PS: Let's talk about the Think It Up campaign. What was the moment you were first inspired to pursue your passion?
NJ: My journey with education was interesting, because I was in regular school for the first couple of years, then I tried homeschooling. But I was doing musical theater at the time I was in regular school, learning a lot in the classroom but also a lot in my job every day. I feel like both played a really important part in shaping who I became as a person. Between directors in the shows and my dad being a big inspiration, and then schoolteachers, it was all very important.
PS: Why do you think it's so important to follow your passion?
NJ: I think that's kind of the American Dream: to be able to follow your passion and build a life around that. The goal is to end up in something that you love. If you're going to do it for the rest of your life, if you're going to do a good job, it usually works out better if you enjoy what you're doing.
PS: What subject would you teach?
NJ: I think that I've had enough experience now in music and acting that I could probably be a music teacher. Even though when I was in regular school, I was working a job in New York City as an actor or singer. Music class was kind of getting frustrating because it was so formulaic, and I wasn't loving it. I like more the imagination of the music, but eventually I grew to appreciate the format and reading music and all the rest. But it took time.
PS: Obviously, you have a lot of life experiences that you've gained in the past five or 10 years. If you could tell your former self something, what would it be?
NJ: To chill out. To calm down and enjoy the ride. I'm now like 10 to 11 years into my career, and I'm trying to really appreciate the ride and the journey I've been on.
PS: It's hard to not get stuck in your head sometimes.
NJ: It's very hard. You can get very stressed very easily. But you can also look at it in a different way. As long as you stay in your art and focus on that, you're going to be OK.
PS: I like that. At the end of the day, as long as you're focusing on what your passionate about, then you can be happy.
NJ: Absolutely.
