Category: Work & Jobs

How many jobs do you think you have had in your life so far? I have had a total of 33 jobs in 17 years. I am a professional singer and actor. Did I plan on having 33 jobs in 17 years? Of course not, but life has been a crazy wild ride. There were no drugs, very little alcohol, but WORK has been my drug of choice!

I have worked at least 3 jobs or more simultaneously in addition to performing over the years. Each week, I will discuss one of my former or current jobs. My fourteenth job was music teacher at Florida Kansas Elementary and Hickory Ridge Elementary. Yes I taught at both schools simultaneously.

Summer 2014

In the summer of 2014, I was off from work with St. Georges Independent for the summer. I taught vocal lessons through my business, Beautiful Melodies and continued to work at Cracker Barrel in the mornings. Also, I had rehearsals as well as two performances in Once on this Island at Hattiloo Theatre. I was working, but the work was still not providing enough financially. I decided to apply to be a full-time teacher at Shelby County Schools in Memphis, Tennessee.

SCS Interview Process

The process to get in the Shelby County Schools Teaching Pool was long. In order to become a teacher anywhere, you usually have about three to four interviews to get a position. After I did a mock lesson over the phone, I was put in the SCS Teaching Pool, which meant that I could apply for public schools as a music teacher. I interviewed at a few schools, but finally got an offer to work at Florida-Kansas Elementary in Memphis.

Florida-Kansas Troubles

Soon, I learned that Florida-Kansas had signficant problems the previous school year. The former principal resigned after the discovery of audio recordings where she called students the n-word and told teachers to rig the state exams. For more information on this story:

https://www.actionnews5.com/story/25478958/community-former-teachers-leaders-speak-out-over-principals-resignation/

The new princpal who hired me had only been at the school for about a week at the time of my interview. He was a nice person, but a bit disorganized. The school population had signficantly decreased over the years and the school closed after the 2014-2015 school year.

Experience

On the student’s first day of school, I was appalled at how the adults were speaking to the students. During lunch, the guidance counselor berated students about their test scores from the previous year and told them they would be doing work during lunch from now on. This infuriated me and I spoke to the principal about her behavior. He told me that this was not acceptable and he would talk with her.

Futhermore, since Florida-Kansas had such low student enrollment, I was also assigned to work at Hickory Ridge Elementary two days a week. If Hickory Ridge Elementary had been my main assigned school, I probably would have finished out the school year with that school. Hickory Ridge Elementary was a much calmer, positive, and more organized environment with more support. I even met my former elementary school P.E. teacher at that school, which was a nice surprise. At Florida-Kansas, I was beginning to breakdown mentally because the environment was too stressful.

Resignation

Two weeks into my time at this school, I was contacted by the head of school at Lampligher Montessori with an offer to teach there. I jumped on this opportunity and resigned from Florida-Kansas Elementary. In order to leave SCS in good standing, you have to give 30-day notice. I did give 30 day notice, but could barely make it through the last 30 days. After 30 days, I began working as a music teacher part-time at Lamplighter Montessori School in Cordova, Tennessee.

Lessons Learned

Florida-Kansas was my first salaried job and I was so excited to get the job. However, it was not a good work environment for anyone. More money does not always equal happiness at work. But, part of me wishes that I had stayed a bit longer to pay off my student loans. Once the school year ended, I would have been moved to another school since Florida-Kansas ended up closing at the end of the 2014-2015. Hindsight is 20/20 and this is a common theme in my 33 Jobs in 17 Years journey.

https://www.bydominiqueduarte.com/how-to-obtain-33-jobs-in-17-years-13

I have had a total of 33 jobs in 17 years. This does not include all of the musicals, operas, television and film projects either. I am a professional singer and actor. Did I plan on having 33 jobs in 17 years? Of course not, but life has been a crazy wild ride. There were no drugs, very little alcohol, but WORK has been my drug of choice! I have worked at least 3 jobs or more simultaneously in addition to performing over the years. Each week I will discuss one of my former or current jobs. My tenth job was working for multiple multi-level marketing companies.

Independent Insurance Company

After I quit AFLAC, I began working at an independent insurance company. At this company, you sold insurance to elderly individuals, but agents had to go to the homes of the clients in the evenings. I did not feel comfortable going to stranger’s homes at night, so I quit immediately. 2013 was a rough year financially so I began my network marketing journey.

Mary Kay

I bought products to sell Mary Kay and it was shipped to my house after I was recruited to join. But after receiving the box of products, I decided to send the box of products back for a partial refund. I do not wear much make-up. In order to sell Mary Kay or any type of make-up, you need to be a walking billboard of the products. Since I was struggling to find full-time work in Memphis, I thought that multi-level marketing would help solve the financial issues, but selling Mary Kay was not the solution.

Multi-Level Marketing

Multi-Level Marketing or network marketing can be a great way to make money, but it usually takes money to make real money. I tried to sell coffee products with Organo Gold in 2014 and Total Life Changes or Iaso Tea in 2015. I sold some of the products, but did not have enough of a network to be successful with multi-level marketing. Many people still think MLMs are scams. Most MLMs are not scams or pyramid schemes.

In order to be successful with an MLM, you have to sell products and recruit people. In a pyramid scheme, you only recruit people and there are no products to sell. As someone who struggled to make ends meet during my time in Memphis, network marketing seemed like a great idea for me.

If you are struggling financially, it is less likely that you will be successful with multi-level marketing because it costs money to make real money with these MLM companies. Network marketing is a great side hustle with your regular full-time job. If you want to join an MLM, try it and see if you like it as a side hustle. Here are some links below to some of my former MLM ventures.

Hope this helps,

Dominique Duarte

https://www.marykay.com/en-us/

https://www.organogold.com/en/

https://shop.totallifechanges.com/home?lang=en&sponsor=manounou

https://www.bydominiqueduarte.com/how-to-obtain-33-jobs-in-17-years-9/

I have had a total of 33 jobs in 17 years. This does not include all of the musicals, operas, television and film projects either. I am a professional singer and actor. Did I plan on having 33 jobs in 17 years? Of course not, but life has been a crazy wild ride. There were no drugs, very little alcohol, but WORK has been my drug of choice! I have worked at least 3 jobs or more simultaneously in addition to performing over the years. Each week I will discuss one of my former or current jobs. My ninth and current job is a professional singer and actor.

Memphis Performances

As soon as I graduated college, I auditioned for a musical in Memphis in February 2013. I received a callback, but was not originally cast in the show. In April 2013, I was asked to audition again for the role of Nettie in The Color Purple at Playhouse on the Square. After the second audition, I was cast in the show and this was my first professional musical theatre job.

For the 2014-2015 season, I sang in the chorus with Opera Memphis for Don Giovanni, Dido & Aeneas, and Les Mamelles de Tiresias. Also, I participated in the photo shoot for the season promos shown in the picture above. Lastly, I performed at Hattiloo Theatre in Once on this Island and If Scrooge was a Brother.

https://cornerstonechorale.org/members/dominique-duarte/

Regional Performances

In 2015, I was cast as Little Inez and a Dynamite in Hairspray at Murry’s Dinner Playhouse in Little Rock, Arkansas. Then in 2018, I was cast in the ensemble of Ragtime the Muscial at Midtown Arts Center in Fort Collins, Colorado. In 2023, I performed in a workshop musical presentation of Love is Afoot in Reading Pennsylvania.

In NYC, I have performed in a play in Brooklyn, participated in a couple of new musical readings in Manhattan, and performed at school assemblies in the Bronx with WinceyCo. I have auditioned in Manhattan for Broadway shows, cruise ship contracts, national tours, regional theatres, and NYC plays and musicals. I have submitted for hundreds of projects on Backstage.com over the last couple of years and received over a hundred callbacks.

Most recently, I went on tour with Bruce Vantine’s Cornerstone Chorale & Brass in late 2023. I sang soprano in the choir and we toured 20 cities in 25 days. It was a wonderful experience that I would love to do again. Whenever a contract ends, I usually cry so much because I do not know when I will get to perform again. My college voice teacher told me that performers audition more than they actually perform and she was absolutely correct!

2024

In January of this year, I was cast as a last minute replacement for a children’s theatre company black history tour. Once I arrived in North Carolina and received the three 45-minute scripts, I realized that I was in over my head. When the theatre directors asked me and my partner if we wanted out of the contract with no penalty, I ended the contract. I referred a friend to the company for the job. The contract was meant for her, but, it was devastating to quit a contract and return home. I have never quit a performance contract in my life.

At this point in my life, my goal is to pay off my debt by the time that I am 40 years old. Since singers and actors are always unemployed in-between contracts, I am taking a break from singing and acting full-time for awhile. I will audition for local NYC projects and performances, but only part-time until my debt is paid if full.

Presently, I am singing with the Fire Ensemble in NYC created by Troy Anthony. I performed with Troy Anthony in 2021 at the Shed for The Revival: It is Our Duty. The Fire Ensemble is performing on June 13 at 7PM at New York Live Arts and will be recording an album in June. This will be a way to continue performing, but have some stability in my life too.

https://www.bydominiqueduarte.com/how-to-obtain-33-jobs-in-17-years-8/

I have had a total of 33 jobs in 17 years. This does not include all of the musicals, operas, television and film projects either. I am a professional singer and actor. Did I plan on having 33 jobs in 17 years? Of course not, but life has been a crazy wild ride. There were no drugs, very little alcohol, but WORK has been my drug of choice! I have worked at least 3 jobs or more simultaneously in addition to performing over the years. Each week I will discuss one of my former or current jobs. My 8th job was an insurance sales agent at AFLAC. Yes, the insurance company with the duck!

Post College Job

I moved to NYC on January 2nd, 2013 right after my college graduation in December. This move was supposed to be permanent, but I moved back to Memphis three weeks later. As soon as I returned to Memphis, I began applying for full-time jobs. The only full-time jobs that contacted me for an interview were insurance companies. So, I went to an interview at AFLAC. The manager told me that AFLAC would pay for my certification tests if I took the full-time position. I passed both health and life insurance exams at the end of February and began working at AFLAC in March.

AFLAC

AFLAC was my first full-time job, but I did not make any money during the four months that I worked there. An insurance agent is usually a commission-only position. This means that you only get paid if you make sales. AFLAC is supplemental health insurance, which made it a bit difficult to sell. The life insurance plan could be sold to an individual, but the supplemental health insurance plan had to be sold to businesses for their employees. Memphis is a smaller city compared to most big cities and there are only so many businesses there.

No Income

During my time at AFLAC, I booked a musical at Playhouse on the Square. I would work at AFLAC during the day and go to rehearsals in the evenings. I never made anything at AFLAC, except for $200 that I did not earn. One of the AFLAC sales agents sold a health plan to Kingdom Ministries. Our manager thought some of the sales agents would quit because we were not making sales. So, he decided to split the commission on that sales agent’s Kingdom Ministries account. I did not earn that money, it belonged to that sales agent that sold the account.

Quitting

I quit working at AFLAC in July of 2013. I drove all around town wasting my gas for four months, trying to make sales to no avail. But, I met some cool people at AFLAC, a couple of whom, I still keep in contact with today. If you are thinking of selling insurance, get a part-time job to supplement your income until you begin making sales. Selling insurance can be lucrative, but it takes time to begin making commissions. It is best to work for a company that gives you a base pay at least until you begin making sales.

https://www.bydominiqueduarte.com/how-to-obtain-33-jobs-in-17-years-7/

https://careers.aflac.com/

I have had a total of 33 jobs in 17 years. This does not include all of the musicals, operas, television and film projects either. I am a professional singer and actor. Did I plan on having 33 jobs in 17 years? Of course not, but life has been a crazy wild ride. There were no drugs, very little alcohol, but WORK has been my drug of choice! I have worked at least 3 jobs or more simultaneously in addition to performing over the years. Each week I will discuss one of my former or current jobs. My 7th job was Features Staff Writer for the Murray State News.

Double Major

I studied music and journalism at Murray State. In high school, I was involved in television production, choir and theatre. In 2008, I won two Student Emmy awards for my ENG reports and won reporter of the year in my Production class. Four of my reports aired on the local news in Memphis, Tennessee.

Journalism was supposed to be the backup plan if music performance did not pan out for me. However, I realized that if I truly wanted to be television journalist, I would not be able to be a performer. Both careers are not very lucrative and do not mesh well together. Some journalists make millions of dollars, but most journalists make about the equivalent of a teacher’s salary.

Features Writer

During my final semester of college, I was hired as a staff writer for the Murray State News. Since I wanted to be a television journalist, I never considered writing for the school newspaper. The Features editor would give me weekly assignments to write for the paper. I never chose any of my writing assignments. Recently, I found several of my articles online, but had no memory of writing some of the articles.

Last Article Before Graduation

I wrote about 12 articles for the school newspaper. My final writing assignment was to cover The Suspensions, an a cappella male singing group on campus. This article was significant for me. My friends Daniel Milam and Micheal Martin sang in the group. I interviewed both of them at the same time and recorded the interview.

We laughed and had so much fun. I kept the conversation on the recorder for a few years after the interview. Daniel passed away a few months later in a car accident. It was a devastating loss for the Murray State community. This article was the last article about Daniel before he passed away. I cherish my memories with Daniel especially this article and that interview.

https://thenews.org/2012/12/06/students-form-male-female-a-capella-music-groups/

Conclusion

Writing for the school newspaper was quite the experience. I actually do not remember writing most of the articles because it was so long ago. I was shocked to find some of the articles online. It is a bit surreal that I wrote articles that I have no memory of writing. However, this job gave me an opportunity to use the writing skills that I had learned in my journalism classes during my time at Murray State.

https://murraystatenews.org/10973/features/department-edits-mozart-for-children/

https://www.bydominiqueduarte.com/how-to-obtain-33-jobs-in-17-years/

How many jobs have you held in your life? I have had a total of 33 jobs in 17 years. This does not include all of the musicals, operas, television and film projects either. I am a professional singer and actor. Did I plan on having 33 jobs in 17 years? Of course not, but life has been a crazy wild ride.

There were no drugs, very little alcohol, but my drug of choice has been WORK! Most of my adult life I have worked at least 3 jobs or more simultaneously in addition to performing. Each week I will discuss one of my former or current jobs. Job number 6 was Assistant Office Manger at Camp Thunderbird in Bemidji, Minnesota in the summer of 2012.

Summer of 2012

I would come home to Memphis from college every summer and could never get a summer job. In 2012, I got creative. I decided to apply for several summer camps in different states. Within a few days, I heard back from a camp in Minnesota and interviewed for a position. I signed the contract and left Memphis about a week or so later. Yay for creativity!

Camp Thunderbird

I flew to Minneapolis and took a bus with other camp staff members to Bemidji, Minnesota. It was a beautiful city and camp site. There were two camps, one for boys and one for girls. I worked as an assistant office manager at the boys camp. The first week all of the staff members cleaned up the camp site. This included painting, sorting and organizing materials, and thoroughly cleaning the cabins for the incoming campers. During the second week, we had training for all of the staff members at both camp sites. The third week, the campers came!

Summer Camp

The campers came from everywhere around the United States. All of the staff members came from different states as well as different countries. The camp lasted eight weeks for the campers. Some campers only did one of the four week sessions, but most did the entire eight week session. All meals, breakfast, lunch, and dinner were provided. Every staff member went by a nickname. My nickname was “Aria”. No one ever called me Dominique the entire summer.

There was even a snack after the campers went to bed for the adult staff members. We ate together every meal with the campers in the dining hall. The cook was amazing! This job was completely out of my comfort zone, but it was a wonderful experience. I am not an outdoor person, but I think this experience did give me a better appreciation for nature and its beauty. I did not quit this job, but the contract ended after the summer.

https://www.camptbird.com/

https://www.bydominiqueduarte.com/how-to-obtain-33-jobs-in-17-years-5/

How many jobs have you held in your life? I have had a total of 33 jobs in 17 years. This does not include all of the musicals, operas, television and film projects either. I am a professional singer and actor. Did I plan on having 33 jobs in 17 years? Of course not, but life has been a crazy wild ride.

There were no drugs, very little alcohol, but my drug of choice has been WORK! Most of my adult life I have worked at least 3 jobs or more simultaneously in addition to performing. Each week I will discuss one of my former or current jobs. I will reflect on my experience at each job. Job number 5 was Campus Pizza at Murray State.

Campus Pizza

Campus Pizza was a pizza delivery service at Murray State. I worked at Campus Pizza during my senior year of college from fall 2011 until October 2012. This job was a solid job for a college student. It was not as physically challenging as working at Winslow Dining Hall. You would prep cook the pizzas when you arrived to the shift. Then, we would wait for students to call in orders for pizzas, make and cook the pizzas, and delivery the pizzas to the students’ dorms.

Schedule

I worked Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from around 4pm or 5pm until midnight. During the 2011-2012 school year, I did not do any musicals or operas. I just did the Alpha’s Miss Black & Gold Pageant in the fall of 2011. This freed me up to work most weekends at Campus Pizza and get a consistent paycheck. Furthermore, my grades were much better my senior year when I had a job than when I did not have a job during my junior year.

Student Managers

Murray State Dining Services had student managers. The student managers were in charge of the older staff members who had been at the University for years, which was a bit weird. Most student managers were pretty good, but they were college students. It was too much responsibility for a college student. Management is hard for adults in general let alone, 19 to 22 year olds. A student manager is a great idea and concept, but it was poorly executed at times.

Shift Coverage Issues

We did not have the student managers’ cell phone numbers. No one ever answered the dining services phone, especially on the weekends. There was one student manager, who was a former roommate of a close friend. She was amazing at the job and I loved working with her. She knew that I was a music major and had performances sometimes that may conflict with my work schedule.

In the past, if I had a performance, I would place my name on the shift coverage sheet for someone to take my shift ahead of time. I tried to get someone to cover my shift. If no one signed up, I would let this student manager know ahead of the shift, so it was never a “no call, no show”. However, this student manager graduated in the spring of 2012. Unfortunately, I had one more semester of college in the fall to complete my double major in Journalism.

New Manager

One of my former co-workers was promoted to student managers in the fall. I had worked with her the previous school year. This student had taken some of my shifts a few times when I had performances in the past. I was cast in Big River and Little Shop of Horrors at Playhouse in the Park and had performances on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays during the fall of 2012. So, just like in the past, I tried to get someone to cover my shift, but no one signed up for this shift.

Firing

On the day of the shift, I left a message on the Winslow Dining Services phone to no avail because no one received the message. After my performance, I got an email from the new student manager and former co-worker saying that I was fired because I did not show up for work. The job was about to end in a little over a month permanently since I was graduating in December 2012. But it hurt a bit to be fired by someone who I had worked with and who knew that I was a good employee.

Reflection

I worked hard at that job for over a year and was dropped like a hot potato. If there had been an adult with life experience in this situation, it would have been handled much differently. If I had just been able to contact the student manager, everything would have been fine. I sent an email to the student manager explaining that I did call, but I never received a response from her.

You should always contact your employers if you cannot come in to work and speak to them directly. However, this has never been an issue at any of my jobs before. There was no way to contact my student managers since I did not have their cell phone numbers or email addresses at the time. I graduated college a little over a month after the firing. Lastly, I was still working at the Murray State News during that semester, so comme ci, comme sa. Next post will discuss my time at the Murray State News.

Have you ever been fired? Comment below!

https://www.bydominiqueduarte.com/how-to-obtain-33-jobs-in-17-years/

https://www.murraystate.edu/campus/Dining/index.aspx