Katrina Weidman: Practical Skill Diversification Is the Ultimate Survival Strategy for Creative Careers

As a part of our series about Inspirational Women In Hollywood, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Katrina Weidman.

Growing up in haunted houses, Katrina has always had a passion for paranormal. This passion became reality when Katrina joined the Paranormal Research Society at Penn State and began interviewing thousands of eyewitnesses about the unknown. Weidman went on to co-host A & E’s doc series, “Paranormal State”, ‘Real Fear: The Truth Behind The Movies”, “Paranormal Lockdown” with Nick Groff, and more recently seen with Jack Osborne on “Portals to Hell” (Discovery Channel), where Jack and Katrina teamed up to investigate the world’s most sinister and haunted locations.

Alongside Weidman’s paranormal career, she has sustained a successful music career, most recently as the lead singer songwriter of Alt Rock band Away From 30. Katrina recently released her debut solo project, launching with the sultry pop song “Suffer Me”, produced by Barb Morrison(Blondie, Rufus Wainwright, Franz Ferdinand). “Suffer Me” will release Friday, March 31st.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?

I grew up in a small town outside of Philadelphia. My parents did a lot of stage shows when I was little so there was always an appreciation for the arts, which sparked my love of music and theatre. The house was also haunted! That part of my childhood for sure sparked my interest in the unknown, which led me to become a paranormal investigator and hosting shows with Travel Channel, Discovery +, A&E, and TLC.

Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?

Since I was 3 or 4 I knew I wanted to be in music. It felt very natural to me. I was always involved in music somehow, my first degree is music focused, but I was working in TV full-time and it was inadvertently in the background. Fast forward, my friend and I are 100% nerdy for karaoke and we were hitting multiple karaoke bars a week (we were really into it), I sang two songs at the bar we were at, and when I finished my second song the DJ said, “Boy, you really missed your calling.” I was pissed, first at him (misdirected), then at myself because it was the realization that this thing I’ve done since I was a kid was just sitting there. I immediately co-founded a band.

Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

Professionally, I started in TV and the paranormal field so I’d say the most interesting stories in my career come from that era. Specifically, I was investigating a house in England. I started to feel this intense burning sensation in my lower abdomen. I lifted my TWO shirts and there were two fresh scratch marks, one had broken the skin to have bits of blood. When it happened, my hands were at my side, I had freshly filed nails, and again, I was wearing two shirts that were perfectly intact.

It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. 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?

I’m not sure I have a funny one, but I will say a lesson that comes up for me a lot is learning how to speak up for myself. Being a people pleaser can be disastrous and it rarely, if ever feels good.

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?

I have to give that to my parents. They paid for my violin lessons, got me my first keyboard and piano, and signed for my college loans. If it wasn’t for my parent’s actions and encouragement I don’t know that I would’ve been able to pursue any parts of my career.

You have been blessed with great success in a career path that can be challenging. Do you have any words of advice for others who may want to embark on this career path, but seem daunted by the prospect of failure?

Learn a trade or a service you can offer during slow times. I trained as a makeup artist and worked as one briefly, which was helpful during the slower times in my career. I’ve worked in marketing and I’m a trained volunteer crisis counselor. I’ve taken on a lot of odd jobs over the years, but if I could go back I’d add a few other skills under my belt to help with the periods that aren’t as fruitful. I’d look for things that can be flexible and skills that would help in the industry overall.

Every industry iterates and seeks improvement. What changes would you like to see in the industry going forward?

It would be great if ticket prices became more affordable.

You have such impressive work. What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? Where do you see yourself heading from here?

I’m currently working on an EP and have plans for an album. Outside of music I produce and host a paranormal show on my YouTube channel called Travel the Dead. We’re currently airing season 1, which consists of 6 haunted locations, and we’re gearing up for a second season. We’ve had requests from all over the world to investigate haunted locations and we’re looking forward to documenting the unknown!

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

Specifically drawing from my own experience working in TV my genre (unscripted paranormal) hasn’t been very diverse on camera. What’s interesting is the paranormal field is extremely diverse in race, gender, age, belief systems, careers, etc. so what’s happening in the field isn’t reflected in the media we consume.

When I’ve been at CONS as a speaker I’m always greeted by parents and their young daughters who are so excited to see a woman doing this. I’m usually met with messages of “She looks up to you because you don’t get scared” “She wants to be like you” and “You inspired her to go into the sciences”. I’ve even had parents tell me how much they appreciate seeing a strong woman on camera for their sons too.

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? Please share a story for each one if you can.

Always have someone review your contracts… I was pressured into signing my first one. BIG mistake.

It’s okay to say no and to speak up… I’ve been in some toxic work environments and didn’t always feel like I could say something, which never led to anything good. Speak up.

Build your trade and service skills… it really does help to have something you can do to make money during the downtime because there will be downtime between gigs and projects.

Success isn’t linear. I’m still learning this one, but it’s freakin true. I’ve had a ton of setbacks.

Keep your eyes on your paper, which has been my mantra for at least the last 10 years. I honestly don’t pay attention to what my colleagues are doing. With social media, it’s all too easy to compare yourself and for me, it just causes anxiety and throws me off course. I try to focus on my goals, my purpose, and moving forward on my path.

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

Meditation helps my anxiety greatly! I learned TM during the pandemic and am currently learning mindfulness. I LOVE going to yoga class. I’ve been doing yoga since I was a teen, but I really find going to a class with others to be soothing rather than doing it at home alone. I also like to do beauty days at my house where I’ll do facials, scrubs, hair masks, etc.

Is there a person in the world whom you would love to have lunch with, and why? Maybe we can tag them and see what happens!

The cast of The Golden Girls- because they are the OGs

Are you on social media? How can our readers follow you online?

Yes, FB, IG, Twitter, YT, TikTok, all @katrinaweidman

This was so informative, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!