We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Amaris Davidson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Amaris, first a big thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and insights with us today. I’m sure many of our readers will benefit from your wisdom, and one of the areas where we think your insight might be most helpful is related to imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is holding so many people back from reaching their true and highest potential and so we’d love to hear about your journey and how you overcame imposter syndrome.
I’ll never forget being on the set of How I Met Your Mother in full makeup, full wardrobe, yet silently praying that they didn’t find out that I was a fraud, a fake, an imposter. In truth, I had gone through the entire audition process and booked the role, which is why it was so weird that these feelings came rushing in so brazenly. When I first reflected on the experience, I don’t think I knew the phrase Imposter Syndrome, so I did what I always do when I don’t know something. I Googled it. When I read the definition, I knew immediately that this was not my first brush with Imposter Syndrome. I thought back to my first ballet class in college and being physically incapable of gliding across the floor for fear that everyone would know that I had never taken a dance class or auditioning for my first collegiate play, booking it only to lose my voice the week before opening from the sheer panic that the audience would know I was a self-taught singer. Don’t worry it came back, but the Imposter Syndrome stuck around well into my career as a professional, always older than my counterparts, model. It showed itself every time I hit the stage to perform with my fellow recording artist groupmates in Lady Lux. So, when it happened on set, I knew if I stood a chance at freeing myself, I would have to face it head on. Any time I have ever procrastinated, I have paid for it in my body. My chest would tighten, my back would lock up, and I would all but grind my teeth into dust. Two root canals and one night guard later, I now know that having a plan is necessary. Especially when the enemy is invisible. I took up breathing, meditation, and visualization to support the prayers I was already sending up. Learning to calm my nervous system allowed me to experience the feelings of Imposter Syndrome but not let it overcome me. I paired these tools with bible scripture affirmations, since I knew I would need to replace the negative thoughts with the truth of who I was. I knew it was paying off when I was at an audition waiting to go in the room and literally, no one looked like me. I almost thought I was in the wrong place. Then as if on cue, what sounded like a host of angels singing came flowing from the audition room. In that moment, I placed my feet on the ground, closed my eyes, took three deep breaths, and let the voices that filled the waiting room fall a way to almost a hum. By the time my name was called, I all but floated into the audition room. When asked to sing, I took another beat to close my eyes, breathe and tap into the deepest part of me. The part of me that creates simply because I love to do it. By the time I sang my last note and opened my eyes, both the casting director and casting assistant were crying. I knew that no matter what my background or training looked like, what lives in me will come out if I just make room.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
My focus is on my career as a storyteller & activation coach for creatives. I have spent the past several weeks updating all of my acting materials: self-submission sites, EPK, blurb and bio as well as the materials for my coaching company Activated by Amaris: website, packages, descriptions. My next step is to do a shoot to update my acting materials with a look I have been currently using and get all of that over to my team. From there will set up agent meetings. Since I have had some really great opportunities with just my management team DreamScope Entertainment, we want to push the envelope and reach offices that maybe we haven’t in the past. For Activated by Amaris, I will be making last minute adjustments to my website before it launches in November. Practically, this looks like going to my part time job for three days, then spending the next four building out my career. It’s really amazing to be able to focus on two of my greatest passions, storytelling and helping others. You can find my most recent work on Season 6 of the CW’s All American as sports reporter, Renata Booth. I look forward to auditioning more this fall but also really prepping to hit the ground running in 2025. I hope to help other creatives with that prep work in the meantime.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Such a great question! I would have to say hands down, first, the people I have surrounded myself with have determined so many factors about my journey – choose wisely. Second, fill yourself with LIFE! Otherwise, you have nothing to give to your creation. Get curious about everything, fall in love, learn something new! That goes for artists, teachers, moms, everyone. Lastly, the ability to self-motivate paired with radical self-discipline has helped me navigate the desire to pivot on more than one occasion – You have to believe it more than anyone else, and have the discipline to know that a “no” is information, not a destination – proceed accordingly.
Do you think it’s better to go all in on our strengths or to try to be more well-rounded by investing effort on improving areas you aren’t as strong in?
I could talk about this all day long! Having a Masters in Leadership with an emphasis on Leader Development, this conversation came up quite often in my courses. It continues to be a topic of discussion when I am coaching creatives and even at my day job. I like to lean on three resources: Gallup Strengths Finders, the Enneagram, and a further school of thought around the enneagram which talks about Tritypes. Before I nerd out on you, just know that one is a natural strengths assessment and the other two deal with personality and core fears. My belief is that it truly depends on the person whether they should focus on only their strengths or be more well-rounded by investing effort on improving areas. If it is going to cause them to lose focus, I suggest maximizing their strengths and delegating to a trusted team. Because of the nature of my top five natural strengths, (Developer, Positivity, Learner, Input, Activator) I am someone who wants to use my strengths of learner and input to become more well-rounded because I am absolutely the person who is going to share that information and help develop and potentially activate others. The Enneagram and Tritype tests both support the qualities detailed in my natural strengths: a Reformer, Helper and Loyalist. I say all that to say, it has to be in one’s nature or desire to actually WANT to learn or improve. Intrinsic motivation plays a huge role in determining whether or not someone is going to follow through. Not to worry, if someone is not intrinsically motivated, then the wisdom to have an accountability partner or group works just as well! But knowing yourself is key. Ironically, the story about how Activated by Amaris got started is that I got tired of trying to activate people who were not ready to be activated lol. I would come across people who would “say” they wanted to act and how they just “needed the opportunity”, but when I sent them resources and tools to help them do just that, they would sit on it. Three months later, they would reach out and ask me to resend the information. Absolutely not! You only get to waste my time once, lol, and the information is still in your email! So, putting a value to the information gave people the opportunity to put their money where their mouth was and gave me a worthwhile investment of my time.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://amarisdavidson.wixsite.com/mysite-1
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamamarisdavidson/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amaris-davidson-4756a036/
- Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3111477/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk
Image Credits
Barry Fantich Photography, HEADSHOTSBYJMO, Atelier Unforgettable, Chika Chukudebelu Igwilo
