Healers with Hustles The myth of the big break and the truth about thriving in creative careers with PhD candidate Lauren Moxey
Apr 10, 2025
52:04
What happens when your big break never comes? For artist and researcher Lauren Moxey, you redefine success on your own terms.
In this episode, Caitlin chats with Lauren, a PhD candidate, music teacher, and lecturer. Lauren talks about her eye opening research on natio-cultural creativity and human thriving in Australia’s music ecosystem, and why it’s time to radically redefine what it means to be an artist today.
They talk about the realities of working in the arts, the rise of slash careers, and how anyone in creative fields can thrive—financially and creatively—without buying into unrealistic career myths.
This episode hits all the right notes!
Tune in to learn:
- Lauren’s unconventional path to music and how she launched Sydney Vocal Academy
- From engineering to bassoon to burnout: the surprising path that led Lauren to music
- What happened after her husband sang on The Voice—and how it shaped their business
- Why Lauren walked away from a 220-student academy (and doesn’t regret it)
- How Australian music quietly creates belonging and shapes cultural identity
- Why artists keep creating even when no one’s paying attention (or paying them)
- Why creative work fulfils higher human needs—but often fails to meet basic ones
- The subtle difference between a portfolio career and a slash career (and why it makes all the difference)
- How a sense of place shapes our creative identity
- The music industry’s dirty secret: how selling dreams is more gambling that career strategy
- What it really means to thrive as an artist in a world that doesn’t owe you a living
Connect with Lauren
Connect with Caitlin: