Brittney Crayton

I attribute my success to my mama, to my parents. My mom was my heart, my best friend. She taught me to never let nothing stop you. I remember when she had a heart attack right before her graduation. She was about to walk across the stage, and her graduation was the next day. She told the doctor, 'you gotta let me walk across the stage.' The doctor was concerned, but she insisted. They put a heart monitor on her, and she walked with a cane. My mama was a big woman. She walked across, they pushed her up to the top of the graduation, she was able to do a little cap, and then we had to bring her back to the hospital. I asked her, 'Mom, you went through all this, you had a heart attack. Why were you adamant you had to graduate?' She said, 'because I had to teach you. You never let nothing stop you. It might sideswipe you a little bit, you might dip. Get up and keep going, because you have a goal to finish.' When she died, one of my graduation pictures, I was holding her graduation picture. I graduated in the middle of COVID, so I had to have a virtual graduation. They asked me to do a paragraph of who I am, and I said that story, and I said, 'so to the world, I did it for Riva.' I did it for my mom. I tell everybody, if I grow up to be a third of the woman she is, I feel like I've done my job.

The best career advice I ever received was that bad things are gonna happen, but they have no bearing on who you are as a person. So deal with it, assess it, deal with it, and grow from it.

There are hundreds of stories out there, but nobody has yours. They can relate. Just like snowflakes, snowflakes look similar, but no two snowflakes are the same. You have a story that God has given on the inside of you. Be it whatever, be it, you know, whatever it is. It doesn't have to be acting, it can be, you know, you can draw a connection being a hairdresser. You can draw a connection being an accountant. You have something on the inside of you the world needs to know. If you're in a room with 10 people and you tell your testimony, at least 2 of them can relate to you. Life is not always gonna be fair. Life is not always gonna be fun. It's not always gonna be beautiful. But there are beautiful moments. And you're stronger than you realize. And you're more blessed than you know, and you're more loved than you can ever imagine. Use all of that and carpe diem.

The biggest challenges in my field are that unfortunately, in New Orleans, there's not a lot of opportunities for actors. They're cutting programs left and right. Theater teachers, performing arts teachers are losing their jobs left and right. So, the biggest challenge is funding. It's appreciation of a craft. The avenue is closing. People have the desire, but I gotta eat, you know, I gotta feed my family. Theater has saved so many lives. Me being one, I was bullied as a child. I was bullied mercilessly as a child, all throughout high school, but I found my safe place in theater, because I have eczema really badly, and when I stepped on stage, you didn't see my eczema. You didn't see a little skinny black Pentecostal girl. You saw whatever character I wanted you to see, and that saved me. And I wish people realized how transformative theater can be, especially for women. You're policing our bodies, you're policing our, like, all of these professions that are women, female-dominated are now being, oh, they're not important, they're not professional. That's not real. It's like you're controlling women, and we need to be celebrated more.

I'm a deeply religious person, and I believe in what the Bible says. The Lord says, 'for I know the plans that I have for you, not to hurt you' and to a prosperous end. I also believe, I think it's Romans 8:28 where it says that all good things, all things work together for the good of them that love the Lord and are called according to His promise. It doesn't say all good things, it doesn't say all bad things, it says all things. So, what I try to teach my students, and I call them my children, you're gonna go through life, you're gonna go through things in life, some are good, some are bad, but they're all working together to build your character. You have to tap into a power that's higher than yourself. You have to remember that trouble doesn't last always, and you're gonna be on the outside. I have a lot of students who have battled suicide, and they've battled a lot of mental illness, and I tell them, listen, you're gonna get through this. This is a temporary situation. I tell them, think about the worst day of your life. For me, that was the day I lost my mom, in 2016. I had a nervous breakdown. I didn't think I was ever gonna come out of it. January 12th, 2026 made 10 years my mom was dead. And I tried to commit suicide multiple times, because my mom had taught me how to be a lot of things, a great cook, a wonderful wife, an amazing woman, a strong businesswoman, but she didn't teach me how to live without her. And I did not want to be in a world that didn't have my mom in it, because she was my best friend. When I tell my students to think back on that moment, the worst day of their life, and then think about who they are today, what would you tell that person? It forces my students to be very introspective in their thinking. My life lesson is: feel it, heal, and grow.