Meet Maggie McClure

We recently connected with Maggie McClure and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Maggie, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?

I would consider myself a very resilient person. Especially in the business I am, although thats not where it originated from. It started with my parents. Before I ever knew it they sacrificed everything to give me a better life and you can see it in our relationship as a family. I feel really lucky in that way. Although, when I got older my relationships with my peers got more complicated (as it usually does when going through puberty). Thats where I got my resilience, and i’ll explain how. Throughout middle school and high school there are a lot of girls that are forced to grow up much faster than their peers. I was one of them. Since I hit puberty early I would get many comments about my body, my face, why I didn’t where makeup, why I was wearing too much makeup, and many other contradictory questions. There were rumors spread at eleven years old that I had already lost my virginity and was sleeping with multiple boys. So much so that students from other schools would come up asking if these things were true. Unfortunately, things like that happen to many blossoming girls. Every girl i’ve encountered usually has a similar story. It really shows how growing up, girls have a lot thrown at them just by being girls. It’s tricky to navigate that along with all the changes happening at that time. Which is where my foundation of resilience was formed and was able to blossom later on! When I got to high school, my life was flipped on its head about six months into my freshman year. I had gotten into an abusive relationship. I hadn’t realized what had happened until after, being it was my first. That alone is a traumatizing experience, but it’s only a part of the events that gave me my strength today. The harder part came after the relationship. Dealing with peers who would “choose sides”, harassment, bullying, and much more that I can’t write down. Not just peers, but more importantly the sheriffs who dealt with the case. I was called to tell the same stories over and over with different men sitting across the table from me. Me, who was fourteen and terrified. But I stopped getting scared over the months. Because every single one would tell me the same thing and I never would have believed it if I wasn’t across the room hearing it. They’d tell me, “Sweetheart, these things are gonna happen. Boys can’t control themselves and you shouldn’t expect them to. You need to let it go.” I never forgot those words, and every time I heard them I got angrier. The people who were supposed to be my friends, those who were supposed to be my teachers, and those who swore they’d protect us as sheriffs did absolutely nothing at all. It was in all of their silence I learned how to find my voice. One day I started talking, and I swore I would never be silent again.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

What I’m focused on in my time right now is creation. Classics are classics for a reason in any field, but change is the only constant in life and its needed to move forward. Otherwise the arts would die off. Writing and directing is my field when it comes to creation. Ideas for plays, musicals, movies, tv shows, and even things like theme parks. I’m writing down ways to bring a feeling to life. How to bring magic into this world or where I can teach someone a lesson they’ll need. It’s where hope comes from. So I churn out ideas/designs like they’re butter and save them. I’m not sure for what yet, but i’m still on my journey figuring out which path I need to take. I am currently in pre-production for my first short film, “Static”. Which I am very excited to continue with! I have my email on my instagram for any desire to be involved somehow! I’m building from the ground up, so I would love to meet other artists! Right now i’m continuing to perform and work on my writing while I do so!

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?

Awareness – Being aware of yourself and those around you is the most important quality you could ever have as an artist. The awareness to see yourself as you are. Unbiased and honest. The awareness to see others the way they are. Its helped me build my strength and resilience due to the clean slate it provides. Saying that, awareness is not always the most comfortable thing. There are many times it’ll be uncomfortable to understand who you are, flaws and all, without your heart in control. It’s even more important to be aware of your environment. It’s how the best pieces of art are created. Shakespeare once said to hold a mirror up to nature, and that is the most influential art in my opinion. Ones that take a lesson needing to be learned in a (sometimes) digestible way and share it through the arts.

Honesty – Honesty is the best thing for your own self care. There are some things in life you need to be honest with yourself about, sometimes good or bad. There are so many instances where I would breakdown because I would fall out of a turn or sing a wrong note or someone didn’t like my script. Its those times you need to be honest with yourself. Remind your brain, one event/opinion doesn’t define my whole life and the only thing that should ever disappoint me is giving up.

Curiosity – There is one thing that has helped me my entire career. And that is knowing that you don’t know everything. It sounds quite simple, but if one person knew everything about singing (for example) the fun would be taken out of singing. The best times are when you finally nail something you’ve been practicing over and over! We are all constantly learning something new, and being curious and embracing that is the thing thats helped me the most!

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?

All the time! I want to meet and collaborate with people who are bold and daring in their writing, producing, directing, etc. People who aren’t afraid to step out of the box and make something new and explosive. Talk about the uncomfortable topics and shine light on those who’ve only seen darkness. More specifically, i’m looking for someone to help publish my two books of poetry (Hiraeth and Babble) and writers looking for a partner to create new projects/start a theater company.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Whereismaggienow
• Other: Email: [email protected]

Image Credits

Allison Bluestein
Mily Cooper