2-3 Careers & Loving It.

As we're putting in the next show at the Hayes, one of my crew members Justin brings up what he's created on Craft — an app we use to keep our team organized — for his family. We're both systems nerds, just in two different ways. Him for his family, myself for work and helping crush these crazy lives we live. At one point on lunch break Justin mentions how his wife, a neurologist, is having trouble keeping her medical legal practice organized since the cases go on for years and years. Fast forward and I've now swapped her Apple Notes and Dropbox system to one on Notion that time tracks, keeps dates in line, and prioritizes next steps clearly — while simultaneously opening my second show on Broadway in this role at the Hayes.

I've bonded with so many stagehands, creatives, solopreneurs and now a neurologist about how full our lives and brains can be. I've been looked at as if I'm crazy for running a business while also being the house head and production electrician of a Broadway venue. I've even started questioning my own sanity for juggling so many roles and passions while functioning with chronic migraine, endometriosis and more. But honestly, it's who I am — and juggling this many roles keeps me growing.

Hi! I'm Savannah. A house head and production electrician, a lighting designer, a small online business owner, and a 32 year old learning to accept life with a chronic illness after five years of fighting it.

I've never taken to just one title. I've always thrived under several passions and roles. A typical 9-5 with one strong hobby at home? That's just not me. A routine? I'm bored within a week. Throughout every phase of education and every career turning point I've been told I can't do it all, that I needed to pick a path or a niche — but I haven't. I've stuck to my gut and my passions, combined my skills and allowed them to build me up in each path. That's how we've gotten here.

In college and after, I wanted to pursue both lighting design and production electrics, even though this industry typically pushes you to pick one. Electrics has become the focus, but I've never stopped flexing the design muscle — and it's made me a better electrician for it. Being able to see through a designer's eye means I can anticipate problems before we run into them. Holding both sides of this career is honestly one of the key reasons I've gotten this far, especially as a young woman in a field that wasn't exactly built for me.

During the pandemic the theatrical career slowed down enough for me to see how I could expand a third deep passion in my life: systems and strategy. I learned about online businesses, dove way too deep into certain project management tools, and worked with many creative minds to create consistency within their services and art.

Now I can't imagine a world without all three parts of my brain being activated:

• The design side activates my creativity — needed in the problem solving both as an electrician and a systems specialist.

• The electrics side activates logistics, leadership and collaboration — benefiting my designs by keeping me grounded as a practical collaborator, and benefiting my systems work through having to lead large projects with so many different personalities, which is honestly my best research into how people are truly productive in their own ways.

• The systems side has bled heavily into my theatrical career by making me that much more productive, organized and clear — most recently by systematizing an entire production electrics team's processes so we all work from the same base.

Unfortunately this busy, purposeful life has been tested a lot in the last couple of years. My health has had a few unexpected but intense flareups and we're still without a full understanding of what and why. Headaches and migraines have always been a part of my life, but movement, birth control, a gluten free diet and lots of water kept them manageable for a long time. Then in 2021 quarterly migraines became a couple of times a month, then once a week, to now — in 2026 — about four times a week. Add to that a few ovarian cysts, a surgery to remove one, and finding endometriosis, and I'm still learning how all of it has been affecting my life. Holding all the frying pans with my career and relationships was mostly doable and had good boundaries — until we added the chronic health dish. I'm not here to tell you I do it all, because I can't.

I'm heavily supported in many ways.

Number one being my husband William, who handles most home tasks. But I've also had to learn to balance my energy. For me that has meant learning when to take certain frying pans off the burner and onto the side table. This business runs in seasons. My designs have been primarily focused to summers at the Okoboji Summer Theatre. Production has numerous backups and shared documentation so that if I can't show up, someone else can. The practicality of all of this is straightforward — it's ultimately just a bunch of systems. The emotional burden of it? Heavy, and one I'm still working through.

Luckily this systems brain of mine has really saved the day. Each role I hold is heavily documented and organized. This allows me to delegate, hit pause, and not hold more in my brain than I need to. Some systems are designed to be collaborated on, like with my assistants. I can trust that even on a bad day or a brutally busy one, nothing will fall through the cracks because I follow the same steps to keep me afloat. I can breathe and take in more because I'm not relying solely on my memory to hold everything together.

A peep into the craft system I use with my assistants during a show at the Hayes.

A peep into the craft system I use for the Hayes overall.

I know I'm not the only one out there with three main dishes and a hundred separate sides. But this is me — my story, my path, full of trials and errors. Savannahbell.life and Free Yet Focused are here to share what I've learned, build community, and lift up all the other multi-passionate freelancers out there.

Because we may not be following the path the world tries to push us into — and that's a good thing.

If any of this resonates — whether you're a neurologist swimming in unorganized research or a photographer who can't remember which couple requested that champagne shot — I'm here for you, always. Schedule a free tea chat to get started, link below.

Here for you,

Savannah