Destiny Martinez BFA in Stage Management 2021
destinymartinezartist@gmail.com
How many students can boast running their own business to earn their tuition and living expenses while still in school? Destiny did. Since she couldn’t qualify for financial aid, she used the photography business she started in the 8th grade to make at least $18,000 a year to pay for college.
Destiny explains how she was inspired so early, “My dad is an entrepreneur, so I’ve always been around the mindset. It helped me with theatre, because I’d do all the promo videos and photos of our high school shows, so it played directly played in to my theatre life.”
To add to the irony, after just graduating a year ago, Destiny was hired to return to that same school in New Kent, VA to teach the course that got her interested in photography. When Destiny was a student there, the drama teacher was VCU grad Victoria Kesling Councill (read her profile here). Needless to say, that’s how Destiny ended up majoring in stage management. “Tory encouraged me to do anything I wanted.”
Her interest in the field grew when she took an internship at Richmond’s Firehouse Theatre, “I fell in love with stage management and brought it back to my high school and made a point to teach it to others when I left.”
Destiny recalls, “On my third day at VCU, I got cast in a production for SALT (Shafer Alliance Laboratory Theatre). One thing VCU provided was the connections from doing so many shows; I pretty much met everyone immediately.”
During her sophomore summer, while working in DC for the Shakespeare Theatre Company, she got caught during rehearsal working on photos. “I realized that I preferred photography more than theater.”
One thing Destiny realized, “When you’re in school, you take community for granted, but when you graduate, you’re on your own.” As a result, she’s started an LLC and narrowed her business down to weddings. Her tip on success, “I’ve been in a position where I’ve had pictures taken, and I know how awkward it can be. I try to make my clients relax and we just hang out together and I happen to have a camera.”
By the time this profile is out, Destiny will be in her first year of teaching at New Kent High. In addition to the fact that she doesn’t have any formal education in teaching, she considers another angle, “Starting so young, it’s a challenge to get people to take me seriously. I’ll be the youngest teacher in the building.” Judging from her already successful experiences, Destiny will certainly succeed in teaching too.
Compiled by Liz Hopper (professor emeritus) and Jerry Williams (BFA ’71) for the September 2022 Theatre Alumni newsletter