Episode 21 Verity Tan, Verity Tan, photographer, drama teacher and full-time mum

Olly Double interviews Kent Drama graduate Verity Tan about keeping her creative career going whilst being a full-time mum to three young children. She talks about how studying Drama at the University of Kent led to a career teaching creative drama classes to children. More importantly, she talks about putting this career to one side for a while to bring up her children – and balancing this with commissions to photograph theatre shows. She also talks about working in different countries, having started her career in Singapore before moving to Thailand. Whilst she was a student, she made a point of taking advantage of creative opportunities, from working for a youth theatre to being an extra in the film Into the Woods. She believes that this set her up for a creative career, and advises: ‘Try everything…You have to hustle. You have to try things.’ This is a perfect episode to listen to if you want to think about how parenthood might fit into your creative career.