Finding My Voice in "The Audacity Project"

Published: November 2025

November brings something special for me this year. By the end of this month, in just a few short weeks, I will have completed my enrollment in Rachel Stricland’s VIP Mentorship program under The Audacity Project.

I felt strongly that this newsletter should reflect on my time working with Rachel, since Rachel’s guidance has led me to give myself a voice, start this newsletter, and believe others will want to hear what I have to say, too.

I wanted to reflect on what I’ve learned (so far) and hopefully inspire others to take the jump to try something new, to ask someone for help, to believe enough in their crazy ideas to take the risk on what they really want. It’s been such a rewarding journey so far.

Keep reading to learn more about Rachel, her mentorship program, and what it’s meant for me & my art over these past few months ↓ ↓ ↓

First Off: What’s the Audacity Project and Who is Rachel Strickland?

What Is The Audacity Project?

“The Audacity Project is an 8 week guided process designed to equip creatives with the tools necessary to be working professionals.”

Who is Rachel Strickland?

“Rachel Strickland is an interdisciplinary performance artist, aerialist, storyteller, and award winning choreographer.”

These are direct quotes from Rachel’s website, which you can find linked at the end of this newsletter to learn more about her. Full disclosure, I enrolled in Rachel’s VIP Mentorship program, which is The Audacity Project leveled up.

“Where the Audacity Project is a fully fledged jumping off platform, VIP coaching is the extra 2 laps that ensure your work is implemented fully for functional results.”

I know Rachel as a mentor, as an invested individual, as a guiding coach when you Don’t Know What To Do. I know Rachel as someone who doesn’t care about the BS standing in the way (because there is a way around it), who is empathetic towards The Scary Things, and someone who isn’t frightened when her clients feel stuck and Unable to Move Forward.

Rachel is there for you, above all else, full of knowledge I’ll carry with me forever.

My Time Finding My Audacity

Rachel Strickland is nothing short of the friend you need when encouragement is low, the sister who will push you out of your comfort zone because she knows you can take it, and the professional who has insider info you just can’t find on your own.

“Rachel changed my life.”

It’s all over social media from Audacity alum and it’s TRUE. I’ve read it in social media captions, seen it plastered through Instagram stories, and heard it first-hand from coaches whom I admire, learn from, and trust with my professional career. Rachel Strickland’s Audacity Project has always been on the fringes, waiting for when I was ready.

I approached Rachel in the spring, with an act I had newly created and was so proud of. “This is it,” I thought. “This is finally worth something.” Little did I know that reaching out to Rachel would unlock something in me that had been burning for years.

Before Rachel and I even started, dreams I long harbored poured out of me. Dreams that were stupid, dreams I dismissed, dreams I wasn’t qualified for, dreams I saw no path to. Talking to Rachel was like giving myself permission to dream, really dream like you do when you’re a little kid and you have no concept of what comes next, you just want to do the thing.

Rachel took every reason I had used to say “no” and gave me logic, gave me encouragement, gave me hope to say “yes”. I was not handed a roadmap, I was taught to build a roadmap. To form bridges, to scale mountains, to find a shorter way around, to prepare for the long journey.

There were no immediate potions that changed my life, but there was an intense internal process that did. I was given bravery when scared, stopped consulting my long list of reasons to say no, and was encouraged to look deeply at what was holding me back and why.

Breaking Through Roadblocks

Frequently through this process, I thought, “Am I doing enough?” and Rachel would laugh and tell me I’m doing so much. I stopped measuring my worth by the length of a task list but by what was filling me up inside. I discovered the difference between what I thought people could see vs what was really happening.

I cried, more than once, in my kitchen while working with Rachel. Because I wasn’t just finding a way to get on stage more or make my art more visible – I was working through every time someone had told me “No, this isn’t worth anything, who are you, you’re too new, you’ll never be ready.”

Rachel and I would engage in short but powerful text exchanges that challenged all of my fears. I’d send her my doubts and hold-ups over my lunch break and before I could finish my meal prep she’d have torn down my barriers and built me up. I was losing all the negative reasons why not to and learning how to say yes.

I also am learning to say no – to what doesn’t serve me, to what holds me back, to what doesn’t bring me joy. Yes and No. They’re powerful words, and Rachel showed me the strength of both.

It is terrifying, to dive in, to find yourself chasing dreams. More than once, something I thought I really wanted didn’t bring me the joy I wanted. Not right now, anyway. Rachel told me that’s powerful, let’s keep moving, where does that joy reside?

And honestly, I’m finding so many things I’m excited to try. I have value. I am worth something. My art is visible, even if only I see it. What I do is Art, is Me, is Mine. It’s Worth It.

Rachel showed me the way. Thank you, Rachel!

How Do You Find Your Audacity?

This is an easy place to tell you to run, not walk, to Rachel’s waitlist for her upcoming, and final, Audacity Project in its current form this spring 2026. More than anything, as special and one-of-a-kind as Rachel and her work are, she’s also inspired me to find community, to find role models, to find inspiration. And that is what I am encouraging every one of my readers, ahem: YOU, to do.

If you work in a vacuum, like me, or if you’re lost and wondering why, what is the point, sometimes you really need a friend, a role model, a coach. Someone who tells you the thing is worth doing. Do the Big Scary Thing and ask someone for input, for what comes next.

No one can give us those answers, but they can certainly give the support and the bravado to keep moving forward, one terrible, scary task at a time.

What supportive thing do YOU need to hear? Reply and let me know.

Find more info on The Audacity Project: https://www.rachelstricklandcreative.com/the-audacity-project
Learn more about Rachel Strickland: https://www.rachelstricklandcreative.com/

Coryn Rose