Get Messy with Maddie

Welcome to The Grind — a new series here on Get Messy. Nobody tells you what the middle looks like: the slow seasons, the unglamorous work, and the years it actually takes to build something that lasts. This series is for that middle, told by the people who are actually living it.

Ruchi Loomba is an actor, writer, producer, and director based in Seattle, and this conversation covers a lot of ground: juggling acting with another full-time career in healthcare, pursuing outside representation in markets like Chicago, and the two short films she's written, produced, and self-funded — including one deeply personal story about mental illness in the South Asian community. She also opens up about becoming a new mom just 11 weeks before this conversation, and what it's looked like to figure out how to make space for creativity in a completely new season of life.

We get into the damaging "this has to be your Plan A" rhetoric so many actors are raised on, why most actors don't make most of their money from acting (and why that's nothing to be ashamed of), learning to discern good feedback from bad, and the power of community — including the serendipitous referral that landed her outside representation in Chicago. Ruchi also shares what it's been like to navigate this industry as a person of color, and how that's shaped the kind of work she's chosen to create herself.

This episode is for anyone balancing a creative career with another job, another identity, or a completely new season of life, and wondering if that makes them any less of an artist.

Key Topics Discussed:

• Balancing Acting with a Full-Time Career in Healthcare
• Pursuing Outside Representation and the Realities of Being a "Local Hire"
• Why "This Has to Be Your Plan A" Is Damaging, Limiting Advice
• Learning to Discern Good Feedback from Bad
• Writing, Producing, and Crowdfunding Her First Short Film
• Stepping Back from Acting to Direct Her Second Film
• Navigating the Industry as a Person of Color
• Becoming a New Mom and Making Space for Creativity
• The Power of Community and Serendipitous Connections

✨Connect with Ruchi Loomba ✨

Instagram: @ruchiloomba

Website: ruchiloomba.com

✨Connect with Maddie ✨

Explore Maddie's Website | @messywithmaddie

I got nominated to give a speech in front of 150 people at my grad school residency, and what came out of that week — the stories I heard, the things I haven't been able to stop thinking about since — is something I knew I had to bring here.

In this episode, I share what unfolded during my grad school's yearly residency, including getting nominated as my cohort's group leader and having to give a speech in front of the entire program. I get into the three biggest things that came out of that week: why your purpose and your calling will always find you on the right timeline, why the people in your inner circle are keys that unlock the next door you're meant to walk through, and why zooming in on the next step (instead of the whole mountain) is often the only antidote to future tripping. I also share my own winding path to grad school — including a conversation with a past guest, Sasha Feldman, that planted the seed years ago, and a strange, chills-inducing moment involving Tim Tebow's Instagram bio that pushed me to finally act on it.

This one's for anyone who feels like their calling has been trying to get their attention for a while now.

In This Episode:

• Getting nominated as group leader and giving a speech to 150 people at grad school residency
• My own winding path to grad school, including the conversation that planted the seed
• The Tim Tebow story that gave me chills and pushed me to finally commit
• "Your purpose and your calling will always find you on the right timeline"
• Why the people in your inner circle are keys that unlock your next door
• Why clarity often comes from moving forward together, not figuring it out alone
• Future tripping, and why the antidote is zooming in, not out
• The bravery of saying yes to something that scares you

RESOURCES:

• Get Messy episode with Sasha Feldman

✨Connect with Maddie✨

Schedule a Call with Maddie | Explore Maddie’s Website

@maddiemcguirecoaching | @maddiemcguire4

Corey Clifford is a SAG-AFTRA actor, writer, director, and acting coach based in LA, and this conversation is a masterclass in staying in the game for the long haul — with humor, humility, and a whole lot of reality TV references along the way. We get into what it actually takes to balance the craft and the business side of acting, why the old "ladder" of co-star to guest star to series regular doesn't really exist anymore, and why creating your own work has become less optional and more essential.

Corey opens up about becoming a mom nearly two years ago and figuring out what it means to stay an artist while raising a toddler, the terrifying-but-necessary decision to end a manager relationship that wasn't serving her, and the years-long journey of writing a feature film with her husband that they're now determined to actually get made. We also talk about coaching actors through self-doubt regardless of how much they've booked, the "actor's rejection muscle," and why climbing cringe mountain — reaching out, self-promoting, putting yourself out there — is nonnegotiable in this version of the industry.

This episode is funny, honest, and full of real, practical wisdom for anyone building a long-term creative career in an industry that keeps rewriting its own rules.

Key Topics Discussed:

• Balancing the Craft and the Business Side of Acting
• Why the Old "Ladder" of Career Progression No Longer Exists
• Creating Your Own Work as a Non-Negotiable Career Strategy
• Becoming a Mom and Staying an Artist at the Same Time
• Ending a Manager Relationship and Learning to Advocate for Herself
• Coaching Actors Through Self-Doubt at Every Level
• Climbing Cringe Mountain: Self-Promotion, Reaching Out, and the Actor's Rejection Muscle
• Writing and Pursuing Funding for a Feature Film with Her Husband
• The Importance of Community and Accountability Groups

✨Connect with Corey✨

Corey’s Instagram

Corey’s Website

Corey’s Podcast: Cinema Possessed

✨Connect with Maddie✨

Schedule a Call with Maddie | Explore Maddie’s Website

@maddiemcguirecoaching | @maddiemcguire4

Authenticity has become such a buzzword that some people are starting to reject it entirely — but what if we've been thinking about it all wrong? In this episode, I'm reframing authenticity as something that isn't a fixed destination you arrive at, but something that shifts depending on the day, the season, and the version of you that showed up this morning.

I revisit something my past guest Sasha Feldman (actor-turned-therapist) said that I haven't been able to stop thinking about: that authenticity isn't a general idea, because he's constantly different — sometimes confident, sometimes not. I get real about how I'm actually feeling on the day I'm recording this (not great, if I'm honest), and why showing up in that state is just as authentic as the confident, put-together version of me from last week. I also share a reframe my therapist gave me about anxiety — how a part of me I've resented has actually been helping me all along — and why staying near yourself, even the messy or scared parts, matters more than performing a fixed identity.

This one's for anyone who's tired of performing a version of themselves that doesn't leave room for the full range of who they actually are.

In This Episode:

• Why authenticity isn't a fixed destination — it shifts day by day
• A reframe from Sasha Feldman: "I can't be authentic as a general idea because I'm constantly different"
• Getting honest about how I'm actually feeling today, and why that counts as authentic too
• A therapy reframe on anxiety — how a part of me I resented has actually been helping me
• Staying near yourself instead of abandoning yourself when things aren't going perfectly
• Why vulnerability, contradiction, and mess are the material for creative work, not liabilities
• A conversation with Amy Austin on unraveling yourself from what other people expect
• Authenticity as a practice of telling the truth about where you are right now, not a state you achieve

RESOURCES:

• Get Messy episode with Sasha Feldman
• My mindset coach, Amy Austin

✨Connect with Maddie✨

⁠Explore Maddie's Website⁠ | ⁠@messywithmaddie

Welcome to The Grind — a new series here on Get Messy. Nobody tells you what the middle looks like: the slow seasons, the unglamorous work, and the years it actually takes to build something that lasts. This series is for that middle, told by the people who are actually living it.

Tatiana Pavela has been in the industry for two decades — from experimental theater in New York, to grad school in Seattle, to finding her creative home in Chicago's storefront theater scene. In this episode, she opens up about the darkest, most burnt-out period of her career (a deep depression that forced her into real mindset work out of necessity), and the profound reset that came out of COVID: learning to build space into her life instead of constantly pushing.

We get into what it actually means to "do it" in this industry, why the fearless artist is a myth, and how Tatiana has learned to hold fear as a sign of doing meaningful work rather than something to avoid. She shares the wild, years-long journey of developing and touring her solo show Brandy Alexander — from a grant, to a double-header show in Minneapolis, to an invitation from Juilliard, to a full run in Edinburgh that was, in her words, one of the hardest and proudest things she's ever done. We also talk about the stigma around staying non-union, redefining success beyond bookings, and why she's stopped believing in goals altogether.

This episode is for anyone who's ever felt like the industry's "shoulds" were pulling them further away from what they actually want.

Key Topics Discussed:

• Two Decades in the Industry: New York, Seattle, and Finding Home in Chicago Theater
• Redefining What It Means to "Do It" as an Artist
• Burnout, Depression, and the Mindset Work Born Out of Necessity
• How COVID Forced a Profound Reset and the Gift of Space
• The Stigma Around Staying Non-Union, and Why Talent Isn't the Distinction
• The Fearless Artist Is a Myth: Learning to Use Fear as a Signal, Not a Stop Sign
• Creating Her Own Work: The Years-Long Journey of Brandy Alexander
• Success and Failure Existing in the Same Moment
• Letting Go of Goals and Making Room for What Actually Feels Aligned

✨Connect with Tatiana Pavela ✨

Instagram: @tatianapavella

Website: https://www.tatianapavela.com/

✨Connect with Maddie ✨

Explore Maddie's Website | @messywithmaddie

What if the pursuit of the thing is actually what's keeping you from having it? In this mini episode, I'm sitting with a question I haven't been able to shake: can we ever really have something if we're purely in the pursuit of it? Can I feel at peace when peace itself is the thing I'm chasing?

I get into the paradox of pursuit — how chasing a feeling can actually create the very distance you're trying to close — and why the unfinished, still-figuring-it-out version of you isn't the "before" photo waiting to be edited into something worth keeping. It's the version actually living your life right now, and it deserves to be loved today, not once everything finally clicks. I talk about what it looks like to hold wanting more and being at peace with where you are, at the exact same time.

This one's a shorter, more reflective episode for anyone who's been treating their current life like a waiting room for the one they're chasing.

In This Episode:

• The paradox of pursuit: why chasing a feeling can push it further away
• Can you feel regulated while you're busy trying to figure out how to get regulated?
• Why the "gap" between where you are and where you're going doesn't have to feel like a problem to solve
• The unfinished version of you isn't the rough draft — it's the version actually living your life
• Reframing arrival in a creative career (spoiler: there isn't one)
• How to hold pursuing growth and loving where you are, at the same time

✨Connect with Maddie✨

Explore Maddie’s Website | @messywithmaddie

You can be confident and still have a ceiling. In this episode, I'm getting into something I think gets constantly conflated in the personal development space: the difference between confidence and worthiness. We're always told to just build more confidence, take more action, do more reps — and the worthiness will follow. I don't think that's true, and I've watched it play out too many times, both in myself and in the creatives I work with, to keep letting it go undiscussed.

I break down what confidence and worthiness actually are — confidence is about capability and self-trust, built through keeping promises to yourself; worthiness is about deserving, the belief that the outcome is actually available to you, not because you've earned it, but because you get to have it. I share stories of two women I know who were doing everything "right" on the outside but were quietly capped by an invisible worthiness ceiling they didn't even know they had. I also get into how I personally work through moments of low worthiness (hello, dance parties and nervous system regulation), and how to start identifying where your own ceiling actually lives.

This one's for anyone who feels like they're doing all the right things and still can't figure out why the results keep landing just out of reach.

In This Episode:

• The difference between confidence and worthiness — and why they're not the same thing
• What confidence actually is: self-trust, built through keeping promises to yourself
• What worthiness actually is: the belief that the outcome is meant for you
• Two real stories of women capped by an invisible worthiness ceiling
• Why your potential is capped at what you believe you're worthy of (a concept from Jamie Kern Lima)
• How a worthiness ceiling can quietly erode confidence, even after you've built it
• Bottoms-up vs. top-down nervous system regulation, and how I use both
• Journal prompts to start identifying and examining your own ceiling

RESOURCES:

• Jamie Kern Lima — author, founder of IT Cosmetics
• "The Artist's Way" by Julia Cameron

✨Connect with Maddie✨

Explore Maddie’s Website | @messywithmaddie

Welcome to The Grind — a new series here on Get Messy. Nobody tells you what the middle looks like: the slow seasons, the unglamorous work, and the years it actually takes to build something that lasts. This series is for that middle, told by the people who are actually living it.

Deb Foster has been chasing this dream for two decades — from commercials in New Zealand, to bartending her way through London, to fumbling through New York, to finally landing in LA twelve years ago, where she found her people, her husband, and her creative footing. In this episode, she opens up about what it really took to get here: the "fumbling phase," the humbling lessons no one tells you (like showing up to a casting workshop with the wrong resume format), and why she's actually grateful the big things didn't happen for her in her 20s.

We get into representation and what it actually looks like to build a team of reps who empower you instead of pressure you, the burnout that came from doing 300+ auditions in a single year, and the wild, full-circle story of booking her first SAG co-star on For All Mankind — down to the DIY astronaut costume she built for the audition. Deb also shares the mindset work she's still doing around self-worth, over-apologizing, and not needing external validation even after getting the yes.

This episode is for anyone in the trenches of a long creative career who needs a reminder that the first ten years are supposed to feel like playing in the dark.

Key Topics Discussed:

• Two Decades in the Industry: New Zealand, London, New York, and Finally LA
• Why the First 10 Years Are "Infancy," Not Failure
• Building a Rep Team That Empowers Instead of Pressures
• Burnout From 300+ Auditions in a Year, and Learning to Say No
• Booking a First SAG Co-Star on For All Mankind
• Staying Near Yourself Through Rejection and Self-Doubt
• Letting Go of the Need for External Validation
• Finding a Deeper "Why" Behind the Hustle

✨Connect with Deb ✨

Instagram: @debfoster

Deb’s Short Film, GoodNight, available to stream on The Night Temple

✨Connect with Maddie✨

Explore Maddie’s Website | @messywithmaddie

What if getting the thing you've been working toward doesn't feel the way you thought it would? In this mini episode, I'm unpacking something a guest said that I haven't been able to stop thinking about: "the base is always shifting." Every win quietly becomes the new floor instead of the ceiling you were reaching for, and the finish line keeps moving the closer you get to it.

I get into arrival fallacy, the hedonic treadmill, and why this isn't a personal flaw — it's just how humans are wired. I talk about my own relationship to this, including moments where I've hit milestones I only dreamed about at 17 and still never felt like I "arrived," and why the answer isn't to stop climbing, but to fall in love with the process itself. I also share a quote from one of my acting teachers about what a real creative career trajectory actually looks like (spoiler: it's not a straight line).

This one's for anyone who's hit a goal and felt weirdly unsatisfied, or who's afraid that feeling will never go away.

In This Episode:

• "The base is always shifting" — a guest's quote that inspired this episode
• Arrival fallacy and the hedonic treadmill, explained
• Why every win becomes the new floor instead of the ceiling
• My own experience with milestones that never quite felt like "arriving"
• "The trajectory of your career will look like a bad EKG" — a quote from one of my acting teachers
• Why the creatives who burn out are the ones who decide the ladder is the problem
• Learning to celebrate a win before chasing the next one

✨Connect with Maddie✨

⁠Explore Maddie's Website⁠ | ⁠@messywithmaddie

Social media has us convinced that where we are right now is never quite enough — that there's always somewhere better to be, someone better to become, something better to be working toward. In this episode, I'm asking a harder question: is perpetual self-improvement actually robbing you of your life?

I get into the difference between healthy growth and a version of self-improvement that quietly tips into something less healthy — always preparing to live a better life at some future date, always optimizing for the next chapter, and forgetting to actually be who you are right now. I talk about why social media isn't neutral, how it's specifically designed to keep us feeling perpetually behind so we stay reachable to sell to, and the real distinction between "reaching" and "arriving." This episode isn't about giving up on growth — it's about learning to hold growth and presence at the same time, instead of treating your current life like a waiting room for the real one.

This one's for anyone who feels like they're always becoming, but rarely just being.

In This Episode:

• Why the constant reaching for "more" can quietly rob you of your actual life
• The difference between healthy growth and treating your life like a waiting room
• How social media is specifically designed to keep you feeling perpetually not enough
• The difference between "reaching" and "arriving" — and why they're not the same feeling
• Why growth and presence aren't opposites
• An invitation to appreciate exactly where you are, right now, today

✨Connect with Maddie✨

Explore Maddie’s Website | @messywithmaddie