And why is the huge program with over 100 lessons not available right now?
Singer / Songwriter: “Write my own music”
Because after several years of teaching singing Felicia felt she had to develop her own singing and songwriting further which she is doing now.
On her website, Felicia explains she’s now following her childhood dream of expressing her thoughts through songs and singing them. She needs to be her authentic true self.
Why does she do this? Change careers? Reinvent herself over and over again?
Obviously because she has to. I’m guessing many of my readers can identify with that.
TEDx Talk: There is no final draft
Felicia talked about changing careers in this TEDx Talk.
This is her message: “Embrace the process of change – because developing your skills is an ongoing process of revision.”
- If you’re innovative, the odds will never be in your favor. So ignore the odds.
- Embrace the fear, because revisions are scary. You can deal with them.
- You can’t decide by thinking, you can only decide by doing.
Check out the video: How to Change Careers when You’re Lost | Felicia Ricci | TEDxYale (on YouTube)
Fulfilling one dream after another
To me it seems that Felicia Ricci keeps fulfilling one lifelong dream after another.
Putting this one project into practice right now with all her energy (and great results).
And then after a few years there is a time of revision before she moves on to the next dream.
More than that: Every step helps develop skills that are needed in the next step. Understanding singing deeply through singing on Broadway helps in teaching singing. Understanding singing deeply through teaching singing helps in making and performing own songs.
I think this is a gorgeous Scanner approach! Barbara Sher would be so proud of her.
It sounds very much like a Serial Master or Serial Specialist as described in Barbara Sher’s Refuse to Choose. A person who specializes in a topic to move on when she’s finished.
Or is it all about deepening different areas of one big interest, songs and singing?
No one knows what will become of this in the future, what the overall picture will look like. As Felicia said, you can only find out by doing. But it takes a lot of courage to go through these revisions.
So maybe this is what Felicia Ricci’s example can inspire us all to do: Summon up the courage and do it. Fulfill our dreams and reinvent ourselves again and again.
Update Oct 19: Musical career with original music
In the future, Felicia won’t sell any of her courses anymore. She’s stopping teaching singing altogether to focus on her career as a musical artist.
Check out her YouTube channel.
Her first newly published songs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qPFsRGFQh0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bg4MaAa9zAU
So – isn’t it encouraging that we can change and evolve all the time? 🙂
What is your experience with changing careers?
Did you have to do it? Did you feel the urge to do it?
In what way did former experiences come in handy in your next stage?
Do people „get it“ or do you get funny annotations from your social environment?
Let me know in the comments below!
Jana
Thank you to Felicia Ricci who gave me this lovely picture with permission to use it for this article!
Check out her website https://www.feliciaricci.com – Music, Art, Writing by Felicia.
New to this blog?
=> Read my Start Here article.
Interested in more? => You may want to check out my other English blog articles for Scanners:
- Scanners, Renaissance People, Polymaths, Multipotentialites! There Is Hope: Polymath Is The New Normal
- „Too many interests“? You might be a Scanner, and that’s a wonderful thing
- Scanner Anniversary: 10 Years, 10 Scanner Lessons (and a Gift)
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