Inspiring Conversations with Terri Dollar of KU Talent Agency

Today we’d like to introduce you to Terri Dollar.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started? 
I have been involved in the performing arts world in one way or another for as long as I can remember.

When I was a child, I performed at church and in school or anyplace my mother or I could find for me to perform.

I loved the rush I got from being on stage and how special that made me feel.  Yes, I had the “bug” early on.

I did not have a ton of opportunities in the super small town we lived in, but I was focused and determined to make my life someway —somehow in the entertainment world.  I had no clue as to how this would happen  and few resources to do that but I did everything I could.

In college, I double majored in Theatre and English because I still did not know what my life would look like, but I thought I could always find work along the way as an English teacher.  Being independent was always the goal and failure was not an option. I had been an avid reader as a child and I had great big dreams of doing something big with my life.

I became a high school drama teacher at Broughton High School and fell in love with the process of directing young people and the rush that came from making plays come to life directing other people.  I found that I actually liked this process more than being on stage myself—well, at least sometimes!

Life happened, and my mother passed away suddenly, and everything I ever thought I wanted changed for me. The fast train I was on came to a standstill, and I had to reassess what I wanted to do with my life.

I had been dating my soulmate and we decided to get married right away. We are celebrating 45 years of marriage this year.

I also did some huge soul searching at this time and was not proud of how self-centered I had been for much of my life.  The big things that I had wanted to do with my life no longer held much shine for me. I knew I wanted to be a better human and think about other people instead of focussing on myself solely.

I went to graduate school, majoring in Educational Administration, thinking that I would someday start my own performing arts school and be the principal of that school. I never actually did this, but graduate school was a good thing to do at this time while I adjusted to being married and honestly mourning the loss of my mother.

I had two babies, and we moved several times due to my husband’s job. I started performing again in community theatre and fell back in love with acting in local productions.

When I was 30 years old, I was playing Barbara Allen in “Dark of the Moon” at Raleigh Little Theatre. Rod and Nancy Rich were both in it and at the time, they were working at a local video production company called Videofonics. They were looking for some local actors to be in a video they were producing and asked me if I was interested in being in it.  Having NEVER been paid for my acting skills before—I was eager to see what this world of getting paid to act was all about.

That job was the beginning of my true professional acting career. The money earned for the time I was away from my children was more than worth it for me, and I found the work very rewarding. I did a few speaking and supporting roles in film and TV, but my biggest claim to financial fame as an actor was a national dealer spot for Lazy Boy Furniture, which paid me enough money to claim a SAG pension:)

At this same time, while looking for work that was supportive of motherhood, I started teaching at Arts Together in Raleigh, NC.

One of my former high school students, Glynda Mackie—had this amazing mom who founded this amazing community arts school, and the job was a good fit for me. I loved my life there.  Arts Together was a place to explore creativity and it was such a good place for both me and my children.

I used my graduate degree to write a curriculum for an arts-based preschool program that is still used there today.

I worked there for about 10 years and was still acting professionally myself. This was also the time that both of my daughters started acting professionally, and their careers took off like rockets.

I found myself being a set mom more often than I was acting myself, but that was just fine by me.

Our talent agent at the time was a wonderful woman named Boots Bruner. She was legendary as the first agent in NC.

I adored her and started helping her tape actors. I also managed her business when she had surgery.

When she decided to retire—I decided to take her youth clients—which at that time only numbered about 20 or so and started the first Youth Talent Agency in NC. It was super part-time but very rewarding for me to help start the careers of these amazing young actors.

Life happened again, and the agency was not providing enough money to meet the needs of our family at that time, which included having a daughter in an out-of-state college. I needed a full time job.

Through dear friends suggesting me,  I was able to get hired as Program Director of Artsplosure The Raleigh Arts Festival.

This job was the most rewarding and exhausting job of my life,  using every bit of my knowledge, energy, and abilities.  I could never have imagined such a job and how hard it could be physically and mentally  but it was also great and I loved it.

I still managed the agency after hours and with the great help of a few paid partners, but Artsplosure ruled my life.  I loved putting things together and festivals were basically just huge productions with 50,000 attendees.

I stayed at this job for over 20 years. The agency continued to slowly grow to the point over the years that I was really working long hours after work on KU Talent Agency after putting in more than a full day at Artsplosure.

I usually worked every weekend on agency work to keep up with everything, along with a full-time partner, and it was reaching a point where another person needed to be hired. (I was also caring for my elderly father who had moved to be close to me—so my life was insanely full.)

I also started volunteering to teach a drama class of special needs adults called S.T.A.R. which filled my life to this day with more joy than I can explain.  My STAR class supported me in every way possible including volunteering for me at the festivals I produced ,and also helping with the care of my father. I still teach this Raleigh Medal of Arts Award winning class and it’s the best part of my week to see them each week.

Life happened again, and my father passed away after years of failing health, my youngest daughter got married, and my first daughter was headed to New Orleans to film a TV series and needed a nanny for my 2-year-old grandson.

I took a huge leap of faith and quit my job at Artsplosure and moved with her to New Orleans. It was the right time in so many ways for me to make this change, and after losing my father, I had a new perspective on life and wanted to make this change and focus on my own business full time.

It turned out to be maybe one of the best decisions of my life.

I was afraid to leave Artsplosure as it had defined me for so many years and I was super proud of the work I had done there but it was just time to leave.

It was great to be in NOLA and to be with family, but more than that, for the first time in my entire life, I learned the value and rewards of truly hard work when you are working for yourself.

I worked hard when I was not caring for my grandson or exploring the beautiful city of New Orleans to really connect with this company I had started and we grew and grew.  We were very profitable and it felt good to be rewarded for working hard.

In the non-profit/education world, there is an unending amount of work to do and the work seems to grow as time goes on—yet—that does not translate financially most of the time.

Finally having the time, I went all in with this agency I started and put my heart and soul into it, and the rewards were piling in.

(I could not have done this, of course, without my co-worker Julie ter Avest—who has been with me for over a decade—of course.)

Now we represent over 400 actors in the Southeast, and many have experienced great success.

Julie and I both work more than full-time, and our agency is super successful. Our former and current client list includes almost every great actor to come out of NC, and we are super proud of our agency and all that it took to get us here!

We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The road has not always been smooth. There never seemed to be enough hours to be all things to all people so hard choices had to be made for sure.

At times, I felt so stretched and spread thin that there was nothing left at the end of the day. I learned to prioritize and put things I could not control in a box until I had time to deal with them effectively.

There were always people and circumstances in my life that told me the things that I wanted to do were not possible.

I always believe that anything is possible if you are willing to do the work and make the sacrifices to make them happen.  Many people have things they want to do but they are not willing to do the true work and/or make the real sacrifices to make them happen.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
KU Talent Agency is a prestigious talent agency located in Raleigh, NC.

We represent over 400 talented, mostly Southeast-based working actors who have appeared on Broadway, major motion pictures, television, and regional and national commercials.

We pride ourselves in being an actor-based agency with very talented, hard-working actors.

Our former and current client list has included Ariana Debose, J. Alphonse Nicholson, Lachlan Watson, Ray Dooley, Sarah Bock, Rasool Jahan, Ava Gail Prince, Sam Gates, Shea Prichard, Bryant Prince, Alex Sgambati, Will Kindrachuk, Mimi Kirkland, Kevin Ianucci, Sarah Elliott, Gabrielle Cila, Heather Magee, Susanna Skaggs, and so many more!!!

We love our actors and provide a personal touch to each actor we work with.

Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
You are only as good as the people you know.

In my life whenever I KNOW I have to do something or find something or someone—I reach out to my friends and ASK for help! Often, people will compliment me for something that I did when actually all I did was find the right person who knew how to do it!

You don’t have to be able to do everything well yourself–just put it out there and ask! Someone out there is probably an expert. Be resourceful.

Don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty–get in there and work hard.  You are stronger than you think you are!

Treat every single person with dignity and respect.

In terms of mentors—listen to the people who have been where you are.

Listen to older people–lol—they are SUPER smart.

Get a posse of your close true friends and people who believe in you and surround yourself with these people.

Stay away from negative people and people who make you feel small.

Life is short—inhale the good stuff.  Hold onto it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://kutalentagency.com/
• Instagram: @kutalent_Agency
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kutalentagency