Meet Heidi Lauren Duke | Opera Director & Screenwriter

We had the good fortune of connecting with Heidi Lauren Duke and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Heidi Lauren, do you disagree with some advice that is more or less universally accepted?
That’s funny — I probably disagree with most conventional advice, haha! But probably the most common thing around starting a business that I disagree with is the notion that you can “follow your passion” and as long as you are passionate about a trade and know a lot about it, then your business will be a success. On the contrary, an entrepreneur can learn all sorts of skills on the job, but if they don’t have a good business plan to start with, the business will simply remain a hobby — and sometimes an expensive one at that.

Some folks think a business plan is just a fancy powerpoint presentation, but actually you should be able to write it on the back of a napkin: My business provides X product or service that solves a common problem for X people and X people have the money and time to pay for my service, due to a lack of other options and the value I offer.

Sounds pretty boring, right? A friend of mine started a music lesson business outside of New York City, and she has done very well for herself because she solved a problem for a LOT of parents (How do I keep my kid occupied and musically educated without having to drive them to another school?). She also kept her costs low by offering the service in the clients’ homes and not having the overhead of a retail business.

Another friend of mine had a huge passion for community and creativity, so she opened a coworking space in a busy resort town. The problem? She had the overhead of an office space, and she didn’t solve a problem for enough people to drive paying customers to her space. She was also in a resort town where it is hard to build community because the population is so seasonal. So word of mouth didn’t take off.

How did I decide to start a business? After years of working freelance as an opera director and real estate agent, I knew I wanted to be a leader in the arts, and needed experience as a CEO. I didn’t want to waste money on an MBA, because I knew I already had good people skills and finance skills from directing shows and running my own freelance business. I also wanted real estate investment to be part of the deal, so that even if the business wasn’t a huge hit, I could sell the property and get most of my capital back.

So what did I do? I found investors who wanted to buy an 1880s inn in Northern Vermont, on 100 acres with 16 buildings and a lakefront beach! It sounds crazy, like Diane Keaton in that old movie BABY BOOM, but here’s the thing: It was a lodging entity with a good brand in a region that had a huge lodging shortage. The challenging part? The property needed a lot of elbow grease and someone to start the business over from scratch, build a community around the historic brand, and get the world out in a remote place.

The business model worked, because we were solving a problem for a lot of people, (where do I stay in Northern Vermont when I want to ski or swim around Lake Caspian that feels authentic?) and delighting them in the process. And we were close enough to Boston, New York, and Montreal to have a big enough clientele to draw people in.

I would never say I had a huge passion for making beds, but I did have a passion for making things beautiful, and that’s what we did with Highland Lodge in Greensboro, Vermont. I learned a ton of new skills while building the company, along with a music venue and wedding and conference destination. I got my experience as a CEO before getting bought out by my former partners.

Now, I can take my experience as a CEO into running another arts company, or hopefully running a TV show eventually. During COVID I began using all my skills as an artist and opera director to write screenplays, and it turns out business experience is used in every artistic area.

So while having a pragmatic business plan is crucial for any entrepreneur, I don’t want anyone to forget about their passions and uniqueness as artists. That creativity is precious and needs to be cultivated every day, regardless of whether those passions translate to a winning business model.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I started out performing as a kid as a singer, actor, and dancer. My parents were from blue-collar families and were never given the opportunity to be artists themselves, so they had a hard time understanding my determination to make beauty and storytelling central to my life’s work.

Since I knew I had to earn their respect somehow, I decided to “go big or go home”, and studied classical voice and theatre and began directing Shakespeare and opera classics. I was inspired by what we can learn from timeless, classic stories, and how they can be reimagined for a modern audience. I also wanted to be a leader who conjured up truly positive, affirming environments for artists.

I definitely ran into troubles sometimes, since a lot of artistic leadership is still run by yelling and screaming, or putting others down, sadly. Some people I worked for didn’t think I was tough enough to direct large productions, not didactic enough in my creative process. I had to search to find the right colleagues who also valued positive creative environments.

As a CEO and entrepreneur, I’ve learned to value discipline and systems to an extreme, but I allow those repeatable systems to allow creativity and experimentation to fly.

Some of my favorite productions include the Verdi’s opera Falstaff in Boston, set in 1970s Italian-America, a medieval goth production of Richard III in New York with a polio actor playing Richard, and an original work I adapted from poems by Federico Garcia Lorca that played to a packed house in Barcelona, Spain.

I also love singing with big bands and at weddings. Singing is pure joy to me. Inspiring other singers and creators is even better.

These days I am writing historic screenplays with a juicy twist…a TV series I’m working on right now involves a real historic romance around a Captain Cook mystery, and I have a feature script about the Roosevelts’ sex scandals. Like I’ve learned from any business plan, I’m hoping to bring my unique storytelling to a broad audience — to entertain but to also inspire. I am interested in art that tells us something about our own humanity, and our propensity for compassion and forgiveness.

I also try and give back wherever possible. I volunteer with Sing for Hope and sing in a lot of senior residences, and I also coach playwrights, singers, screenwriters, and business owners. Feel free to reach out if I can help in any way.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Right now I split my time between Vermont and Los Angeles…yes, they could be called polar opposites. When I’m in LA, I love the lushness of the gardens, I like to pretend I’m in Mexico (which is kindof not pretend) and find lots of good taco trucks and try all the spicy sauces. I also love the area around Atwater Village Farmer’s Market, watch a movie at Bigfoot Lodge, or roam around the plants in Potted Garden Shop. Of course I always grab a cocktail at The HIgh Low, since “HiLo” is a nickname of mine.

In Vermont, it’s a completely different world. We are an hour from the Quebec border, and we go up there all the time to soak in their amazing river spas and eat fabulous French food we can barely pronounce. I live a stone’s throw from Lake Caspian, which has an incredible beach, and you can ski right out my door in the winter. My house is a great place to write and make music. Very few distractions.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I’d like to shoutout two mentors of mine who were doing the “life coach guru” thing way before it was cool, and really have great products to offer.

The first is Jodie Bentley, who is not only an amazing actress herself but also an impressive career coach for artists. Her “Dare To Be Unstoppable” Program is the perfect program to kick off a year, and while it’s a lot of hard work, the results changed my life for the better and helped me tremendously with a lot of difficult decisions I needed to make in my life.

The second is Ramit Sethi, whose website “I Will Teach You To Be Rich” offers a bunch of great products and classes, and his Earn 1k class taught me the basics of what businesses succeed, and which fail.

And one tiny shoutout to that old classic, The Artist’s Way, which is a book by Julia Cameron, but is also a 12-week program to heal that cranky, beat-up artist in you who is never satisfied. If you’re rolling your eyes right now, then I urge you to give it a chance. You can download a copy to your kindle app in under a minute.

Website: heidilaurenduke.com

Instagram: @heilau007

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/heilau

Twitter: @heilau

Facebook: facebook.com/heidilaurenduke

Other: Screenwriting work on Coverfly (coverfly.com) and International Screenwriters’ Association (networkisa.org) Check out highlandlodge.com

Image Credits
Photo with Highland Lodge’s Red Barn in the middle by Moriah Hounsell @mohophoto_vt The last photo with me and Highland Lodge is by Greta Rybus @gretarybus