Hope Mirlis started out in performing arts but now performs weddings. Her big career moves  coincided with big geographical moves, too. Originally from NYC, she moved to Atlanta to pursue performing arts, and then went to California to get a Master’s of Fine Arts. A friend asked Hope to officiate their wedding, and that changed everything. Hope and Karen discuss the path to an intentional career, and the many twists and turns that happen along the way.

I’m your host, Karen Styles, Career + Life Coach and owner of Flow + Fire Coaching. Ready to create your Intentional Career? Schedule a call with me.

My guest is Hope Mirlis. She is a registered New York City Wedding Officiant, an Ordained Interfaith Minister,  and a Certified Yoga Instructor. She founded her business “A More Perfect Union” and created a premarital counseling program. She has been guiding couples around the world from the “Yes!” to the “I Do.” since 2009.

Interview Highlights:

[01:13 ]  Being an officiant wasn’t Hope’s original plan. She was a performer from childhood, and started her career in the performing arts.

[03:48 ] Hope and her friends created a theatre company.

[07:02 ] Hope realizes her place isn’t in Atlanta anymore.

[10:55 ] A classmate asks Hope to officiate her wedding. Hope says No.

[14:23 ] How the one-time wedding turned into her calling as a wedding officiant. 

[18:05 ] Hope asks herself, “What happens if I release performing arts?”

[23:33 ] What people in Hope’s life thought about her career change. 

[30:12 ] How releasing and letting go along the way helped Hope’s career.

[43:45 ] What advice Hope would give to her past self.

[47:38 ] Hope’s career crush, Jenny Levison.

Resources:

• Hope’s Website - A More Perfect Union - Website | Instagram | Facebook
• “Souper Jenny” Levison - Website | Instagram
• The Souper Jenny Kindness Tour - Website

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Transcription - From Performing Arts to Performing Weddings with Hope Mirlis

Karen: I’m Karen Styles and this is the Intentional Career Podcast. I talk to all kinds of people who take all kinds of paths to work they love.

I'm a career and life coach and owner of Flow + Fire coaching. If you’re ready to create your intentional career with the support of a coach, schedule a call with me. There’s a link in the show notes or go to intentionalcareer.co and click the blue “schedule a call” button.

Today my guest is Hope Mirlis. Hope is a registered New York City wedding officiant, an ordained interfaith minister and a certified yoga instructor. She founded her business A More Perfect Union and created a premarital counseling program. She's been guiding couples around the world from the "Yes" to the "I do" since 2009.

Welcome Hope, I'm so glad to have you here.

Hope: I'm super excited to be here and I'm super excited to know who that person is that you introduced!

Karen: She sounds pretty impressive, I must admit.

Hope: I know!

Karen: So you are a wedding officiant and apparently that was not always your plan, correct?

Hope: Oh, it was so never my plan!

Karen: It was so never your plan? So let's talk about how you ended up here. What was the plan or what were you doing when this  came up in your life?

Hope: So as a child, I was very outgoing. I was a little performer from the very, very beginning, so I always thought, and I think my family always thought that I would definitely go down that path. So I performed as a child. I danced as a child and then I started choreographing. I wound up going to college  eventually getting a performing  arts degree and that's really where I was headed. I founded a theater company out of college as well.

Karen: Oh, no big deal. Just founded a theater company.

Hope: Yeah, so I was definitely down that path and I was making inroads. The company was doing very, very well. I was very satisfied as an artist and as an administrator. so it really truly made sense to continue down that path.

Karen: And so what was the dream at that point? You were going to create a theater company or be an actress - did you have a big goal?

Hope: I mean, I think early on, I thought I was going to be a big, famous actor, but that never seemed to be where things went. I remember speaking to a casting director years ago or one of my managers or agents that I was working with and I was like, Hey, what's going on?

Like, what kind of work is happening? What are you submitting me for? And she's like, well, I'm looking at submitting you for Lebanese roles. And I was like, oh, that's great. [I’m] not Lebanese. Is there a lot of work that you see for Lebanese actors? If you think that I can be in that path? And she's like, no, not really. And I was just like, okay, I can see myself not working as much as I wanted to.

And was really the impetus for the theater company that I founded with a few colleagues of mine that we said, you know what? We're not getting the work that we want. So why don't we create it?

And at that time I was living in Atlanta and there wasn't really a theater company doing the work that we wanted to do. There was, some very, very small companies and there were large institutions. We said, you know what, there's gotta be a middle ground. So we basically said... it's like that Mickey Rooney movie that was like, we got a barn, like let's put on a show.

So we did that, and then the business side caught up.

Karen: Oh, what do you mean by that? Like you had this idea and people were interested in it?

Hope: I mean, I always had a business acumen, so that was kind of an easy thing for me, but I'd never run a theater company that was a not-for-profit arts organization. So, I mean, did we pay taxes? No. Did we know we were supposed to pay taxes? No. So eventually we realized, ah, great. By this time we did have a board of directors that were able to help us pay the taxes back to that. We owed the state and to the local municipality. But Yeah, it's like, Hey, let's do it. And then and then everything else will follow.

Karen: Right.