We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Brighton Sloan a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Brighton , thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?
I was raised by entrepreneurs, and I saw first hand the amount of work it takes to be the boss. My mother worked from the moment she woke up to the moment she closed her eyes to go to sleep, and it was expected that we all work hard as well. Straight A’s was the expectation, and my parents gave me support to thrive academically. I’ve also found that I work hard when I’m passionate about something, and that passion can take a lot of forms. It could be the joy of solving a puzzle, or the satisfaction of making a process run better, or just the dopamine hit of cleaning up a messy room. In the arts, I’ve seen how hard work takes people from good to great, and how much of a differentiator it can be in a room full of talented people. Lot’s of people have talent. Not everyone can channel it to get a specific result.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I’m a director and artist who also loves business. I graduated with a BA in theatre arts with an emphasis in directing, and started self-producing shows at 18 to give myself a chance to build my skills. I chased every opportunity that came my way, racking up nearly 20 director credits by the time I was thirty. In the meantime, I jumped in to build the family business, BaseCamp Franchising, which oversaw two resale clothing brands- Kid to Kid and Uptown Cheapskate. In my 15 years at the company we quadrupled in size, and I was able to learn every aspect of the business. I worked as a store manager, training developer, and finished my time heading up the Operations Department which provided direct support to 200 store locations. After three decades in business, my family opted to sell a majority stake of the company to a new ownership group in 2022, leaving me without a day job for the first time since college. I decided I was going to refocus on my directing and artistic career, which led me to take a job as the marketing director at a prominent local theater, Hale Center Theater Orem, which is in the midst of moving from a tiny 300 seat venue in orem to a 50,000 sq ft facility in Pleasant Grove. Directing is my passion, but I love the problem solving that goes on behind the scenes nearly as much.
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?
Theater is a team sport, and I’ve always been a good collaborator. Listening to the creative ideas of the people around you and implementing them is a skill every good director has to have. I try not to get “precious” about my own ideas- my job is to facilitate creating the best possible product I can with the people around me, and sometimes the best ideas in the room won’t be your own. A good director knows how to screen out things that don’t work well in the world they’ve created. It’s only been the past few years that I’ve focused on this, but develop your skills laterally. I’ve always been willing to keep learning, but it was when I made a commitment to seriously developing ancillary skills that I made progress. Art is art is art- so learn about makeup, learn photography, learn lighting, learn costumes- it all makes a difference in the final product.
Connections matter. Treat others with respect and invest in them, and network as much as possible, I’ve almost never gotten a job without a referral. Develop a good reputation, put in the work, and build authentic relationships. You’ll get more opportunities than you thought possible that way.
What’s been one of your main areas of growth this year?
This ties into networking, but in the last year I started to focus in on myself as a brand. Social media isn’t comfortable for me, nor is self promotion, but if people aren’t aware of what you’re doing, then it doesn’t open the door to opportunities. Working as a photographer has opened doors for me as a director. Taking work that isn’t directly related to what I want to do has allowed me to find work other places. I’m also a shy person around strangers- I’ve had to work to build the confidence to assume that people want to talk to me and that I bring value to the conversation. I mention my goals and ambitions much more regularly now- putting it out there allows people to help you make it happen.
Contact Info:
- Website: brightonsloan.smugmug.com
- Instagram: brightonsloan
Image Credits
Lauri Baird Photography Brighton Sloan Photography
