“Meet Randye Kaye” - Did I Just Interview Myself?

Written By Randye Kaye

Last month I received an invite to be interviewed by an online publication I’d not heard of, called Canvas Rebels.

Okay, I thought, I’ve been interviewing people a lot for my work as All Things Considered local host for WSHU Public Radio - wouldn’t it be fun to be the interviewee?

So, I said yes.

The “interview” was more like an essay writing exercise…but since interesting questions can lead us to answers we hadn’t previously thought about, I went ahead and wrote. I’d been ignoring my journal for far too long, right?

At the end, they asked me for two more “interesting people” to interview.

So now this was starting to feel more like a chain letter.

Still - I had worked so hard on my answers!

So I named two names. I can’t recall who they were. If it was you, I sincerely apologize. I hope you said “no” if you didn’t want to do it. That was, and is, certainly an option.

This week I got the notice that my interview had gone live. Whoopee!

Word for word, the things I wrote, with the pictures I provided. I hope I proofread it well, since I have a feeling it was copied and pasted.

Still, it looks pretty cool. The designer did a nice job.

I looked up Canvas Rebels (closing the barn door after the cows escaped), and found that (according to Reddit) their mission includes printing your story and then asking you if you want printed copies, for a fee. Like the “Who’s Who” publishers who want to sell you the book once they have added your name.

One guy said he wrote a bunch a nonsense and they printed it word for word.

Color me fooled.

Still, when Canvas Rebels contacted me offering printed copies for a (reasonable, I must say) fee, they accepted my decline of the offer with good grace. They haven’t asked again.

Someone else wrote about this and concluded: If you read no further, here's my overall statement: To the best of my knowledge, these publications are not scams, AND they are not the publicity/visibility boost you might think they are. 

The author adds:" “Speaking of amplifying, Voyage and CanvasRebel do not actually share your featured interview beyond publishing it on their website. They share the link with you so you can share it on your various online platforms and drive more traffic to their website (which has ads—no doubt to help sustain the publication).”

So - no harm. The deadline forced me to actually write something. And here is the interview, if you’re interested.

The content is copied below: (I doubt there are copyright issues, since they are my words).

Maybe some of what I wrote will be of help to someone. i hope so.


We were lucky to catch up with Randye Kaye recently and have shared our conversation below.

Randye, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

Many who fall in love with performing when they’re young – the creativity, the camaraderie, the applause – dream of finding full-time work – and often, fame too – when they grow up.

I was no exception.

Trust your crazy ideas - a sign I found in a secondhand store which guides me!

From the pride in my parents’ eyes when I sang at family gatherings (good thing, since I couldn’t do anything athletic, including catching a ball – to the applause from the audience when I stepped onstage as Mabel in the sixth grade production of Pirates of Penzance, I thought I had finally found the answer to feeling loved and accepted: Get On Stage.

And I never looked back.

Feeling left out in middle school? Learn guitar and sing in the talent show.

Picked last for every single team in summer camp? Get thee to the drama tent and get the lead part in the camp musical.

No boy returns your crush in high school or youth group? Grab your guitar and become a songleader. Automatic In Crowd membership.

And so of course I set my sights on becoming a famous actor. Or anything close.

I sped through college as fast as I could, and got myself to Manhattan by age 20. I was going to take Broadway by storm.

Of course, there was rent to be paid, classes to take. And an actor’s gotta eat.

Welcome to the world of side jobs.

Quick summary: four years based in NYC, four in Los Angeles (movie star would be OK too), and then I realized I wanted an offstage life too. Quick marriage, two babies, and a move to Connecticut later, I had stretched my definition of “work in the business” to include singing in a band, songwriting, extra work in films, and voiceovers. Not stardom, but income.

Then my husband disappeared (long story) and I had a family to support on my own – on an actor’s sporadic salary.

So I expanded my definition of “work in the business” a little more – and I added radio broadcaster and drama teacher to the mix.

I was still an “actor” – but the closest I had gotten to Broadway was an understudy gig Off-Broadway. And now, I wanted to stay closer to home, to my children.

Always with my guitar in my teens and twenties.

As the years progressed, I realized that there are many, many ways to make a living using your creative gifts. I also saw the idea of “stardom” come and go. I watched the careers of my Los Angeles friends rise and fall, I saw my friends in theatre go on Unemployment in between shows. And I embraced the new larger palate of what it means to make a living as a performer who has a “portfolio” career: Actor/singer/Voice talent/radio personality/author/speaker/teacher/director/podcaster.

And, more importantly, I will never regret rearranging my life so that I have a family to come home to after the stage lights are off and the audience goes home.

Even now, my grandchildren have become aware that I am, in their words, “a little bit famous.”
They hear me on the radio, or come spend time at the station (I’m PM Drive Host on WSHU Public Radio), they see my podcast on YouTube, or hold my books in their hands.

Yes, at ages still in the single digits, my grandkids Google me.

But it no longer defines me in my own eyes.

I am not a star, and I don’t care.

I have work that is creative, varied, uses my gifts, and adds to the world in some way. When a reader, podcast or radio listener, or theatre audience member says that my work is making a difference to them, that is more than enough. When I get excited about a new artistic challenge – the solo show I’m writing, the TEDx talk I’m working on, the people I get to interview as part of my radio gig, and the occasional theatre piece I get to act in – I know that making a full-time living as a performer means constant expansion of what that may look like.

The possibilities are endless, as they say. We just have to expand our expectations, open our hearts, and embrace all the facets as they reveal themselves.

You can make a full-time living as a creative. It just might look a little different from your original dream. And that new picture is more beautiful than you could have imagined when you first dreamed. Dreams are meant to be fluid, to make room for love and growth.

Milestones: and what I wish I’d done differently.
College – sang with guitar in coffee houses, did one theatre show senior year. I WISH I hadn’t been afraid to Major inTheatre and take acting classes.
NYC – earned Equity and SAG-AFTRA card (professional Actors’ Unions), did National Tours, dinner theatre, summer stock, Off-Broadway, Soap Opera bit parts, sang with a band. Realized I did not want to be in the “Chorus”, even if I was making a good living in theatre.
LA – some TV bit parts, made a songwriting demo in studio, sang with bands (many), tended bar, took acting classes on a movie set. Wish I’d left the acting classes that weren’t resonating with me.
CT – (as a mom with young kids) – supporting a family alone is what inspired (pushed) me to expand even further to work in my field – drama teacher for 11 years so my kids could go to a private school led me to write plays, direct, teach improv – radio work was a new skill that became full-time job with benefits – voiceovers began when I was pregnant and “visual” work was limited. Limitations make us creative!




Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Sometimes we choose our professions, sometimes they choose us.

My work as a performer always felt like it was born in me – I naturally gravitated to the stage, to music, to pretending, to performing. My therapist can help me figure that out, if I ever find one.

But life beyond those dreams has led me to other places, other missions, other services – related to my love of the arts but also to my passion for human connection.

I serve your need to communicate your ideas to clients through my work as voice talent, audiobook narrator, event emcee, and radio and podcast host. I can bring your words to life, and bring your ideas to the stage or airways.

But during a hiatus from full-time work as a radio on-air talent, I wrote two books that launched my speaking career. I found two passions:

1. to turn the pain of my son’s mental illness (schizophrenia) to purpose, by writing about it (Ben Behind His Voices: One Family’s Journey from the Chaos of Schizophrenia to Hope) and then creating and co-hosting a podcast (Schizophrenia: 3 Moms in the Trenches) – and speaking to audiences from practitioners to legislators to families

2. to reignite human connection. help rehumanize our increasingly isolated world, through shared experiences, insights, and humor. To that end, I wrote a second book (Happier Made Simple: Choose Your Words. change Your Life), which has opened doors for me to teach workshops on Mental Health, Emotional Intelligence, and Human Connection.

This has all led me to where life is right now – with a mosaic of different experiences and services. Recently I returned to permanent radio work, as I found myself needing more consistency and community- to plant both feet somewhere. My PM Drive shift leaves me lots of room to narrate audiobooks, provide voiceover services, speak to audiences at conferences, deliver workshops on Emotional Intelligence and Human Connection, still get on stage as an actor/comic/storyteller, and spend time with three young, energetic grandkids.

What can I do for you?

I love to connect the dots and help your event come to life as emcee or keynote speaker.

I can provide the keynote to set the tone of inspiration, connection and fun for your conference.

I love to spread the word about what families go through when a loved one has SMI (serious mental illness) and how we can help.

I am thrilled to be a part of anything that brings people together, in person, to have an experience.

The sound of laughter, shared, is the sweetest sound in the world.

In this ever-more-isolated world, nothing beats the experience of human collective energy. AI will never replace the need we have for true human connection. Through the airwaves, on stages, and in the ways we gather as community at home, work, and our “third places”, we make life better when we:
Connect.
Create.
Communicate.

https://www.randyekaye.com/

https://linktr.ee/RandyeKaye




We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

35 years ago my husband disappeared without a trace.
The night before, he’d left a message on the answering machine for our kids.
“Daddy loves you so much.”

After that we never heard from him again. No goodbye, no explanation, no clues.

He was just – gone.

I was left with 2 tiny children with broken hearts, a huge mortgage, no child support, inconsistent work as an actor, and a big mystery to solve:

Where had my husband disappeared to – and why?
Was he dead or alive?
It would take over twelve years to find out – and then, after one phone call, he disappeared again.

For all that time, my kids and I lived with the open wound of confusion and loss, until we finally got some answers, an eventual temporary reunion, and a bit of closure.

In the meantime, I learned some powerful lessons in holding my family – and our finances – together, and discovering my own resilience, creativity, and potential for love and success.

Then – just when I thought I’d managed to pull it all together – raise two happy healthy kids all on my own – bam. My son began to change. Eventually he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Since then we have ridden the roller coaster through over a dozen hospitalizations, and periods of recovery, relapse, homelessness, incarceration, reunions. It changes the family.

These lessons – and limitations – brought me to a career in radio and podcasting, the chance to play many roles in theatre and improv, a happy second marriage, a growing family, valued friendships, two bestselling books, and most importantly the opportunity to impact lives of others as I share these messages with audiences all over the world.

Pain to purpose, and refusing to bow to despair. People need each other, and I help to spread that message.




Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

“I am only worthy of love if I become famous.”

I spent all of my 20’s trying to do what I thought would prove my worth, my potential, the meaning of my life. I wanted so badly to land a part in a movie, write a hit song, headline a show in Las Vegas. Then, I thought, I’d belong. I’d be a part of the world I’d always envied.

I didn’t have a boyfriend. I had plenty of dates, lots of flirtations, but I was “focused on my career.” I figured I’d wait until I was famous, and then I’d be where I was meant to be and love would just come into my life.

Until one night, during a break from singing with my band in a club, I sat with two Los Angeles friends at their table. One had been a hit songwriter still trying to get back on the charts and playing gigs until then. The other was a comedian who was basically no famous for being a panelist on a game show. I really thought these guys were all that – I mean, they were known! They were working! Lucky me, sitting with them!

And then the complaining started.

“I hate this town. I hate show business. This business stole my life…..”

These guys were – miserable! Middle aged and miserable. They had so many regrets about missing out on love, on life offstage. Fame was a poor substitute for love and family, and true friendship.

I decided right then and there that I wanted a life offstage. The rest could wait. I would trust.

Making that shift in my thinking changed everything. It was like I sent off a totally different vibe.

One year later I was a wife, had moved back to the East Coast, and was about to become a Mom.

I’ve met many celebrities since then – and the only ones who seemed happy, authentic and centered are the ones who chose to have a good life offstage as well.

My offstage life has been far from perfect, but has given me more that fame ever could have. Add to that: I now have some fame anyway, on a smaller scale, from my radio work and as an author. But I am always aware of the difference betwwen love at a distance (fame) and love up close (real, cracks and all.)

Contact Info:



Randye Kaye

Randye Kaye is a female voice talent for business and beyond. She is the author of two books; Happier Made Simple™ and Ben Behind His Voices. As an actress she has appeared in numerous theatrical, film and television performances. Randye is a keynote speaker on the topics of mental health, communication, and happiness.

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Finding Joy in the Cracks: a 12 Minute Convo