Founder, Singer, Actress
Current City: San Jose, CA
Current Job and Entrepreneurial Focus: ElisaCP Consulting, working with start-up entrepreneurs on content, communications, and community strategy, particularly focused on underserved entrepreneurs.
Notable Prior Jobs: Former Co-Founder and COO of BlogHer, Inc.
When I Started Performing: 14.
Performing Arts Background: Got into theatre, specifically musical theatre, and choir in high school. Received a BA in Theatre Arts with a Vocal Performance music minor in college. Apprenticed for two summers at a professional summer stock theatre to get my Equity card. Moved to New York, did off-off Broadway and eventually my own cabaret show at The Duplex and Don't Tell Mama. Moved back to California and continued doing Equity theatre in the Bay Area, and still pay my union dues today!
How did your performing arts background supercharge your entrepreneurship? From my perspective the performing arts, whether theatre, choir, dance or crew for all of the above, provides as much opportunity to learn about teamwork and how every member of a team is a necessary contributor to a greater whole, as any sports activity. The performing arts also supercharge your capacity for innovation and creativity. Every show, every piece, every performance starts from nothing. You are building something that has never been seen before. Sometimes it's as ephemeral as improv, but even a show that goes on for hundreds of performances has a sense of freshness and unpredictability every single night. Thinking on your feet is as important in the arts as it is when running a start-up. Finally, the theatre is often a haven for so many different kinds of people. There is often a sense of heterogeneity to any team in the arts. In this era where people are finally starting to understand the value and need to prioritize diversity across numerous dimensions, a lifetime in the arts will have already prepared you to appreciate all the different types of thinkers and doers and dreamers and builders, and how you in fact need everyone to create magic.
Favorite Performer: Bernadette Peters.
Follow Elisa Camahort Page:
Twitter - @ElisaC
Instagram - @ElisaCP
Facebook - ElisaC
LinkedIn - elisacamahortpage
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