Today we’d like to introduce you to Elizabeth Woodstra.
Hi Elizabeth, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Oh man, where to begin!? I grew up in Cincinnati, OH. I attended college at Miami University, OH where I met and befriended my now husband, Dan. While in college is studied Theatre with a minor in Family studies – I’ve always felt both torn by my desire to want to perform and work in entertainment but be an asset to my community in helpful, caring ways. Often these go very much hand in hand and these are the common theme throughout my journey to today.
During my Junior Year of college, I studied abroad in Luxembourg and was about to travel to 17 different countries in 4 months. I was hooked.
Shortly before graduating, I had accepted a job to work for the Walt Disney Company and was a Character Performer at Walt Disney World in Orlando, FL. I pack my bags 3 days after graduating, drove down South and started my post-grad life at the Happiest Place on Earth.
It was completely a dream come true. The work hours were quite demanding though and left little time for the side of me wanting to continue to adventure.
I left the company after about a year and landed a job with an events company that owned a few music festivals and obstacle course races. I spent almost two years contracting and freelancing as an event producer/ coordinator working at festivals such as Firefly, Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, Country Jam, etc.
After this lifestyle of 2 days home, 5 days on the road or in some cases months in hotels for festival production, I wanted to put my roots down a bit.
I moved to Los Angeles California, the entertainment capital of the world. First things first, I needed a job. I found myself back auditioning for the mouse, and landed another Disney Parks performing job, this time at Disneyland. One of my greatest honors to date is getting to perform at both US Disney Parks.
While occasionally on the road for events, I also freelanced in production in Los Angeles. One summer, at the end of a two months road stint everywhere from Canada to Colorado, I signed up to try out to be a member of the LA Kings Ice Crew.
Did I mention I grew up a competitive figure skater? I was the very last number at the audition. I truly had no idea what I was getting into. It was a land of spray tans, hair extensions and beauty industry terms I did not yet know, and there I was coming from a summer of eating lunch in portapotties!
Somehow, I made the team. I was ecstatic, but had a lot to learn. I was excited to get to be a part of the community, as me! Not a character, not a behind the scenes producer, but I got to show up as myself as a representative to the sport I grew up with and love and get to explore so much of Los Angeles through the events and appearances with the Ice Crew.
Around this time I started my first blog, A Little Bit Elizabeth. It was short-lived. I was still freelancing production, now had a part time job on the Ice Crew and was working music festivals too.
I’ve always wanted to share my story and this insanely non-linear path I’ve been on. I think it’s important for people to know you can achieve your dreams or go for things others might not expect of you. No two people’s journeys look the same.
Over the next year, I went from freelancing to taking my first salaried 9-5 at a production company in Venice Beach. From there I went on to work as a Music Coordinator at The Creative Artists Agency. For a bit a juggled the LA Kings Ice Crew while working at CAA, but working in music, we went to a lot of shows, sometimes I’d attend three concerts a night depending on who was playing around town. Looking back, I was pushing myself to the bring of exhaustion for years.
Oh and somehow during all of that, I fit in my 200hr Yoga Teacher Training through Yogaworks!
At the end of my yoga training, I found out we were expecting a baby! Life changes a lot after having kids. I didn’t want to admit it, but I definitely needed to slow down.
Our daughter was only 5 months old when everything changed in March 2020. As new parents in a city far away from family and as the only parents in our friends group, postpartum and parenthood looked different than ever before.
To be honest, I fell into a huge state of depression. Mental Health and wellness have become a big passion of mine. After all those years of going and going then life coming to a complete stop, I had a lot of reflecting to do. I’m so thankful to all of my health care providers.
My before-mentioned husband and I weren’t married before the birth of our daughter and with the future of 2020 looking so unpredictable we decided to an elopement in Yosemite National Park. There’s another long crazy story for you having to do with one of the largest recorded forest fires, power-outages, and a broken wrist…
Anyhow, all of this to say that the pandemic and motherhood changed me. I found real connection through Social Media more so than I ever did before, both the good and the bad. I started receiving more direct messages than text messages and felt like that’s where my new people were. I love sharing stories and learning from the endless connections out there.
In April 2021 we moved here to Minnesota. Dan grew up here and his family is here. After all the ups and downs lately, we decided being close to family was important to us.
We launched our Blog Wild Woodstras to start documenting the changes. Moving from Los Angeles to Minnesota. Traveling with a 2-year-old. The challenges of making friends is an adult, making small efforts to a greener household which is especially difficult and with kids and how adventuring is still possible and important.
We’ve been lucky that the Minnesota Community is so welcoming. Haven’t even been here a year yet and we’ve been fortunate to get to explore many new place, most recently Faribault, MN and enjoy the entrepreneurial scene this state has to offer.
Los Angeles was such a competitive market all around, it’s been so refreshing to meet up with other bloggers for coffee and genuinely share ideas, support and educate each other. We have a big year ahead of us in 2022- we just bought our first house! Talk about putting roots down. We’re here to stay, to explore and share.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Certainly not a smooth road. The WildWoodstra’s is my second attempt at blogging. I started it as a brand new Instagram too so it’s been a lot of learning. The Social Media Scape seems to change constantly, so I’m thankful to all the helpful people we’ve been able to connect with.
Mental health has also been a huge hurdle for me. I grew up in a culture that didn’t address depression and anxiety healthily so it’s been a learning curve there. I think a lot of people can relate to the insurmountable changes of the last few years. On top of that, I became a new mom, left a job, made a career change because of pandemic circumstances and moved to a new state that I’d never lived in before.
It’s hard to balance the authenticity of the moments with not wanting to seem ungrateful. Everyone has challenges though, they just look different to everyone.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
The WildWoodstra’s is a blog/Instagram page that shares big adventures and the moments in between. We share motherhood, mental health/general wellness, traveling locally and beyond.
We share our love for the outdoors and hope to inspire others to observe and enjoy its beauty as well.
Additionally, although Dan grew up here in Minnesota, it’s all new to me, Elizabeth. Since growing up in Ohio, living in Florida and Los Angeles, it’s quite the change of pace & weather! So you’ll find a lot of moments of adapting and learning here as well.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
Until recently I don’t think a lot of people would have known about my struggles with depression. I still feel self conscious to talk about it simply due to the stigma I grew with around it. However the more I open up about it the more people share their own stories and it’s really inspiring.
Since it’s been a long and winding road most people probably don’t know how I got from performing at Walt Disney World, to working music festivals / CAA to the LA Kings Ice Crew, to being a mom who now owns a house in Minnesota. Sometimes I don’t even know how I got here!
We also really love to share brands, people and stories that really speak to us. There are so many incredible people out there that we’d love to collaborate with to make something really beautiful.
I am also a certified forklift driver, I’ve been to 49 States (Alaska is my last one!) and 17 countries.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: https://wildwoodstras.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thewildwoodstras/
Image Credits
Maree Miraglia Photography
