Meet Evan Raiff

We recently connected with Evan Raiff and have shared our conversation below.

Evan, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.

I found my purpose through a long series of ups and downs. As a child, I first stepped on stage at the age of four and fell in love with theatre. This passion would follow me through my entire life, though it never struck me as something to pursue as a career. It wasn’t until college, where my theatre director took me aside and instilled the confidence I needed to pursue my love of acting. However, instead of the theatre, I turned my sights and dreams towards Hollywood.

In 2016, I moved out to Los Angeles and began to pursuit in a conservatory program that gave me incredible tools to help further my craft. After two years, I received my certificate and began my career as a professional actor.

However, I began to lose my passion to pursue acting as a career. The endless scouting and submitting, while not doing any acting beyond auditions, wore down my love for what had brought me out to the west coast in the first place.

So, I began to write. Originally, it was short films and screenplays to help further the acting. But soon, I began to write with a focus on the page instead of the screen,

This is where I rediscovered poetry. It was something I had done here and there when I was younger but I hadn’t given much thought to it since then. Yet, in this time of uncertainty regarding my path forward, the exploration of language and the way I could express myself in poems became a guiding light for me.

This exploration into a hobby that could fill time between gigs and auditons soon became an obsession. I found myself writing more and more, my thoughts being consumed by poems and the way certain words could fit together to paint a beautiful image of the world around.

And I found my purpose once again.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I am a poet, author, and storyteller. Along with my short films, screenplays, and Dungeons & Dragons adventures, I am currently focusing my intentions on my poetry.

I self-published my first book, “Loose Marbles and Pretty Words”, in July of 2023. It was a reflective endeavor of my journey in coming to Los Angeles with a dream of acting and Hollywood, and discovering who I truly was as a person. It is a short collection of poems, focusing on self-doubt, the pursuit of dreams, and learning one’s self. It is currently available on Amazon at the link below:

Currently, I am preparing for the release of my second collection, “And Other Ways to Say ‘I Love You'”. This collection dives deep into every piece of the puzzle we call Love, from a cherished childhood memory, to near death experiences, to finding that missing part of yourself. I intend for it to be a deep exploration of the vast spectrum of human love, how it affects all of us, and what it stirs up in each of us. Love is all-encompassing, so why not look at it from all angles?

It will be available for purchase on October 10th, 2025.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

When I reflect on my own journey, the three most important qualities on my journey were perseverance, passion, and consistency. And those qualities are the advice I would give to new artists.

1. Persistence

You’re going to fail. A LOT. You will put your heart into something and believe in it so fully, just for it to be discarded or ripped apart. And it will hurt. And you may want to give up.

Don’t.

If you want to succeed in anything, you’re going to need to fail first.

I have experienced my own series of ups and downs, as has most people. And it would be easy to give up when faced with a seemingly insurmountable hardship. But, I’ve been able to get through each valley of my journey by putting one step in front of the other and seeing where the path takes me. And if that path is a dead end, continuing to search for a path that takes me to new heights.

2. Passion

Passion is a fascinating thing. It’s both so easy for us to understand but so hard to grasp. On some level, I believe we all know what our passions are. But it’s very easy to let those passions drowned out by the noise of the modern world. There are so many things and distractions, so many sources telling you to put your time and attention into them instead of yourself. But, if you take a moment to silence the distractions, your passions will tell you exactly what path you need to take in life.

You should love what you are doing. You won’t always like it and some days will be worse than others. But, overall, what you’re doing should provide hope for the future, it should make you more happy than miserable. And, if it doesn’t, then it may be time to reconsider.

Realigning a passion is not the same as giving your passions up. There is honor in seeking new ventures, it took me several tries to get to where I currently am

3. Consistency

Some days are going to feel awful. Roadblocks pop up or nothing goes right. But you need to keep trying every day you can.

It’s never going to be perfect. It’s not always going to be easy. You can’t control your circumstances. But you can control your reaction.

Ten minutes a day adds up to 61 hours of work over the course of a year.

So, even on the worst days, you need to show up to the best of your abilities. Because that will get you further than anything else.

What’s been one of your main areas of growth this year?

My biggest area of growth over the past 12 months has been learning to organize and prioritize the tasks that lead to the most progress.

Learning how to compartmentalize and prioritize has been so influential in helping me create art and develop the skills that have gotten me to where I am today.

The easiest way I’ve found for this is to write out everything that needs to be done, personally or professionally. From there, and usually upon seeing there are not as many things to be done as I thought, I will see which tasks can be done in less than two minutes. Immediately, I’ll get those tasks done. Between the feeling of accomplishing the task and seeing the to-do list dwindle, it helps to build momentum to carry me through the larger tasks to come.

Once all those smaller tasks are done, I’ll look at the list and see what I can do at a later time, and putting those towards the bottom of the list. And, from there, I’ll work through theses tasks one at a time until they’re done.

This method has been so beneficial in my development as a person and artist, allowing me to accomplish far more than I ever thought possible.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/evanraiffpoetry
• Instagram: @evanraiffpoetry
• Other: Loose Marbles and Pretty Words: https://www.amazon.com/Loose-Marbles-Pretty-Words-Angeles/dp/B0C9SFNVKK

  Gmail: [email protected]

  Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Evan-Raiff/author/B0CDZGHPDC?

  Books2Read: https://books2read.com/evanraiff

  GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/40363592.Evan_Raiff

Image Credits

Main Photo: Michael Tari
And Other Ways Cover: Painted by Heather Berthelette
Loose Marbles Cover: Illustrated by Scott Milton Brazee
Call(h)er Unknown Poster: Tara Kuck