From the Broadway stage to the Keynote stage . . .

From early on, I understood the power of the platform. Theater first taught me how music and story could inspire an audience, move them to laughter, tears, love.

Despite my paralyzing terror of the spotlight, I yearned to be a part of that experience. That yearning took me on a wildly transformative journey of development and led me to the role of a lifetime. I’m not talking about the role I played on Broadway.

Whatever work we’re drawn to, the path to maximizing our potential is ultimately about discovering and expressing the most authentic, empowered, unmasked version of who we are.

It’s still hard to wrap my head around the fact that I hold the record as the longest-running leading lady in the longest-running Broadway show of all time. I played Christine in Phantom for some 10 years and 1,500 performances. But becoming a “Broadway star” was really about a far more critical becoming.

Becoming who we are born to be is a lifelong unfolding that is much bigger and more vital than any of the roles we play.

The challenge for so many of us is to drop the mask, to remove our armor, and to trust the power of our authentic voice.

After years of rejection and failure — including two flopped auditions for Phantom, it was indeed a dream-come-true to land the role of Christine. Only in retrospect did I realize how much value there was in the countless auditions where I did NOT get the part.

I learned to take risks, make mistakes, course correct, keep going. I built my courage muscles. I got resilient. I found my voice.

(I also trained relentlessly, along with the thousands of other hopefuls in NYC.)

You never stop training the fundamentals. Yet, at a certain level, everyone is talented. The skill set alone isn’t enough. It’s our authenticity that creates connection and invites people to know, like, trust, and want to work with us.

Being in Phantom not only altered the course of my career, it also brought life-altering gifts: I met and fell in love with my costar, actor Ron Bohmer, and since 2002, I have been happily married to The Phantom. (You can’t make this stuff up.)

After a decade as Christine, I felt a new yearning: to step out of the safety of playing a character in someone else’s story and fully inhabit the most vulnerable role of all: myself.

I never imagined it would lead to a bestselling book, an audio learning program, and a full-time keynote career where I’d get to speak to Fortune 500 companies and share the stage with icons.

So today, in my second act . . .

I’m a “keynote-speaker-who-sings” and it is the most rewarding work I’ve ever done.

I have the privilege to play a part in helping others find their authentic voice, maximize their gifts, and unmask the fullest expression of who they are.

Being you, full-out, is truly the role of a lifetime.