Today we’d like to introduce you to Meranda Carter.
Meranda, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
It’s been really complicated.
I’ve spent the last five years trying to convince people – especially my bank – that I’m not a spy. I’ll keep it simple and try to give you important pieces that have lead me to what I’m creating here in Los Angeles. I started by being curious about how people experience events, museums, art, menu’s at restaurants – it’s addictive. Now, I get to produce Boobietrap on Hollywood Blvd every single week! While also working on fun experiences for the Oddities Flea Market, PsKaufman’s Mercado Los Olvidados, Atlas Obscura, The Magic Castle and my world is filled with fun!
I’ve tried on a lot of different lifestyles and I’ve picked up a weird menagerie of skill sets. Being constantly curious can both take you to the ends of the earth and the ends of your sanity. I worked for a popular alternative weekly magazine working as a photojournalist at events and designing weed ads in the back; while also working and wanting to die at a popular rainforest themed restaurant. I got laid off, I sold all of my stuff and decided move into my car/tent and drive to Alaska – convinced my partner – to go with me. I found myself living as an Art Director-Makerfaire Organizer-cruise ship tour guide-circus obsessed-REI outdoor sales person-Sideshow skill learner. It was here that really solidified my obsession over how people experience events and art. It was also here that I felt so unlike myself to find myself- it was a dark time.
Eventually, I was bored and started to feel like I wasn’t growing as fast as I could’ve been. I bought a one-way ticket to New Zealand, found a great van to live in and spent three months performing and exploring with my partner that I must have hypnotized into living this life. I really figured out how people experience things. I was magnetized to the people creating experiences all over the world and reaching out to help in whatever way big or small. Every region has a different taste and way of experiencing emotions and fun – I love figuring out the mechanics of entertainment.
I just kept traveling and learning, trading business help and design work for scuba diving certs in Thailand (so fun!). Worked as a photojournalist for a motorcycle expedition across Vietnam looking for eco-friendly businesses – it was very Top Gear, with less budget. Eventually, funding was cut and so was our trip. But the expedition was wild, we experienced floods, earthquakes, spiders, and so many happy people sharing their stories.
Something had rewired itself- I learned that I was so much more capable than I had expected. I learned that we are all so much more capable than what we are taught.
I’ve spent my whole life making my resume really confusing. I tried to get a job once I was back in LA, and I’m being really open here – No one believed that I had experience like this and my resume reads like a bullet point novel.
That’s when the light came on and I went back to this incredible show I had seen before leaving for New Zealand: Boobietrap.
Boobietrap is a weekly phenomenon that’s filled with the worlds best comedians, circus performers, magicians, personalities, and celebrity. It’s the perfect Los Angeles Wednesday night thing to do. When I first experienced it- It caught fire in my brain. It hit all of the right buttons for me. I just HAD to work on it and grow it- so more people could feel the way I did while seeing it.
When I first experienced it, It was in an art warehouse in Echo Park. I left saying that if I could work on the show and make people feel and experience things like that – It would be a dream. It was the perfect job for me – it utilized all my weirdo background knowledge and I could really see it had a future. So, I started by showing up every Wednesday to set up the show. Giving ideas freely and often – that way I could really learn what ideas stuck and what ideas didn’t stick with the show brand and voice. After asking the show creator and my now business partner, Scot Nery, an insane amount of questions. I learned like wildfire. I was mixing my knowledge bases of experience, events, and humans with Scot’s incredible data base of experience and the massively talented community surrounding the show.
I think it’s so important to help people have fun, to open them up to new things or things they forget, and to just remember to play more often. You don’t have to suffer to live or create – you can find a way to make everything a gift that works for you. <– which is a total clown mentality.
Has it been a smooth road?
No one has an obstacle-free road – but I’ve definitely managed to take some random turns into uncharted territory. I’ve always struggled with definitions of what I do, nothing really fully makes me feel like “hell yeah! That’s me” except for just being me. So, I’ve learned to surround myself with people that want to hear ideas and alternative ways of doing things.
Maintaining focus on what I’m doing is a challenge.
If I get bored – I’m out.
If I feel like there is nowhere to grow – I’m out.
If I feel like the people around me aren’t challenging me enough – I’m out.
So, I’ve been really focusing on stability and learning that there is huge rewards for staying in one place creatively and in my career.
I also heard this saying from Amanda Palmer and it will stick with me forever.
“If you don’t deal with your demons- they move into the basement of your soul and lift weights. “
Please tell our readers more about boobietrap, for example, what you’re most proud of and what sets you apart from others.
I’m so proud of boobietrap! We just hit the number one show in LA on Trip Advisor. but what’s even cooler is that we are creating with a community that shows up for us and we are showing up for that community. We care so deeply about everyone that gets exposed to boobietrap. We consider and listen to everyone and all ideas, even if it’s never been done by a show before!
Everyone needs love and fun, everyone wants to be celebrated- why can’t we make a show that keeps that going? Why aren’t people creating more things that pay more than just money?
We are constantly fighting to take care of people. Scot and I are always pushing to make the best possible situation for our performers and audiences. Not every gig is fulfilling but boobietrap is. We’ve traveled the world and experienced soul crushing events and have been curious why those have to exist. Creating boobietrap to solve all of these problems- like a utopia for artists, audiences, entertainers.
I’m so proud that I’m part of something so pure and helpful. We’re in it for the heart of it and part of that is making a show that we are all proud of. Creating opportunities for all the incredible performers and crews – is such a fulfilling aspect of my work. We just listen, everyone is an expert of something and all of those skills help raise the show to the spot that it is. We aren’t doing this alone and I’m so incredibly grateful for that.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
LA has so much opportunity for art and creation. I love LA! There is no other place that I could work on so many amazing things. Especially for boobietrap, LA is the prime spot for it. The worlds best performers are always traveling through LA and we get incredible acts on stage while they are in town. So many incredibly talented people live here.
I just wish everyone wasn’t fearful and would radically empathize. Could you imagine this city if we all supported instead of competed!
Pricing:
- Come experience Boobietrap for $20 online
Contact Info:
- Address: 6555 Hollywood Blvd
- Website: boobiela.com
- Phone: 3238105044
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/boobietrapla/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/boobietrapLA/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/scot-nerys-boobie-trap-los-angeles
- Other: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g32655-d8842476-Reviews-Scot_Nery_s_Boobietrap-Los_Angeles_California.html
Image Credit:
Incredible Portraits by: Patrick McPheron www.interiorstate.com
Boobietrap photos by: Richard Michael Johnson https://www.facebook.com/pg/boobietrapLA/photos/?ref=page_internal
Chris Ruggiero: https://www.beyonddreamscreative.com/
Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
