Rising Star Tracie Austin: “I would like to start a movement that inspires and teaches children all over the world from a very early age how to love, respect, and have compassion for every living thing on this planet!”

I would like to start a movement that inspires and teaches children all over the world from a very early age how to love, respect, and have compassion for every living thing on this planet! Our beautiful Mother Earth will always become inherited, and over time she’s heavily been neglected and mistreated as well as everything that lives upon her. Our world is becoming out of control, and I feel it is necessary for the change to start at kindergarten!

As a part of our interview series with the rising stars in pop culture, I had the pleasure of interviewing Tracie Austin.

Tracie Austin is an Award-winning TV host of an episodic Paranormal Talk Show called Let’s Talk Paranormal, Radio Host, Investigative Reporter and Published Author of three titles.

Having studied at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London to become a concert pianist, Tracie began her on-camera career in England in 1998 with a series of Educational and Governmental videos. She began her broadcasting career in the USA from 2002 onwards with her cable TV Talk show which has won three Telly Awards for its excellence!

Thank you so much for joining us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

Thank you for inviting me! Well, I had originally set out to become a professional musician, a concert pianist in fact and I truly thought that my life’s path was all set for me, as I’d always intended to become a professional musician right from the early age of 8 years old. But things took a different direction unexpectedly later on in my life. I moved to the United States in 2001 and liked the idea of becoming involved with television, so I made it my mission to find a way to produce and host a TV talk show based on a subject that I’m very passionate about which is the Paranormal and Supernatural. I was aware that there was no Paranormal programming as such at the time, or at least very little of it, and was interested to find out what the public believed in terms of this particular subject matter as well as hearing about other peoples experiences, as I had many strange occurrences happen throughout my own life. In 2002, Let’s Talk Paranormal the TV show was born and was broadcast in California for local television, and then co-produced in Arizona, New York and Iowa. The show became quite a success not only in the USA but gained many followers from around the world on the world wide web.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started this career?

Oh boy, there are many interesting stories that I could share with you that would take hours of conversation, but yes there is one particular story that I consider to be one of the most exciting. Some years ago, I was contacted by Universal Studios to interview Hollywood actor Michael Keaton on my TV show. This was in light of his new paranormal movie — WHITE NOISE which was just about to be released at the time. Both Michael and his producer Paul Brooks joined me as guests on the show for a lengthy paranormal discussion. The hour-long conversation proved to be very interesting indeed, as Michael explained to me that he wasn’t a believer of the paranormal subject as such, but that having been involved with the filming of the movie and having spoken to many witnesses for research purposes for the film, both he and his producer discovered some extraordinary evidence that they both found riveting, which kind of led them in the direction of questioning the subject matter positively. This had to do with life after death and especially the EVP phenomena — (Electronic Voice Phenomena) which as you know the movie was solely based upon. The Producer mentioned that he and his production team had gathered an overwhelming amount of evidence that supported the subject of life after death and that due to this, then began to question the fact that there had to be something to the whole subject after all. interestingly, during the interview, Michael also shared the story of growing up in a haunted house with his sister and that she was the one who was the most interested in the Paranormal subject.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

Let me see, I’m not sure that I have the funniest mistake to share with you as yet, but, when I first started out interviewing, I noticed that I heavily relied way to much on my notes in terms of interviewing my guest instead of just going with the flow of the conversation as such. Notes are useful and great to have as a back up of course and they serve a purpose, but when you solely rely on your notes it kind of interferes with the human conversation and the flow of it all. I found that I tended to have better conversations with my guests in the green room rather than on camera! So, I quickly learned the motto of — Let the notes go and let it all flow, kind of thing.

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?

Well, I just finished writing my third book on the subject of NDEs — Near-Death Experiences regarding people's personal accounts of experiencing them. This is a topic that I’ve always been interested in and has always intrigued me, and I truly hope readers will enjoy reading it!. It’s taken a little longer than I had anticipated, roughly a year and a half to be exact, but should be published this year, 2020. Also, back in February, I had the privilege of working with PBS television in Las Vegas, on-camera work for their annual charity Pledge Drive which was fantastic! I loved every minute of it, and they were such great people to work with! I also continue to broadcast my live radio show every Sunday night with KGRA Radio, 10 pm to Midnight EST.

Who are some of the most interesting people you have interacted with? What was that like? Do you have any stories?

Gosh, there’s been so many in the field of the paranormal subject to be honest with you, but if I had to narrow it down, I’d have to say that one of the most interesting people I’ve interacted with and interviewed to date would be a doctor friend of mine Dr. Roger Leir, who sadly passed away in 2014. He was a fabulous human being and such a superb guest on the show, and instead of talking in-depth of his medical profession, we had a fascinating discussion about his paranormal research which had become his life long passion for many, many years, especially concerning the UFO subject. He lectured and traveled all over the world talking about the subject to thousands of people as well as here in the United States! If your readers are interested to know more about Dr. Leir's research and this intriguing subject, you can find information in my book — Alien Encounters in the Western United States.

Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?

What a great question! Well, both TV and Radio are great industries to be involved in, and I love participating with them both, but I have to be honest, at times it can be hectic and they can be equally very challenging and mentally consuming as lots of preparation is involved in producing the best shows possible for viewership and listenership, whether it’s TV or Radio. So I think the best advice or tips that I can recommend as to not “burn out” is number one, make sure exercising is a regular part of your everyday life to re-charge your batteries as much as possible, and number 2 — get as much sleep as you possibly can. It’s hard to function and give your best if you don’t follow these two simple yet very important things and trust me the older you get the harder it seems to be. So, in considering these two things, I just wanted to add that it’s not only necessary to follow through with them, but is a necessity to have a clear and healthy mind to work with!

Can you share with our readers any self care routines, practices or treatments that you do to help your body, mind or heart to thrive? Kindly share a story or an example for each.

Well the self care routines that I feel are important are those that I’ve listed previously, exercise and sleep, these are two of the most important factors I feel. I love Yoga, which is another great tool that I go to for help with the mind and body and to bring balance into my life. Even something as simple as taking a walk can be greatly beneficial, and I have to tell you one of my guilty pleasures is having regular massages! I can’t tell you how much this helps to de-stress the body and the mind and balance me out. I think everyone should make a point of visiting a local spa as often as they can and make use of the amenities to help relax and rejuvenate their body, and to help their mind and heart thrive. Listening to music is also greatly important I feel, and something everyone ought to do regularly.

What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why. Please share a story or example for each.

Be Yourself.

Hosting a TV show is not like acting. This is one of the challenges for anyone that wants to break into the TV hosting industry. But that’s not to say that actors for example can’t become TV hosts, because they can and they do. The transition can be an easy one, and some make the jump more successfully than others. The key piece of advice that I was told and can share with your readers is to just be yourself! Let your charisma, personality and your charm guide you along, don’t over think it. It’s important to not over think it. Be comfortable in your own skin. Any viewer can spot a fake, so it’s important to be authentic, and it’s not all about you as a host, but more importantly about the viewer.

Improvisation Skills.

Sometimes things don’t always go the way they were planned do they? So it’s important to “think on your feet.” I’ve experienced a few scary moments during my interviews where either the guest wasn’t very conversational and I had to work twice as hard to get information out of them, or it was the complete opposite and the guest had so much to say that I couldn’t get a word in edge ways! So you pretty much have to “feel” your way around the guest and at the same time be as comfortable as you possibly can, because a great TV host always looks flawless and effortless. It’s important to make your audience and/or your on-camera guest feel extremely comfortable because your audience and your guest automatically feed off your energy!

Patience.

Ha! This is something that I naturally don’t have an overabundance of but have had to learn it over time. Patience has never been my middle name! But, whether it’s wanting success right away, or wanting to make a big impact right away, or just wanting to interview a certain top-notch guest who’s regarded as the “cream of the crop” in their field of expertise, it doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time. So while it’s great to have goals and aspirations and of course persistence is always the key, as the old saying goes — “Rome wasn’t built in a day!”

Build Relationships.

I naively thought at the beginning of my on-camera career that I could do it all by myself, but realistically in truth, you can’t. It’s super important to build relationships with as many professionals as you can. It’s important to network and connect yourself with the right people who can help launch you in the right direction and in whatever way they can. It’s also important to surround yourself with the right kind of people and to trust them, even though I know trust can be a difficult thing to do at times.

You Need To Be Consistently Good.

I wish someone would have told me when I first started that you have to understand your responsibility as a host and what you do. This was something that I specifically learned when I started the TV Talk Show here in the U.S. rather than the on-camera work that I did back in the U.K. You have to make sure that you’re always improving your skills to be consistently good and entertaining to your audience, especially your speaking skills. I’ve also learned that at times you have to be outspoken, and you certainly have to have patience (there’s that word again) to handle certain challenges and changes that naturally come your way; such as last-minute variations in program schedules, rehearsals, preparations, etc, situations that you can’t always control.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“What Ever You Can Do, Or Dream You Can, Begin it

Boldness Has Power, Genius & Magic In It”.

This is my favorite quote of all time by Goethe, and I’ve used it consistently throughout my life to help spur me on in difficult times no matter what goal I’ve wanted to achieve, whether as a musician, TV & Radio Host, Author or whatever. I’ve kept this very inspirational quote close to my heart at all times, and it’s got me through some challenging moments when I’ve felt that my self-esteem and confidence level has needed that certain boost to encourage me and tell me that “I can do it” and to reach for the stars!

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

Well yes, actually there’s a certain gentleman by the name of Jordan Maxwell whom I’m extremely grateful for meeting in California almost two decades ago! This gentleman gave me sound and encouraging advice and pushed me in the right direction in order to get my TV show off the ground in a local television studio. As we both share an interest in the same subject matter, naturally I invited Jordan to be a guest on the show! I’m forever grateful to this man who said to me “Yes, you can absolutely do it, and just go for it!”

You are a person of enormous influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

I would like to start a movement that inspires and teaches children all over the world from a very early age how to love, respect, and have compassion for every living thing on this planet! Our beautiful Mother Earth will always become inherited, and over time she’s heavily been neglected and mistreated as well as everything that lives upon her. Our world is becoming out of control, and I feel it is necessary for the change to start at kindergarten! Changing the world is a hard job, but it’s best to start early don’t you think? We need our children to be better equipped to make their world a better place by the time they reach adulthood. Teach children how to look after the Earth and all of its inhabitants. Teach children how to be kind, loving, respectful and compassionate. Teach children to be conscious and aware, and very importantly, teach children that everything matters!

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might see this. :-)

Oh yes of course! The only problem is that I admire so many people it’s hard to narrow it down to just one person. But having given it much thought, I would say that it would have to be DEEPAK CHOPRA. This man is such an inspiration as a Spiritual Teacher/Guru, not only for myself but for so many people around the world, and has changed the world of alternative medicine through his numerous books and videos. During his teachings, he once described enlightenment as, “getting rid of the person that never was.” I love that! Think about that for a moment. How profound is that! Deepak thankfully continues to make a huge spiritual impact in the world! Now, just in case Deepak isn’t available anytime soon for a private breakfast or lunch, may I call upon either Oprah, Chris Cuomo, or Psychic Medium Tyler Henry?

How can our readers follow you online?

I invite your readers to follow me on FB, Instagram, Twitter and at TracieAustin.net

Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational!

Thanks for the opportunity!