Meet Paula Jane Newman

Hi Paula Jane, 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?
Great question. I feel that came from a shortcoming of mine – my learning challenges. Bear with me, I’ll explain further. The school system I grew up in didn’t really understand various types of learning. It was a very academic and test based system. I was awful at tests. I would always argue with the questions in my head. One year I was put in the bottom stream for science as the ranking was based an a random test. My mum was appalled! Ha! At the end of that school year I tested third top in the entire grade/year. It sent a shock through the school as this has never happened before. I had worked extremely hard at learning the principles in my own way and abandoned normal approaches. I figured I was already in the bottom stream, so why not take a risk? I learned then, that I don’t think like other people and that I could excel with rigorous hard work using this system. I used this method several times during my school years and the results were extraordinary. Seeing these results I gained confidence in myself and knew that this type of hard work was with it.  The challenge was that I didn’t always want to put in that much effort for studies I was not inspired by.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I am extremely excited about this new adventure with Rise up Comedy. We are for using (comedy) as a format for healing from trauma. Wellness and Comedy.

Riseupcomedy is an extension of a nonprofit I founded called Aware Meditation to bring in stress reduction techniques. Laughter has proven to reduce stress and increase healing. However, I have discovered this remarkable and groundbreaking program where regular people (non performers) participate in my class and remarkable results have happened.

The first class was an experiment really. We had people who had anxiety and hardly able to even get on the first zoom call perform in front of an audience over 60 people! They had such an amazing comedic set which blew people away! Some have already gone on to perform at clubs based off of that first video from me.

The students felt more free and overcame their limitations in a profound experience. I am excited to help more people overcome mental health challenges with this program, give talks and presentations to working professionals and those in the mental health field in addition to performing globally. It works for corporate comedy programs. Helping working professionals overcome public speaking, boost leaderships skills, gain confidence in the workplace and stress resilience.

Here I fuse my performance talent, wisdom and natural teaching capabilities into one purpose! Woot Woot!

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?
The advice I would give is to discover your own unique strengths. The example I used in regards to my learning challenges have turned out to be a strength. Embracing that I think differently rather than attempting to be the norm has allowed my world to open up and be given more opportunities.

Secondly, embrace your fears. Overcoming fear is something I face on a daily basis. The biggest reason is because my head is in the results not the process. Rather than obsess or ask a million friends or a therapist their opinion, take the leap. Especially if it is following one’s heart or living the Soul’s purpose.

Finally, I would encourage people to be compassionate and supportive of others for their OWN karma. Helping and being respectful to others is for our karma. People don’t always understand that. Putting people down or stepping over others for your own gain is detrimental to our spiritual development. Forget about fame, in my experience that it destined! Go for your dreams with integrity knowing you can put your head on the pillow at night and sleep with a good conscience.

Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?
Always! Collaboration is the key to evolution. We learn from others and about ourselves. It would be wonderful to align with businesses and individuals desiring to have us bring in our program, podcasters, and media outlets help spread the word and individuals who would like to sponsor or support our shows. We  especially wish to reach those in underrepresented groups and expand globally!Riseupcomedy@awaremeditation.com