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Writer's pictureKT Gates

Embracing Passion Projects - Katie Chonacas


Join Actor, Producer, and Podcaster Katie Chonacas on this week's episode of The Quest for New Inspiration! She is full of positive energy that will leave you with the urge to travel and listen to some dubstep!


KYRIAKI aka Katie Elizabeth Chonacas is a Greek American artist working in the entertainment industry for two decades. On Katie's website, chonacas.com, you'll see some of the creative ventures she’s been a part of TV/FILM acting, voiceovers, music, podcasting, and articles that she has written on Arianna Huffington’s publications. Katie is a multi-disciplinary artist who utilizes her voice to inspire change and transformation in people who want to make an impact on the world. Here are some of her creative ventures. Couples Therapy Season 1 & 2 (Web Series) She's All Over the Place Podcast (Podcast) Trigger Flaws (TV Series) Red Egg (Short) #Selfie (Short)


Katie made her first on-screen network television appearance in 2005. Gracing the silver screens ever since Chonacas has globalized network television landing roles on top television series such as CBS’s CSI: NY, Cold Case, FX Network’s It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Law & Order SVU to name a few. Chonacas also excelled in film as she booked supporting roles in films with Al Pacino, Milla Jovovich, Robert De Niro, Jessica Simpson, Morgan Freeman, Antonio Banderas, and Nicolas Cage. Chonacas worked with 19 legendary A-list stars in one year. Here are some notable shows and videos she has produced. A working professional voice-over actor in the entertainment industry. Katie specializes in cartoon animation voices with her branded name Cartoon Katie. Chonacas brought to life characters such as Soup from Minecraft: Story Mode – Season 2, Georgia as Nancy Drew’s best friend, to name a few... She has been producing since the age of 14. One of the many films she produced, #SELFIE was the Official Selection of IDYLLWILD Film Festival 2015 and Official Selection of The 2014 La Femme International Film Festival.


Guest Links:

Website: https://www.chonacas.com/

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/chonacas

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/katiechonacas

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KyriakiChonacas

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chonacas/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/katiechonacas

Youtube: https://bit.ly/youtube-KatieChonacas


Katie's "A Lover's Fairytale" poetry book on Love

Website: https://www.aloversfairytale.com

Buy the book: http://bit.ly/amzn-ALFTbook

Buy merch here: http://bit.ly/ALFT-merch


References:

Joi Spencer's Episode: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/quest-for-new-inspiration-podcast/id1532658710?i=1000543862812

Abraham Hicks: https://www.abraham-hicks.com

Caroline Mice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KysuBl2m_w

Overdrive: https://www.overdrive.com


Transcript (Autogenerated):

Katie Chonacas: [00:00:00] Thanks so much for having me on I'm so excited to be here. I'm Katie. Chinachem. And I am an artist and a it's so fun being a part of this world and exploring all the things there are to offer while being creative. So, um, I've acted in movies, TV shows, video games, commercials, voiceover animation, um, DJ with the DJ music school producer of a web series, um, through the union, I'm a union actor.

SAG-AFTRA. Also I've directed some music videos and a web series and, um, yeah, I'm a full-time actor. I have my own podcast called she's all over the place podcasts. There's a three seasons up for a lot of added value, 68 episodes. So, yeah. And I just released an album called dreamland 1111 a passion project.

Yes. I am

KT Maschler: a huge fan of the podcast. So I'm super excited to get you on by a podcast of mine.

Katie Chonacas: [00:01:00] Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate you. Yeah, it's called she's all over the place and it's, um, arts and entertainment. Um, my experiences have over two decades, not right and wrong. Just, just to share strokes of my experience.

And if whatever took me, you know, 10 years, if it takes you 10 months or 10 days, I'm here to hack and help people obtain their goals. Um, you know, effectively with the ethics morals. I love

KT Maschler: that. Do you want to go into a bit more of like your dream 11, 11 projects?

Katie Chonacas: Yeah, dreamland 11, 11. It was released on 11, 11, my birthday.

And, um, I grew up in the Detroit electronic music underground scene with all the best DJs in the world before DJs were popular in Western civilization. And, uh, yeah, and I just grew up on EDM music. And so I love dubstep. I love which wasn't created back then. It was, it was jungle and drum and bass. So. I love those hard hitting beats.

And so for my birthday, I [00:02:00] released a passion project of, future trap and, um, uh, dubstep and it's streaming everywhere under my birth name, which is St K Y R I a K I I'm named after the Saint Saint karaoke. And, um, uh, it also means Sunday in Greek. So everyone should, Shreem it everywhere St. Katie Yankee or just type in dreamland 11.

Oh, that little

KT Maschler: accent is beautiful. Where does that, where does that come on?

Katie Chonacas: Thank you. Thank you. Um, well, I am pretty international over here. but I'm from Michigan and I grew up with Greek roots. That's why I'm named after my AOL, my best friend. She's 92, growing strong. She's amazing. My family, um, you know, some of my family still in the old country, Greece I was raised in Michigan, so I family there and I'm by coastal.

I live in LA, in New York. So a lot of people in LA, they think of. From New York. And then, you know, um, once, once in a while, my Michigan accent comes out.

KT Maschler: That's amazing. What kind of [00:03:00] started your kind of path down this like artistic lifestyle?

Katie Chonacas: You know, I've always been a very soulful being very sensitive.

I didn't have the evolution, language of empathy and path HSP, highly sensitive person, 16 to 20% of the population are HSPs. I didn't know that, but I observed. I, um, you know, felt a lot and I was aware and in tune of the intelligence of my body. So that shape shifted me through, um, a seeking and a knowing.

And, you know, um, the, you know, the greats, the, um, Socrates Plato, Aristotle being Greek, I was very connected to these, spirits and these beings. And so that started me on a soulful journey of language and poetry. Which led me into dancing and then into the arts.

KT Maschler: Yeah. I saw the, um, a lover's fairytale poetry book.

Do you want to explain a little bit more about that?

Katie Chonacas: Yeah, definitely. A [00:04:00] lover's fairytale it's available on Amazon. You can go to a lover's fairytale.com and put in your email or my website dot com. Put in your email. I have an automation set up where it sends you. Nine out of the 11 pieces of spoken word music videos that I actually produced and directed and start in over the last decade.

And I went around the world and I wanted to explore, um, the universe and the gift of why we're here as human beings. So, um, you know, before I could really gift myself to another human being, I really wanted to experience you know, and fill up my. And then, because once we fill up our cups, you know, then you and I, you know, we maybe have a family.

So before I could burst another individual, I wanted to fully explore while I was here. So I went around the world and I was celibate for seven years and I was just dedicated to the Lord and to the universe and to myself and I was in Nirvana and ecstasy in these places, in the [00:05:00] Dominican Republic. You know, in Monaco and, and France and Bermuda and just traveling and I would feel euphoria and I would just be writing about dolphins and waterfalls and, you know, whatever I was feeling.

And it was very magical. It was very, very high. It was very, um, like a mystical transformation of feeling like you're on, um, psilocybin or, you know, we naturally produce. You know, things, um, DMT in our, in our brain. So I felt like, you know, like so high, but I was sober, you know, and just like really in tune with the energetic forces of life.

And so it was such a gift to experience, love of nature and food and culture and people untainted unconditionally through. And I called it a lover's fairytale. So I was creating it and experiencing it myself. And then I was able to, you know, during the pandemic [00:06:00] sit down and take, you know, the body of work over the last decade and package it and brand it and curate it from within.

And it was so empowering to become a self published poet. And, um, I've always wanted to, since I was 12 and I wasn't traveling, so I thought, what could I do that, that I haven't, what have I, what have I always wanted to do that I haven't done before? BSL published poet. So I gave myself a hard stop and took, you know, out of thousands of pieces, 11 of my favorite pieces that really made an impact wanting to share that with all genders and families, like it's good for a 12 year old to read.

Um, you know, it's great for everyone to read and, you know, to get outside of their own everyday stuff and to hopefully be inspired and do so through passion, grace and love through the.

KT Maschler: I really, I loved it. It was amazing like your soulfulness and just like you're embracing culture was just came out literally and every page, it was amazing.[00:07:00]

Katie Chonacas: Thank you. And do you have children yet or? No, I do

KT Maschler: not, but I. For babies. So I like to claim them as my children, but yeah, no,

Katie Chonacas: I know what you mean, but also, but it's like, could you see yourself one day, like being a young mom, like reading that to your child? Right? Cause it would be very whimsical and in a way, but it's not Disney princess land fairytales.

It's actually, you know, a fairy tale of life and nature itself of like real places, uh, fantasies of where people could go to. Yeah,

KT Maschler: it would be a really good, like, I'm not, I wouldn't say like children's book, but like a colorful, you know, picture book. That would be really cool.

Katie Chonacas: Definitely. I remember when I was a kid, like hearing about like going on safaris and like imagining.

Africa, just looking at the plane and seeing giraffes, you know, like that was my vision. So what if people read the book and imagine Bermuda, or they imagine like, you know, somewhere else in the world, [00:08:00] like through, through language and poetry and to help people visualize. So that could be really.

KT Maschler: Yeah, that's kind of a perfect spin into my next little question.

So you mentioned you're like a child, but what would kind of like your younger self, think about what you're doing now and all these opportunities that you get to have by traveling, being involved in other people's cultures and just embracing all of that.

Katie Chonacas: I think she would be like, ha you showed them. Ah, she's just like on her back with her feet up right now, because the thing is, I'm kind of a rebel with a cause I, the reason why I've expanded and done so much is because people told me I can't.

People said focus on one thing. And I'm like, I'm, I I'm interested in all these areas. And I, I rather obtain and explore all these areas instead of getting older and having regrets. So I'm like, I'm going to show you. So I acted out, I acted out in a very rebellious way, you know, and now I've gone on to do these things and, um, [00:09:00] you know, that's a gift within itself, right?

KT Maschler: A multi-passionate. I love it. I just, a couple of weeks ago I had an episode of featuring a Joyce Spencer and she came on and just explained what a multi-passionate is and how like, you can truly have just like love for so many different areas and is alive and like, want to focus on so many different things instead of just one thing for your entire career.

And I really loved it.

Katie Chonacas: Yeah. Yeah. Careers like longterm, right. A job is job just over broke nine to five and we do it to fuel the fire for our passion pieces, right. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Do

KT Maschler: you have any like go-to mantras or kind of affirmations that you've gathered over all of your experience?

Katie Chonacas: 1000% ever since I was little since I'm Greek, you know, I'm a bit biased, but Nikki means Victoria's people to win.

Uh, so just do it and that's always been my [00:10:00] motto. So it's like that first intuitive hit boom, do it. Right. It's like, just start messy and go like, just show up and make it happen. Like you show up and everything else works itself out. Just, you need to show up. If you don't show up, it's never going to happen.

You're going to be in your mind. You're going to doubt yourself. You're not going to show up to the event. You're not going to make the call. Just do it. Will work itself out. Right? Right. That's a really good one. Also, Abraham Hicks is amazing. She's on YouTube for free Spotify streaming everywhere. She does guided meditation monitor.

Abraham Hicks is amazing. Caroline mice, mys S she's a mystic intuitive from Chicago. Uh, she has over 10 audio books on overdrive that you can download for free, just put in your library card and you can have up to 30 audio books per month for free. So I really love tapping into Caroline mice. She's a go-to person for me.

Um, she has a Ted talk on it's called choices and the quality of our choices. And she talks about choices, macro choices, and micro choices. And people think the macro, the people [00:11:00] think like the macro choices are, are the macro, but it's actually the micro choices that are really the macro.

KT Maschler: Yeah, that's super cool.

I love that way. I thought I'll have to check that out. What was that audio book program that you mentioned? I am a fiend for audio books.

Katie Chonacas: Overdrive. It's an app it's blue. It's called overdrive. You just download it and put in your library card and you can download up to 30 audio books per month for free.

It's beautiful. Yeah. Yes. The education,

KT Maschler: well, get on that immediately. And I will also put that as well as everyone else that you shout it out and the show notes. Do you have any last piece of advice or piece of inspiration? You'd like to see.

Katie Chonacas: Yeah, definitely. Um, I'm here to serve you and I honor you, the person, you know, tuning in and he, you Katelyn and, uh, I do coaching.

So wherever someone is on their journey, I make a guided plans one month, three months, six months, [00:12:00] and I'm here to shape, shift and help people get past their own emotions and live in their divine purpose. So reach out through my website, C H. A CAS dot com also tap into she's all over the place. Podcasts are 68 episodes up and we're launching the women empowerment series.

Explorers, divine femininity and all genders. And we're also, um, focusing on, uh, the blockchain NFTs you know, the revolutionary times that we're in as humans and artists. Um, so giving educational information, not financial advice, but educational advice for onboarding people into the space of NFTs and the block.

KT Maschler: Perfect. Well, definitely go check out all of that, but especially the podcast. I cannot say enough things about it. It is awesome. Um, so thank you so much for taking the time today.

Katie Chonacas: I appreciate you. Thank you so much for having me on and connecting. I'm so excited for you to get to the point. Hold space, educate people, grab nuggets, [00:13:00] and keep on trucking. It's you're a gift you're you're doing God's work.

And that is it for this week's episode. Thank you guys so much for tuning in every single place truly does mean the world to me. If you guys love the podcast, make sure you let me know by sharing the podcast, leaving review or a five star rating on apple podcast or your favorite podcast player.

And if you're interested to staying up to date with the quest for new inspiration. Making sure to follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

And make sure you get some of your own quest for new inspiration, swag.

See show notes for more details.


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