Meet Mackenzie Jaquish

We recently connected with Mackenzie Jaquish and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Mackenzie, so excited to have you with us today, particularly to get your insight on a topic that comes up constantly in the community – overcoming creativity blocks. Any thoughts you can share with us?

I’m a big believer in writing what you know, and if you’ve run out of things to write about that you know, then it’s the perfect time to learn something new. Whenever I have writer’s block, I see it as an opportunity to expand my horizons and think of something new. I often find myself writing plays or scripts for the same character, that same character I have to live with everyday, myself. I’m a big believer in reflecting on your past and looking at stories in a new light, seeing things in a new perspective even. Villains might become secret heroes, and your hero might have made some mistakes you didn’t think about at first. However, I think it’s also important to look outside yourself and find something new that inspires you. Look into new hobbies, research a topic you have no interest in, watch a genre of TV show you would normally flip past, and try to discover a new part of yourself or this wonderful world that you haven’t yet.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

I’m a writer, and that comes in many different forms! I write content mainly for my all female comedy collective, Pretty Funny Comedy. We produce live stand up comedy shows, off-broadway productions, mini-series, and even a short film that will be coming out next year. I started my career as a writer in media, and eventually tried my hand at stand up comedy, which led me to the live productions and that has taken over my heart for the past five years. I love film and TV, but getting to hear a live audience laugh at a joke I wrote is the best feeling in the world. Stand up makes me feel like I’m breathing, and Pretty Funny Comedy has given me that reason over and over again.

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?

Loyalty, drive, and a sense of humor

Loyalty.
I can never talk about loyalty enough. It’s something my mother instilled in me from a young age, and it’s something I look for in the people I surround myself with. It’s so incredibly important to me that you stand by someone who has stood by you. This has burned me in the past. I have gone out of my way to help people, and the minute I needed that same help in return it was met with a closed door. However, I know that once they need something from me, they’ll be knocking on that same door. Even though it has burned me, it has also helped me in ways I can’t even explain. I have people in my corner, who I know are ready to have my back at a moment’s notice, and in times of struggle those are the people you turn to, and I have some really great people.

Drive
Drive isn’t a word I would use to describe myself. However, every single one of my ex’s has blamed my drive on our breakup, so maybe it’s something I have to start embracing. Drive is something everyone has, you just need to find what will activate yours! For me it was stand up comedy. I loved it immediately, but was I good at it immediately, of course not! I could get a few laughs at my college bar, but I certainly wasn’t selling out SoHo Playhouse. However, loving it is what pushed me to get better, so that one day I could sell out SoHo Playhouse…which I did…twice…
Whenever I meet a new comic, and they tell me they hate doing badly on stage, I remind them that we all hate that, but we just love the wins more than we hate the failures.

A sense of humor.
Sometimes you just have to laugh it off. I’m really lucky to have stand-up comedy. It’s an amazing way to channel my feelings into something that is a productive use of my time and that I enjoy doing. When I first moved to New York, I was miserable. I was fresh off a heartbreak, I had no friends, and I couldn’t travel home to see my family, so I turned to open mics. No one enjoys open mics. They’re awful. You pay money to sit in a room with other comics, tell them jokes they don’t want to hear, nor are they listening too, because they just want to get their own stage time over with. It’s not the best environment for someone who was already in a bad place. However, for me it was a weekly thing I had to go do. It made me write something new every week. It gave me a way to work through the breakup, the move, and it also helped me make friends in this strange new city. I sometimes I go back and watch clips of myself from that time, it’s like a diary from that time. The jokes aren’t the best, but it’s how I was working through major life changes, by laughing at them.

Alright so to wrap up, who deserves credit for helping you overcome challenges or build some of the essential skills you’ve needed?

My mother. She will always be the first person I call for advice. My mother is my rock, my best friend, my mentor, and, well… my mom! She’s the person I turn to for advice, reassurance, and someone I can confide in. She has flown across the country for me and has shown up for me in ways you can’t even imagine! I know it’s easy to think you have the best mom in the world, but I actually do! My mother is the director for my new short film. She’s been directing me my whole life, so this really won’t be a big change for her.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.mackenziejaquish.com
• Instagram: @mackenzie_Jaquish
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mackenzie-jaquish-856490163/
• Other: https://www.pretty-funny-comedy.com