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“Art Through the Fire: How Cancer Forged a Creative Power Couple” with Elisabeth & Scotty Lund- Circuspreneur Podcast Ep.109
26 Plays4 months ago
#ArtAsHealing #Circuscouple #DefyingTheOdds #HealingThroughPerformance
In this Circuspreneur Podcast episode, host Shenea Stiletto sits down with Scotty & Elisabeth Lund — a powerhouse creative duo whose 6-year battle with cancer transformed not only their lives, but their artistry.
🎪 Elisabeth, a former professional Cirque performer (aerialist, acrobat, handbalancer), later moved into stunts and creative movement direction. 🥁 Scotty began as a touring drummer with legendary bands like Agent Orange and artists including Rihanna and Drake, before expanding into writing, producing, and scoring music.
🎤 Together for 13 years, they turned their most painful chapter into a groundbreaking aerial + live drum act and keynote concert — a testament to resilience, creativity, and partnership under fire.
💡 In this episode we explore:
- Their journey from performing to purpose-driven art
- How they transformed a health crisis into a movement
- Bringing circus, music, and storytelling together on stage
- Turning vulnerability into artistic innovation
- Reinventing performance for impact, not just entertainment
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Stage Link and the Guests
00:00:01
Circuspreneur Podcast
This podcast is also available via stage link.com, the groundbreaking new platform for live performing arts. Please support the podcast by liking, subscribing, commenting, and tagging the podcast. It helps us to continue to bring the industry high level content. I'm your host, Shanae Stiletto. And today on the Circuspreneur podcast, I'm joined by the electrifying duo behind Cake Without Candles, award-winning production, songwriting, and composing team, Elizabeth and Scotty Lund.
00:00:26
Circuspreneur Podcast
Welcome to the podcast, Elizabeth and Scotty.
Transitioning to Composing and Producing
00:00:29
Elisabeth & Scotty
Thank you. Hi. Thanks for having us.
00:00:34
Circuspreneur Podcast
You guys are funny, you're so cute. Thank you so much for coming on. Just to let listeners know a bit about you before we do our deep dive, Scottie and Elizabeth Lunn are a powerhouse creative duo, redefining resilience through performance. Elizabeth spent 15 years as a professional Cirque artist, aerialist handr hand balancer and acrobat before transitioning into stunt work and joining forces creatively with her husband, Scottie.
00:00:59
Circuspreneur Podcast
Scottie began his career as a drummer with Agent Orange, and went on to perform with artists like Rihanna and Drake, later expanding into writing, producing, and scoring music. Together for 13 years, they've discovered a rhythm in combining music, circus, and storytelling.
00:01:14
Circuspreneur Podcast
Their newest project, an aerial and drum act fused with a keynote concert, is born from Scottie's six-year battle with cancer. and their shared journey of overcoming adversity with creativity.
00:01:27
Circuspreneur Podcast
You both have just a phenomenal story that we have spoken about off the podcast. And I was really inspired to have you both on as advocates, you know, for artists going through just, I think, unimaginable adversity.
Challenges for Artists: Healthcare and Financial Struggles
00:02:02
Circuspreneur Podcast
And so, you know, I'm really excited to speak to you both about how you made it through this very challenging time in your life. I mean, you've both been together for a very long time.
00:02:14
Circuspreneur Podcast
And, you know, was just thinking before you came onto the podcast too, and we'll we'll talk a little bit about your most recent journey as the America's favorite couple, but you know that, you know, this is a very timely issue, I think in terms of, you know, folks worrying about their healthcare and if they will, you know, continue to have their healthcare and will it be affordable for them?
00:02:22
Elisabeth & Scotty
Mm-hmm.
00:02:36
Circuspreneur Podcast
You know, that is a very big topic, especially in art spaces where a lot of artists don't have access. to affordable healthcare care and are afraid what that might look like in the next coming months.
00:02:45
Circuspreneur Podcast
I know a lot of artists that have specialty circus insurance, for example, but don't have regular traditional healthcare care and health insurance or access to traditional healthcare.
00:02:55
Circuspreneur Podcast
And so, you know, and that's, I think a very, you know, dramatic type of icebreaker for our episode, but again, because you both have been through so much and you've been through it in such a really, I think, positive and cool and innovative way.
00:03:07
Circuspreneur Podcast
I mean, the spirit that you both share together with everything you've been through, I think is just really, you know, something to inspire folks, especially if they feel like they're going through a very difficult and
Community Support During Tough Times
00:03:16
Circuspreneur Podcast
dramatic time.
00:03:17
Circuspreneur Podcast
So do we want to start off speaking a bit to that in terms of how you see that right now? And, you know, how is that affecting your own experience right now? Scotty as a cancer survivor, and then also to Elizabeth as a supportive, you know, partner, you know, along the way.
00:03:33
Elisabeth & Scotty
Yeah. Do want to first? You want me to? We are stronger than forever. Yeah. One of our songs is called stronger than forever. so da So yeah, we try not to to step on each other's toes.
00:03:46
Elisabeth & Scotty
So I'm going to let her speak first. We like to pass a on.
00:03:48
Elisabeth & Scotty
We've done this before. So go ahead. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's a really, really relevant point. I mean, I will say way back in the day when I first moved to l LA and I was a circus performer, there was a chunk of years that I didn't have health insurance.
00:04:00
Elisabeth & Scotty
Because for what I was earning, it was really expensive.
00:04:01
Circuspreneur Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:04:03
Elisabeth & Scotty
And I've never, like I've knock on wood, been very healthy. I take good care of myself. And it just weighing out, paying for it when that was still an option without being penalized.
00:04:13
Elisabeth & Scotty
I don't go to traditional doctors that much unless there's an emergency. And so I kind of went, you know what? I'm good. I'll deal with it if I need to. But now it's a really different thing.
00:04:24
Elisabeth & Scotty
We have probably some of the best insurance possible through SAG-AFTRA, even though they doubled their prices during COVID with no warning. It still is a lot less than a lot of people pay.
00:04:36
Elisabeth & Scotty
And so we feel very fortunate. But despite that, the cost of cancer, any medical research, you know, one round of chemo, one shot of something to combat it.
00:04:43
Circuspreneur Podcast
sure you
00:04:48
Elisabeth & Scotty
is up in like the 20 to 30,000 per one treatment range. And so when doctors go, yeah, it's going to be six months every two weeks, even though we only owe, you know, the prepays or copays or whatever up until a certain point and then 10%, it's a lot of money. And so that's a lot of stress.
00:05:06
Elisabeth & Scotty
So we felt very fortunate to have what we had, but it also really was a struggle. And obviously I was the only one working at the time. We had my stepdaughter, his kid at the time who was 10, 11, 12, still very young. So that was a lot. It was a lot on an emotional level. it was a lot on just hustling and working and trying to pay bills and stay positive. And yeah, it's a really crucial time right now with people potentially losing healthcare and losing the affordability of healthcare when it isn't even affordable. So...
00:05:39
Circuspreneur Podcast
Ever.
00:05:41
Elisabeth & Scotty
Yeah. It's kind of crazy times.
00:05:42
Circuspreneur Podcast
Yeah.
00:05:43
Elisabeth & Scotty
Do want to say anything?
Communication and Support in Relationships
00:05:44
Elisabeth & Scotty
Yeah.
00:05:44
Circuspreneur Podcast
Yeah.
00:05:45
Elisabeth & Scotty
I will add to that. and And thank you for bringing Snow up. My my beautiful kid, out of respect, they, them. And I love them. and And they went through a lot, just as much as Elizabeth did while I was sick. But I would not have survived with Elizabeth. doesn't matter about the insurance. It doesn't matter about anything else. you know When you're on your deathbed and I was there in the hospital in 2018, November. Yeah.
00:06:09
Elisabeth & Scotty
Yeah, like it was and we write we we write about this. We perform this in the keynote and talk about it. It was really like it comes down to your family who is with you that love you.
00:06:14
Circuspreneur Podcast
you
00:06:20
Elisabeth & Scotty
And you don't think about the career, the drums, the the spotlight. It all goes out the window. You're just I was just breathing. I was trying to survive. I was about 40 pounds lighter and I'm 6'1", 160 pounds.
00:06:32
Elisabeth & Scotty
So like.
00:06:32
Circuspreneur Podcast
so
00:06:33
Elisabeth & Scotty
I didn't have any room for, you know, to lose weight. So you can imagine. So but to add to the the monetary stuff, I was really lucky to get in with Obamacare's ACA.
00:06:46
Elisabeth & Scotty
Right. Am I saying that right?
00:06:46
Circuspreneur Podcast
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:06:48
Elisabeth & Scotty
So I had Obamacare and yeah, so i i was I was fine with that for a little while.
00:06:50
Circuspreneur Podcast
Same.
00:06:53
Elisabeth & Scotty
Elizabeth came along. i think by the time we got married, I was able to relinquish that. The prices were definitely going up at some point, but also the cost of everybody else having to pay for that too. it was a great program. but It was never finessed.
00:07:04
Elisabeth & Scotty
And so a lot of people's healthcare went up. And so we don't know where standing with that, but at least with with the SAG after healthcare, care yeah, the premiums went way down. And as a family plan, it worked out great, snow's on it.
00:07:16
Elisabeth & Scotty
But we still needed to come up with money. And fortunately with the you know with the network we have in the between musicians and the stunts, it was her idea, but she went for a an Indiegogo or GoFundMe.
00:07:30
Elisabeth & Scotty
A GoFundMe.
00:07:30
Circuspreneur Podcast
and
00:07:30
Elisabeth & Scotty
Right. And so we raised a bunch of money for that. That was crucial because we were very much into trying Eastern medicine as much as we could holistic. Unfortunately, the cancer, i was too far gone.
00:07:42
Elisabeth & Scotty
The cancer, just to put in perspective, it was the size of an orange when I first found it. And then it was the size of a small, you know, dodgeball by the time it was 15 centimeters by the time it was, I was in the hospital, you know, big old.
00:07:55
Circuspreneur Podcast
Wow.
00:07:56
Elisabeth & Scotty
So we had to do chemo. Chemo saved me and we write about this.
00:08:02
Elisabeth & Scotty
It didn't cure the cancer. So I relapsed for a few years after that. The money really helped with everything that we raised from the GoFundMe. So I i encourage anybody who's got too much pride Please just don't do it yourself. Just allow somebody else to do it. Everybody else wants to help. you know I'm just going to interject when I first said it, he really didn't want to do it. He wanted it to be private. And we just kind of looked at each other and went, you know what?
00:08:27
Elisabeth & Scotty
We really need this. And outside of the money part of it, it really was feeling people's love, even if all they could donate was $10 and they shared it on their pages and just the loving messages that people sent and the reach outs.
00:08:38
Circuspreneur Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:08:40
Elisabeth & Scotty
That as much as the financial help was really, really special. Even, you know, stunt people that he didn't even know, he went, oh my goodness, who are these people? And oh, I feel so touched by this. And, you know, so that's a really special part of it too.
00:08:53
Elisabeth & Scotty
It's really hard for us to ask for help when we need it, but it also really brings out, you know, people and community and friends from the woodwork or even strangers who see something that a friend shares and they feel really touched and they want to help.
00:09:07
Elisabeth & Scotty
So, I think that's part of the important message as well. Reach out when you need help. Yeah. Community. Community. Absolutely. You know, there is no i in team.
00:09:19
Circuspreneur Podcast
Yeah. And you both showed that, you know, you know, so beautifully. And I love that, you know, you're again, mixing both of the worlds together. I mean, you have, you've got, you both come from so many backgrounds in so many worlds.
00:09:28
Elisabeth & Scotty
Yeah.
00:09:29
Circuspreneur Podcast
I mean, like, you know, and thankfully again, like harnessing that level of support because we do need so much. And I think sometimes, especially as like performers, you know, even discussing like benefits and do you have access different to different care?
00:09:56
Circuspreneur Podcast
And we like, I think, to exist out of a lot of social norms, which again, sometimes when, you know, things come up in life, you have to also know what are the structures in place that can support you and save you. And so what do you think in terms of understanding that is really important for artists to understand, especially when it comes to partnerships?
00:10:11
Circuspreneur Podcast
So many of us are in partnership with one another where we're both artists and sometimes leaning on one another can be tricky if we're both in maybe an unstable space or again, we're both coming from you know that artistic mindset and you know one isn't maybe in the traditional nine to five situation.
00:10:28
Circuspreneur Podcast
and we're both trying to make it work and build things from scratch, like that's not easy to do. And but you've both been able to do that. You have your marriage, you also have your working partnership, you're now doing your keynote and your inspiring messages that you're putting out together too as a partnership, which I would like to again, discuss that a bit more with you too, about how do you communicate, how you communicated through that time to make it through something, So stressful and so big.
00:10:50
Circuspreneur Podcast
You both, you have such both like very, you know, fluid personalities. And, but I can imagine too that, you know, that is not for the faint of heart and, you know, navigating that together.
00:11:03
Circuspreneur Podcast
So either one.
00:11:06
Elisabeth & Scotty
You want us to speak to it? Okay. now You can go first. Okay. so that is a, that is a much, we we probably need an hour to talk about this. yeah Okay. So,
00:11:17
Circuspreneur Podcast
I don't have enough time. I know.
00:11:18
Elisabeth & Scotty
so A couple key things. I think from the get-go, E, Elizabeth, E, and I, i and i really, we were we were very clear about our communication.
00:11:26
Circuspreneur Podcast
I know.
00:11:31
Elisabeth & Scotty
There was a couple of hiccups in the beginning that were really kind of funny looking back on it. I left her after three months because it was too reminiscent of of just, you know, I can't deal with moods. And and I'm thinking, and then she handled it really well.
00:11:42
Elisabeth & Scotty
Rather than the typical response that I, you know, I'm not going to just generalize every relationship I've ever had, but most of the time it was just like a lot of screaming and yelling and whatever, whatever.
00:11:48
Circuspreneur Podcast
here
00:11:52
Elisabeth & Scotty
But she just kind of just put her, you know, her, her, or nice cap on or whatever you want to call it. And just, I came forward and just was really honest and said, well, that's fine.
00:12:04
Elisabeth & Scotty
i don't want to be with somebody who doesn't want to be with me. He wrote me a nice little paragraph that was summing up like what you're doing. and I don't think it's fair, but that's fine. Can I come get my stuff? And it was something in the wording. And this was three months into our relationship, something in the wording grabbed me. I stuck my tail between my legs when she showed up at my door and I'm like, well, do you want to come in and talk about this? And, you know, so one thing led to another, we stayed together, but it was instantly, we, I realized that there was a communication that we had that I never had from anybody.
00:12:32
Elisabeth & Scotty
And, it was there was It was honesty. It's taken a lot of work because as the years go on, it's very easy to get sick of of some of the stuff that we do to each other or we say to each other.
00:12:44
Elisabeth & Scotty
And and we say this affectionately all the time. We're not, there's nothing that haven't heard about.
00:12:47
Circuspreneur Podcast
Of course.
00:12:48
Elisabeth & Scotty
Like we love each other dearly, but they' you're gonna rub each other the wrong way at some point. How do you deal with that? we I'm not gonna lie. There have been a little, you know my my you know, I've had kept in my pocket this whole time as referee.
00:13:02
Elisabeth & Scotty
my
00:13:02
Circuspreneur Podcast
Yeah.
00:13:03
Elisabeth & Scotty
Somebody who's who's been in my life who helped me get through, learn how to swaddle a child and help me learn how to deal with my mom's or my my baby mama, the child's baby mom, the baby mama.
00:13:16
Elisabeth & Scotty
And so we had a really rough relationship and it was not, you know, I love my kid, but we had it rough for for that that entire time with that relationship. So early on, I had to learn how to communicate.
00:13:26
Elisabeth & Scotty
She became kind of a friend, but also she she was really somebody I could speak to on a psychological level. And then enter our marriage, we started realizing, okay, if we had these little hiccups, well, let's just go see our, you know, our lady.
00:13:38
Circuspreneur Podcast
Thank you.
00:13:39
Elisabeth & Scotty
And and so it really does help to have a referee. We don't go to regular therapy. It's just nice when we need to call in the big guns and go, OK, we're we're clearly not communicating well.
00:13:51
Elisabeth & Scotty
We know when we've gone overboard, when we can't really afford to be around each other's energy at that moment or two hours or even a day. it's like, all we need to call her in. So that that's been the other thing.
00:14:02
Elisabeth & Scotty
So don't you you take the baton? Yeah, I mean, I really think communication is key and also both people having the desire to make something work and being willing to do the work.
00:14:12
Elisabeth & Scotty
Because it doesn't matter, one person may be so willing and if the other person isn't also, it will never work.
00:14:12
Circuspreneur Podcast
mm-hmm
00:14:19
Elisabeth & Scotty
And it, you know, it doesn't feel equal. So I think in any relationship, whether it's a romantic one, a partnership, you know, as we know it in the circus or even with music and bands, you are in relationships with people.
00:14:32
Elisabeth & Scotty
And, you know, as an entertainer and as an athlete and as a musician, everyone needs a certain amount of, I don't love the word ego necessarily, but to to get you up there, to get you to that level, to get on that stage, a certain amount of confidence, but then it can't become a conflicting, it's all about me sort of thing.
00:14:43
Circuspreneur Podcast
you
00:14:51
Elisabeth & Scotty
So I think that's what we managed to do really well is both get to be our own people and support each other as our own people, but communicate and when we run into things, figure out ways to work through them and just really stay there for each other and support each other.
00:15:07
Elisabeth & Scotty
And yeah, you know, I mean, it's hard. On the one hand, I think it's been almost easier because we both come
Resilience in Artistic Careers
00:15:15
Elisabeth & Scotty
from entertainment. So we get the crazy world of like, hey, i have a call.
00:15:18
Elisabeth & Scotty
I need to leave tomorrow for a month. Whereas people with ordinary jobs might get frustrated and lose their patience and be like, I'm over it.
00:15:21
Circuspreneur Podcast
Right.
00:15:25
Elisabeth & Scotty
I don't want to be part of this. We can just figure it out and just make it work and support one another. On the other hand, it's very trying because we do both freelance. So neither one of us has any regularity of anything.
00:15:38
Elisabeth & Scotty
And especially entertainment, since the strikes a couple years ago, entertainment has not really come back in full force. So it's just a whole different world and it's constantly changing.
00:15:50
Elisabeth & Scotty
And then the political climate in this country And really all over the world right now, it's just it's so messy and chaotic and it affects everything. It's affecting the economy, which affects us as performers.
00:16:02
Elisabeth & Scotty
So, you know, we're just kind of trying to be patient and see it through and do what we do for the right reasons and, you know, not give up hope, but also be as realistic as we can about, you know, how do we pay our bills versus what do we do?
00:16:17
Circuspreneur Podcast
And you both were a part of the contest and please remind me what it was called again. It was like America's greatest couple, America's.
00:16:24
Elisabeth & Scotty
America's favorite
00:16:26
Circuspreneur Podcast
Favorite couple. Okay. And so you were recently buying for America's favorite couple. And we talked a little bit about, you know, how that went and, you know, how interesting that was, you know, pursuing that and the challenges associated with it.
00:16:31
Elisabeth & Scotty
novel. Yes. Yes, you were.
00:16:40
Circuspreneur Podcast
But I think that you are just such a really cool, fascinating couple. And I'm imagining you did again, really well in that. So can you tell listeners a little bit about what that journey was and why you guys threw, know, your hat in the ring, why you wanted to become
America's Favorite Couple Contest and Charity Work
00:16:53
Circuspreneur Podcast
America's favorite couple.
00:16:54
Circuspreneur Podcast
And then also to moving into, you know, the inspiration behind your keynote and how these, you know, recent life challenges and then also to your couple's goals have influenced, you know, your keynote and why you're doing it and where you see yourselves taking your keynote and the show that you are seeking to devise around that.
00:17:14
Elisabeth & Scotty
Okay. How about you take the baton on the, I'll talk about Tina.
00:17:15
Circuspreneur Podcast
Yeah.
00:17:18
Elisabeth & Scotty
So the America's favorite couple, Jeff Goldblum and his wife, Emily, were hosting and, yeah, well, I can't say once say I'd known Jeff.
00:17:24
Circuspreneur Podcast
who we are all mutual friends of. So we all go, yeah, we all go way, way, way back.
00:17:30
Elisabeth & Scotty
We all know who he is, but yes, we know we've performed with Emily. I have performed with Emily. it's been a long time. The last time I did a show with her was when early days when she and Jeff were still dating.
00:17:41
Circuspreneur Podcast
Oh. oh
00:17:41
Elisabeth & Scotty
But then, of course, you know, we follow each other on social media and whatnot.
00:17:45
Circuspreneur Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:17:45
Elisabeth & Scotty
And so we saw something pop up where they were talking about this and went like, oh, that looks fun.
00:17:50
Circuspreneur Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:17:50
Elisabeth & Scotty
We have to lose. Let's just, you know, throw our names in. In the meantime, the the competition was very they didn't really disclose much of what it was just like, hey, register for this chance to win, you know, whatever it was, ten thousand dollars or twenty thousand dollars and a spread in Vanity Fair.
00:18:07
Elisabeth & Scotty
And we're like, OK, great. Or Variety. we went, okay. In the meantime, we later found out there were over 200,000 couples who submitted.
00:18:16
Circuspreneur Podcast
It's crazy.
00:18:18
Elisabeth & Scotty
I mean, when we first started, we got that email.
00:18:18
Circuspreneur Podcast
cannot believe that number.
00:18:21
Elisabeth & Scotty
Hey, welcome. You made it and we're like, oh, okay, well, this is cool. Great. What do we do? And so, We all we started off, you're in a group with 20 people, but nobody knew how many groups there were.
00:18:33
Elisabeth & Scotty
And each round was roughly a week where, you know, you need to end up in the top one of your group by the end of the week. And, you know, in our business, we have to post on social media.
00:18:43
Elisabeth & Scotty
That's just a thing. So people can hear your music and see what you do. That's how we get jobs. That's how we get fans. So we kind of looked at it as a great opportunity to go, okay, well, here we go.
00:18:54
Elisabeth & Scotty
I guess we have to post regularly. think the biggest plus about that was we got really good at posting regularly and we fell into a fun rhythm of like, rather than just going, hi guys, can you vote for us?
00:18:56
Circuspreneur Podcast
yes
00:19:03
Circuspreneur Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:19:09
Elisabeth & Scotty
doing fun little skits, doing fun little snippets here and there. We were traveling in Italy for about five weeks. So we would you know be posting here in Rome or the Amalfi Coast or in these beautiful places and talking about what we were doing.
00:19:16
Circuspreneur Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:19:22
Elisabeth & Scotty
So that was really fun. It was a lot of work. And then, yeah, of course, when the rounds kept going and going and going, we eventually were going like, okay how many people really are in this how many rounds and how long does this what's going on so we made it to the semi-finals the second to last round which was about three couples four and we made it to number three in our group and within the whole thing of course we were a little disappointed we didn't win but you know in the end it ended up like how many people vote and then you can buy votes as well so But the end goal was to raise money for the LA Food Bank and Oceana, which are both fantastic nonprofits.
00:19:41
Circuspreneur Podcast
Wow. Wow. no
00:20:04
Elisabeth & Scotty
And so at the end of the day, we raised almost $4 million, all the people that were part of that. And ironically...
00:20:13
Circuspreneur Podcast
he collective Collectively.
00:20:15
Elisabeth & Scotty
Yeah, ironically, we went and saw Jeff Goldblum was doing a show with his jazz band and Emily made a debut of a really cute actor contortion and hand balancing on his piano.
00:20:26
Elisabeth & Scotty
and We got to go backstage and say hi. So we did find him, but it was really fun to reconnect with Emily and say hey to Jeff and the show was a amazing well. But yeah, it was cool.
00:20:35
Circuspreneur Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:20:36
Elisabeth & Scotty
And she was the one who went, oh my God, you guys, it was so great. We raised almost $4 million. dollars So we felt really good about our part in it.
Keynote Concert and Inspirational Goals
00:20:43
Elisabeth & Scotty
Yeah, yeah.
00:20:44
Circuspreneur Podcast
Oh, that's awesome.
00:20:44
Elisabeth & Scotty
we We were actually able to raise somewhere between five and 10 grand, weren't we? Probably. i don't know.
00:20:48
Circuspreneur Podcast
Wow. Mm-hmm.
00:20:50
Elisabeth & Scotty
It was really cool because it's really about, you're you're not begging at that point. You're just going, hey, this is this is really helping us to get to the top, but this is going to a good cause. And we were really clear, like you know without beating it over the head with this whole thing.
00:21:03
Circuspreneur Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:21:04
Elisabeth & Scotty
we followed up the numbers a little bit. And you know yeah, I mean, people really put in the money where they could. And and we raised a about $6,000.
00:21:10
Circuspreneur Podcast
who
00:21:11
Elisabeth & Scotty
six thousand dollars it was was really cool. Yeah.
00:21:13
Circuspreneur Podcast
Well, I'm really happy to hear that it went to really great causes. And that was your, you know, that was also your main motivation of giving back and using your relationship and to the beauty surrounding that as that harnessing for good, which is great.
00:21:19
Elisabeth & Scotty
Yeah. Great.
00:21:25
Circuspreneur Podcast
I love it when those competitions and things are connected to to that. So like you're saying, it's not just like outward, like self-promotion. It's also going to something that's going to benefit those in need and you know, those that that are less fortunate.
00:21:50
Circuspreneur Podcast
I think it's really fascinating the work that you've done. It's very innovative. It's very unique keynote. And so I'd love to hear again, what was the influences you know, obviously like the undercurrents of your story and being a cancer survivor and your relationship and all of the different work that you've done over the years too.
00:22:07
Circuspreneur Podcast
And, uh, you know, your creative efforts kind of coalescing into like one big moment. What was the motivation behind it and why are you inspired to do it? And what do you want folks to get out your keynote too?
00:22:19
Elisabeth & Scotty
I'm gonna let you deliver the message. I'll tell you, I'll try to do this in 50 seconds. so i in So I had to, I a studio, right?
00:22:23
Circuspreneur Podcast
So funny.
00:22:27
Elisabeth & Scotty
And when i'm when I'm raising my daughter and I i kind of stopped doing a all the live thing and I got more into producing and writing. And then I got into the world of sync, cause that's a really legit way for musicians to make money these days.
00:22:33
Circuspreneur Podcast
Amen.
00:22:37
Elisabeth & Scotty
And about six years ago, it wasn't it still wasn't too saturated. And I went to an event that kind of my coach teach me how to do this stuff. And and and she had given us a sink right before I got sick.
00:22:50
Elisabeth & Scotty
And so we really thought we were going to go into that lane for a while and cut to two years later. everybody was doing sync. So that's fine. I went, I went and and this lady that ran this whole course in this company, she, she was giving a, sync convention and I went and saw her speak and halfway through it, I just went up to her said, I want to thank you.
00:23:12
Elisabeth & Scotty
I'm a cancer survivor. And before I, had cancer. You gave us our first sink. And she remembered who we were, who I was. And she looked at me and she's a podcaster as well, Kathy Heller.
00:23:17
Circuspreneur Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:23:21
Elisabeth & Scotty
And she she said, hey, do you want to get up and tell your story? So pretty much like screw her agenda. She wanted to talk to me and she asked me questions for about 20 minutes. And apparently I had a really good impact because I put everybody in tears.
00:23:31
Circuspreneur Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:23:34
Elisabeth & Scotty
Yeah.
00:23:36
Circuspreneur Podcast
Oh.
00:23:37
Elisabeth & Scotty
My comeback story. I went home, I was really excited because I had always wanted to do that in some way. i didn't know was going to be about that. And I told Elizabeth, I said, you know, it was it felt so awesome to move people.
00:23:49
Elisabeth & Scotty
Can't we do this with music somehow? And, i you know, it's not just my journey, it's your journey. Literally within a week, we had an email from somebody who does this and teaches people how to do these keynotes called Keynote Concerts.
00:24:01
Elisabeth & Scotty
It's just a little twist on the keynotes. lot of keynotes could be really boring. And so you basic tell people your story and then there's a whole message at the end without preaching.
00:24:05
Circuspreneur Podcast
Oh yeah.
00:24:10
Elisabeth & Scotty
And then you're playing songs in between and the songs sort of just work well with it. So that's how that whole blossomed. We got through the course. We're really excited. We put it together. The only reason why we haven't done it is because I ended up with a relapse.
00:24:24
Elisabeth & Scotty
I fought cancer for a long time. And I wasn't really, we were talking about how I got through the cancer, how we got through it. But I didn't feel authentic by going, okay, so there's how I got out of it.
00:24:34
Elisabeth & Scotty
But truth be told, I have it again. So it just, we haven't really been able to get into it. But in the meantime, we're putting together to open for ourselves. It's a little bit of an a la carte thing if people want it, the aerial drum act.
00:24:45
Circuspreneur Podcast
Mm-hmm. Okay.
00:24:46
Elisabeth & Scotty
And so what's cool is I composed a whole piece of music.
00:24:47
Circuspreneur Podcast
p
00:24:49
Elisabeth & Scotty
And then we did some narration over it. We'll have to send it to you after so you can kind of hear it. and and And so she's narrating, I've got all, I just produced it so our voices are in there kind of subliminally.
00:25:00
Elisabeth & Scotty
There's some facts about cancer and it's a really dope song. And this whole five minute piece you know, walking out and we relive the cancer experience. I'm walking out in black and I'm sick. She's carrying me. And then she starts twirling around me and doing a very artsy thing, gets up on these white silks and just wakes me up.
00:25:18
Elisabeth & Scotty
And that's the whole process of her, you know, bringing me alive. I would not be here without her. I'll take that to my next grave. And, uh,
00:25:25
Circuspreneur Podcast
Yeah.
00:25:26
Elisabeth & Scotty
So not yet. We're not ready yet for the grave. And so, and so by the end, I'm, I've stripped off my black, I'm in white, she's in white or or black on these beautiful white things.
00:25:28
Circuspreneur Podcast
now
00:25:36
Elisabeth & Scotty
And she looks so angelic up there on the silks. And I'm playing drums because that's really my, the roots. And I'm just sort of interacting. We're still finessing the act, but, and then it's just like how we, there it is.
00:25:47
Elisabeth & Scotty
There's the piece that it's like, I survived and that's going to,
00:25:50
Circuspreneur Podcast
Thank you.
00:25:51
Elisabeth & Scotty
Open the keynote. So that's how we got into it. That's how it all evolved. And then you can kind of. Yeah. So it's a, our intention is we do lots of different things. I still do stunts for a living.
00:26:03
Circuspreneur Podcast
you
00:26:06
Elisabeth & Scotty
The intention is to revive the keyra keynote, but we want to kind of tweak and rewrite it a little and, you know, workshop it enough. And I mean, really the end goal of it is rather than having it be like this dramatic, oh, oh my God, we survived cancer is to make something good of it.
00:26:21
Elisabeth & Scotty
Like everybody has some difficult experience, whether it's themselves or a family member or a friend.
00:26:22
Circuspreneur Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:26:30
Circuspreneur Podcast
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:26:50
Elisabeth & Scotty
And sort of about, you know, hopefully not waiting until you get some dramatic thing like cancer to be like, oh my God, what do I want to do with my life?
00:26:58
Elisabeth & Scotty
You know?
00:26:59
Circuspreneur Podcast
Thank you.
00:26:59
Elisabeth & Scotty
Not everyone has to get that to then push them to go, okay, let me step back. Am I really doing what I want? But yeah, just to inspire and to connect. And eventually, I mean, I think we'll expand beyond just that story with our keynotes because we both, we love to be on stage.
00:27:15
Elisabeth & Scotty
We're still working on tying in, you know, the speaking, the music, the different elements, whether it is circus or whatnot.
00:27:15
Circuspreneur Podcast
yes
00:27:21
Elisabeth & Scotty
But yeah, it's really exciting.
00:27:24
Circuspreneur Podcast
That's wonderful. That's really amazing. You're both so inspiring, equally inspiring. And so how can folks support your work? what What kind of support are you looking for specifically?
00:27:38
Circuspreneur Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:27:40
Elisabeth & Scotty
That's a great question. The best way to find us, Cake Without Candles, is the name of our production company slash band. We have various artist projects now for people in music. A lot of times when you're an artist, you have a sound. Because we're a production team, we work in a bunch of different types of sounds because that appeals to when you're writing and for a pitch, when you're writing for a TV show versus a film versus ads. So we have a really wide spectrum. we have a couple artist projects within that. But if you look up Cake Without Candles anywhere on social media, we have a website, cakewithoutcandles.com. You can get hip to most of that.
00:28:15
Elisabeth & Scotty
We are finessing our keynote page. So there will be a link to that as well. If people are interested in that, they can just message us and say, hey, I'd love to see your material.
Supporting Elizabeth and Scotty's Work
00:28:24
Elisabeth & Scotty
We do have that. We're just... finessing our website so it's currently not quite where we want it to be but yeah if you're fans of music if you need music for a project i mean we love playing live we like collaborating we love writing custom music for various projects scoring for film and tv stunts obviously drumming yeah so all the fun things
00:28:50
Elisabeth & Scotty
Yeah, I'll just add, I know she mentioned the socials, but if most people have IG and if you go on there, there's a link. It's a link tree link. So click on that and you will go down the rabbit hole of what we do and what we're all about.
00:28:59
Circuspreneur Podcast
hmm.
00:29:03
Elisabeth & Scotty
You'll see composer reels, stunt reels, all of our music's on Spotify, Tidal, all this stuff. And so, yeah, it's really fun. And you and the website, nobody, a lot of people don't really go to websites these days, but we love our website. go to our website Yeah, fun links.
00:29:19
Circuspreneur Podcast
I love a good website shout out. That is like so true.
00:29:21
Elisabeth & Scotty
Yeah, right?
00:29:22
Circuspreneur Podcast
But I love it. I love it. Still keeping the websites alive. But thank you both so much. You're so fantastic. You're fabulous. I love to see everything that you're working on. Your music
Conclusion and Next Episode Promotion
00:29:31
Circuspreneur Podcast
is awesome.
00:29:32
Circuspreneur Podcast
Again, everyone go on Spotify so you can support Elizabeth. You can support Scotty and collaborate. And I'm sure that you'll continue to evolve. And I just wish you all the best. in your cancer continuous journey and, more more more years of healthy living too for you, Scotty.
00:29:49
Circuspreneur Podcast
know, as you move through these different transitions of your life and, you know, your transitions as a couple as well. Thank you both so much. I'm so honored to have you on the podcast sharing, you know, such a phenomenal journey.
00:30:00
Circuspreneur Podcast
That's not easy to share, but you share it in such a seamless and positive way. And I really appreciate you both for, you know, stepping up to life and, you know, bringing some positivity back into the, you know, artist community.
00:30:12
Circuspreneur Podcast
And I know that artists could really use that support right now too, more than ever.
00:30:15
Elisabeth & Scotty
Thank
00:30:17
Circuspreneur Podcast
So thank you both again and listeners. This Circus Preneur podcast is also available on stagelink.com. S-T-A-G-E-L-Y-N-C g e l y and c dot v o m The groundbreaking new platform for live performing arts that provides unmatched access and connection to this vibrant world of shows and entertainment. If you're a professional in the performing arts, visit stagelink.com slash Po. Stagelink Pro, S-T-A-G-E-L-Y-N-C-P-R-O offers industry professionals higher visibility, networking opportunities, and tools to support and enhance the careers.
00:30:47
Circuspreneur Podcast
Until next time, everyone, I'm your host, Sinead Stiletto. Please stay tuned to the next episode. of the Circuspreneur podcast. And until next time, please stay safe and stay healthy.