We are so excited to announce our first of several carefully selected #BullCon17 speakers! Mariah MacCarthy!
Mariah MacCarthy is an award-winning writer. She’s also a producer, teacher, curator, storyteller, burlesque dabbler, rapper, birth mother, immersive-party-play-maker, and all-around creatrix. Her plays (which tend to be sex-positive, women-driven, and funny) have been done everywhere from subway stations to Paris. She runs a theatre company called Caps Lock. The New York Times said their show was “a lot of fun.” Mariah writes other things too, like the advice column Help Me Dylan, and articles everywhere from BuzzFeed to a blog about periods. She’s trying to transcend isolation and empower you (yes, YOU) through performance, events, instruction, and the written word.
We did a quick Q&A with Mariah so you can get to know her before BullCon!
Can you give us the inside scoop of what you’ll be covering at BullCon?
My BullCon17 talk is, “How to Recover After Life Punches You in the Face.” Because it’s gonna! In 2012, the year before I discovered Bullish, life punched me in the face HARD. I had defaulted on two student loans and three credit cards, AND I was surprise-pregnant with a baby that I ended up placing for adoption with an awesome gay couple. This talk is about how I dug myself out of that 2012 hole – emotionally, financially, and in my career. I feel like a lot of times, I’ll see stories from Internet gurus who talk about their own hard times, about how they went bankrupt or arrived in New York with two dollars and a piece of lint, and then they’ll say something incredibly generic like, “And then I worked really hard and now I make six figures!” I’m like, nah motherfucker, I need STRATEGIES. So that’s what I hope to provide for the magnificent BullCon attendees.
What first drew you to Bullish?
I don’t even know who it was, but back in 2013 some friend of mine was posting Bullish articles on Facebook. When I read them, it was very much a Neo-Matrix-“whoa”-moment. I had never heard anyone say what Jen was saying: That it is righteous and feminist to make shitloads of money so you can give it to good causes, that you owe it to your future self to make money, that you could do all these things to get more money from the people who employ you. It blew my mind; I hadn’t realized how much self-limiting I was taking for granted. And I happened upon her advice right as I was embarking on a fairly epic job search. So I put some of those tactics to work immediately, and it worked! Within less than a year I was making more than 150% of my previous salary, and less than a year after that, twice my previous salary. Which is part of what I’ll be talking about at BullCon!
A slightly gushy aside: I can’t possibly overstate how valuable GetBullish has been for me as I’ve made all kinds of transitions in my career – going from Executive Assistant/Playwright, to Writer-of-Things-That-Pay-
We are SO excited to hear more about this and learn from you in November. Is there anything else you want to share with people who are considering coming to BullCon17?
If you’re on the fence about going to BullCon, DO IT! Life is too short, and I promise it’s worth it. You’ll not only learn a ton and leave with new ambitious feminist friends from all around the country/world, you’ll leave with friends who are personally invested in your success. That is worth its weight in gold. (And no one at Bullish asked me to say any of this, by the way. I just feel very strongly about this.)
On a totally unrelated note…If you’re an artist-type person who has an artistic passion that makes you no money: Consider the ways in which you can be artistic and creative without necessarily doing This Particular Thing, or how you can use This Particular Thing in an unconventional way that’s a little more efficient/lucrative. If you’ve been doing This Particular Thing for a long time and it’s a huge source of frustration now, are you throwing good time after bad? Can This Particular Thing become something you do on your own time for joy, instead of the way you define your identity? Think about all the ways there are to be creative and artistic, to use the things you’ve learned with your no-money passion in a yes-money way. I’m watching tons of people in the theatre industry burn out or get resentful or just hit their heads against the wall repeatedly, and I think it doesn’t have to be that way. I think we can lead fulfilled, creative lives without feeling like we’re running on empty or throwing our labor into a bottomless pit. Food for thought!
How can we stay in touch with you between now and November?
Website where you can sign up for my mailing list: mariahmaccarthy.com
Patreon where you can help make (my) feminist art sustainable and get pictures of my kitten in your inbox: patreon.com/mariahm
Twitter: @MariahMacCarthy
Facebook: facebook.com/mariah.maccarthy
Instagram: @mariahmwrites
Instagram for my raccoon-looking cat: @sophie.trash.panda
My advice column, Help Me Dylan: helpmedylan.tumblr.com
Join Mariah and the rest of your favorite bullicorns at The Bullish Conference in Washington DC on November 2-5. Get your tickets here.
