THE AMBER WEITZER PODCAST | SILHOUETTES OF SUCCESS | HOLLY REED

THE AMBER WEITZER PODCAST | SILHOUETTES OF SUCCESS

HOLLY REED | EPISODE 72 | SHOW NOTES

FEATURED GUEST

Our VIP Featured Guest Holly Reed is the Owner and Creative Director of Reed Creative Group, an award-winning design studio along with MusicalWriters.com, an online resource and community to equip and encourage musical theater writers. She and her husband/composer Kelvin wrote the upcoming TRUE NORTH: A MAGICAL NEW HOLIDAY MUSICAL and (2019 York Development Reading Series, 2021 CNU New Musicals Lab 2021 Red Mountain Theatre Human Rights New Works Festival, 2022 IAMT New Musical Lab). Holly and Kelvin wrote “That’s What Friends Do” for GIRLHOOD THE MUSICAL (CPA Theatricals), and the grade school musical CAMP MCAULIFFE. She is a member of American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers and the Dramatist Guild plus she holds a BFA in design and music from the University of Texas at Arlington.

CONVERSATION HIGHLIGHTS

ACT 1: Holly shares that she grew up in a musically inclined family, she was a music major at one point but knew that her passion was for design. Holly shares that during the early times she struggled to try to figure out what she wanted to do…Holly says she changed her major four times and went to four different universities. As an Enneagram 3 and she grew up that achievement was expected. She started off in her career in the design field was her go to, and over the years it has morphed as she evolves. Something that is great that she enjoys is the variations of her work since she operates a s a full advertising agency and design studio. She has always worked from home and once having children it allowed her have flexibility in her hours and raising the children. She is driven by email, which is her call to action versus making a big daily “To-Do” lists. Holly has three pates spinning Reed Creative Group which we touched on earlier, True North (a new musical coming soon!) of which she’s in the process of securing investors, doing the budget and all of the things one needs to coordinate and manage like script, music and lyrics, set design and costume ideas, sending demos for choreography…and keeping the creative team going then there is MusicalWriters.com. As for MuscalWriters.com for this business it has her attentions focused on managing the business, a team, prepping for events and of course…emails and digital content, classes advertisement and all the design. She’s efficient in her tasks, therefore, able to time manage her days and projects.

INTERMISSION: Holly shares that they moved two different times that both had monumental changes for her path and growth. So, picture they moved from their small town to D/FW and then ended up moving away from the D/FW area. Moving to the D/FW area she knew no one, however, this is where she was introduced to theater. In fact, Holly shares a story about taking a trip to NYC for a conference and going to see Wicked on Broadway-don’t skip over this story…goosebumps!

ACT II: They returned from NYC and she enrolled in dance, acting and vocals lessons then participating in theater. She loved that time of discovery. Holly describes moving back to a smaller town like taking a U-turn. Also moving back to the Tyler area, her sister (mentor) was going to be a work competitor, so this gave Holly pause which then led to Holly and her husband decided to write their own show! Holly shares her backstory on how she became the owner of MusicalWriters.com…what a kick! No spoiler alerts here…tune in for yourself! Holly felt an immense calling and inspiration come over her to write things that help others feel the way she felt emotions like she did during Wicked. She began designing for Broadway, Tony Music Award winning producers, contract design for one of the biggest ad agencies on the world-she felt like Act I was all gone, all of her hard work but she began to see that her boldness and the stars were aligning to help bring her out of this funk and it transformed her life. She wakes up every morning and cannot wait to get to work! Many live for Friday…she lives for Mondays! Holly gives us a glimpse behind the curtain about her upcoming new holiday musical, TRUE NORTH: A MAGICAL NEW HOLIDAY MUSICAL!