Today we’d like to introduce you to Terran Rae Smith.
Hi Terran Rae, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I am currently a full-time actor, singer, influencer, and content creator. I officially committed to my creative business about a year and a half ago, and it’s been the best thing that’s ever happened to my career. A lot of people look at my success and might think that it happened very quickly, but the truth of the matter is, I’ve been working to get to this point my entire life.
I grew up with a mother who had Munchausen and Munchausen By Proxy, which is now called factitious disorder, imposed on self and/or others. For those of you who no don’t know what that is, it is when someone purposefully makes themselves sick or makes other people in their life, sick or lies about being sick or lies about other people being sick. It’s a very parasitic disease that results in extraordinarily devastating trauma, fragments families, and ultimately can be deadly if someone has not gotten away from an abuser like that.
Well, I’ve always had a wonderful relationship with my father. My mother, however, subjected me to extreme abuse throughout the entirety of my childhood and adolescence. I also survived a number of sexual assaults by various peers and partners throughout the decades. I’ve had a number of attempts on my life starting when I was 10 years old. I have had complex post traumatic stress disorder my entire life as well.
I went to The University of Kansas and graduated from their journalism school, which is of the top in the nation. I always knew that I wanted to do something creative with my life and that I wanted to help make a difference in the world by sharing and creating art. My mission has always been to uplift and inspire through the dissemination of positive information, and that is how I have kept myself guided by a compass in my entire life and professional career. When I graduated from college, I was working in radio as a DJ and morning news anchor for a number of stations that are nationally syndicated and quite well known. It didn’t work out with those radio stations, and for a long time, I was really traumatized by the feeling that I wouldn’t be able to achieve what I had always set out to do. I never let anything hold me back so I decided to pivot into fitness. In 2018, I began working as a fitness professional, and in about a year and a half. I became a master level fitness professional. I am currently still certified as a personal trainer, nutritionist, yoga teacher, group fitness instructor, and dance instructor. I worked in the health and wellness industry and in the education industry for more than a decade. I did everything from tutoring children, and adults on how to learn English as a second language to coaching people in various gyms or online settings.
I moved to Chicago for a number of years and decided to move back after ending a long-term relationship. I moved back to Kansas; I decided that it was time to completely invest in what I wanted to do in my life. That has always been acting and singing and performing. I was able to go full-time with my acting business within two months of starting it. I have since made more of my dreams come true than I can even possibly count. I’ve narrated countless audiobooks, starred in cartoons, represent YouTube channels all over the world, and content that I create is viewed by millions of people on a daily basis. Sometimes people get confused by what I do because they see that I have a strong following on social media and I think that they assume that that’s where all of my work comes from. I do a lot of brand deals for sure, but the majority of my work is actually for other brands and other business is another clients. I work and everything from true crime reporting to skincare content, from corporate presentation to live webinar hosting, from health and wellness e-learning courses to acting as the brand face of international companies.
I’ve worked so hard to get where I am and I thank God every single day that I am able to do what I love and feel happy and healthy in all of the art that I create. I also have since released music and I’m about to start working on my next album. I’ve even performed three live concerts this past few months! That was something I feel like I’ve worked towards my whole life. And I’m not stopping anytime soon. This is truly just the beginning for me and I cannot wait to see what comes next. I hope that anyone who reads this and feels inspired by it knows that they can achieve anything they want to if they just persist and remain consistent. Never let anyone tell you what you can and can’t do and always believe in yourself more than other people believe in you.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It’s never a smooth road to get to paradise. It always takes going through and weathering the storms in order to find the rainbow on the other side. And I realize that that could sound cliché, but it is just so true. I have had more trauma in my life than a lot of people have by the time that they’re my age. I’ve survived my super abusive mother, I have survived my sister, battling cancer twice, and beating it both times, and most recently, two months ago my father had a brain aneurysm, a stroke, and brain surgery, and part of his skull removed. Fortunately, he is back home now, and you wouldn’t even know that this had happened to him by looking at him or talking to him. It is truly God‘s miracle that he is with us today and thriving so much. None of this has been a smooth road. I have survived so many sexual assaults that I have literally lost count, and that is so sad to hear even from myself. I have committed myself to making sure that I raise awareness about all of the things that happened to me and I continue to raise awareness when new things happen to me. I’m not ashamed of my trauma, because I know that it is my conduit for being able to outreach to other others and give them some light that they might need and whatever darkness that they’re dealing with. There were so many years where I thought I would never be able to be a full-time creative person, an artist, and that was really stifling for me. That was really a long-term difficult thing for me to deal with in process, but ultimately, when I chose myself and refused to give up, everything came together.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
So like I mentioned, the majority of my profitable work is me as an actor, where I specialize in on camera and voiceover work. When I list out all of the things that I work in, I can’t even believe it. I do a ton of spokesperson work, brand voice, general presentation for the public for different brands. I do everything from social media brand deals and live stream hosting on social platforms helping to sell skincare products or beauty products to curating and producing high-level, e-learning courses for fitness and yoga companies. I work across a vast variety of niches. I specialize in corporate, business, tech, finance, skin care, beauty, lifestyle, health and wellness, and the list goes on. I’m currently working on expanding more into film roles as well. My business keeps me so busy that I have been trying to find more time to audition for more roles. I do see myself getting into film more, and when I am so busy with my business and with making my music that I haven’t done it yet, I’m not upset with myself. I am so grateful that I’m able to spend all of my time creating art every day more than I consume is my ultimate goal in life, and so I’m very proud of where I am. I’m easy to find on the internet if you want to learn more about me. And if you’d like me to audition for any type of role that you have, please feel free to contact me. I am always available to take on new clients and I’m extremely thankful for all of the exciting work that I do. Same with live music! If you’d like me to perform at your venue, please feel free to reach out as well.
What was your favorite childhood memory?
My favorite childhood memory is all of the time that I spent with my father. My sister and I didn’t get close until after we were adults because of all of the trauma that we had shared with one another. We absolutely had love there for one another, but we used to fight a lot more. I think truly one of the best memories of my life is when my mom left when I was 12 because I knew that she would be gone for a while and it was like the weight of 1000 elephants off of my chest because I knew I could finally just spend time with my father and lead to normal life. Unfortunately, she did return and fight for custody after that and that’s a whole other story, but just knowing that there was another side of my life where I wouldn’t have to deal with her at some point was enough to help keep me motivated to take care of myself and to keep push, pushing forward and to not let the unrelenting abuse ruined my life just because it ruined hers.
Pricing:
- $250 per finished audio hour for audiobooks
- $250 for a 30 second voice over commercial spot
- $250 for a single post on both my Instagram and TikTok
- Just ask! Whatever service you’re seeking, I am open to negotiation and work with clients with widely varying budgets daily. I’m flexible!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/terranraesmith
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/terrans
- TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@terranraesmith
Image Credits:
@bhp_portrait Brandon Hunley
