Ask participant to describe her career trajectory to date, and there’s a sharp intake of breath before she weaves a colourful tale full of unexpected twists and turns. At the heart of the story is a creative soul who walked away from a lucrative career in banking to inspire people through hilarious stories. Craig is now the producer and star of web series , and an up-and-coming actor, writer, director and dancer.
Growing up in the Sydney suburb of Ryde, Craig had to deal with the pressures that come with being the child of an immigrant family. “My mother is ethnically Chinese and my dad is Eurasian, and we had a very traditional home until my parents divorced when I was a teenager, but the trauma of immigration and the racism and displacement that comes with that is real and everlasting,” she explains. “It affected my [younger] brother and I when we were at home, but school didn’t exactly provide an escape, either; I was the only ethnic kid in my grade and one of only four Asian kids at school. I was taunted endlessly.”
Like many first-generation Australians, Craig says she felt a certain level of pressure to study hard and become successful to make up for her parents’ sacrifices.
“Mum was okay with me doing science, and initially I studied psychology because I had a deep-seated desire to make the world a better place. But the minute one of my aunts said ‘What are you doing? You can’t make money in science,’ that was a real turning point,” she says. “What’s the quickest, most efficient way to earn lots of money? Investment banking, baby! I set myself the goal that I would make partner by the age of 30 and insisted I would settle for nothing less than $250,000 a year.”
The move from studying science to banking was celebrated, but while she was kicking goals professionally (“By the age of 21 I was already on $80,000 and I knew the sky was the limit if I continued to do well,” she says), she struggled with her inner voice telling her to run.
The author out and about. Source: Supplied
“Even at that stage, I was thinking about what I would need to be earning to satisfy a Sydney mortgage and quality lifestyle. While my head said, ‘Stay here and earn,’ there was this toxic energy on the floors and it always felt so unsafe,” she explains. “I used to ask myself, ‘How do I navigate this culture and work my way up without getting raped?’ I basically became a white, cis man in order to survive.”
While my head said, ‘Stay here and earn,’ there was this toxic energy on the floors and it always felt so unsafe
Redundancy during the GFC provided an unexpected – yet wholly welcome – change of course, with Craig taking time off to travel overseas to “find herself” before coming back to trial a number of career options in fields well outside her family’s traditional cultural expectations.
“I started my own fashion PR business and even looked into politics for a hot minute, but eventually I ended up at the pearly gates of ,” she explains. While her dad was thrilled with his daughter’s newfound passion (“He always knew I was a creative at heart”), the move was not well received by her mother.
“We ended up having this huge falling out,” she said (although the pair are close now).
Saddened but undeterred, Craig signed up for improv through Actors Centre Australia – a move she says changed her life. “It was in 2013 that I said, ‘This is what I’m going to do for the rest of my life.’ I just knew.”
Living the dream. Source: Supplied
Any creative living in Australia’s big cities will tell you that the gig economy is tough – sacrifices often have to be made. For Craig, who was working four jobs at the time to make rent, this meant packing up her life, swallowing her pride and moving back in with her mother at the age of 33 in order to make .
“[The move] had everything to do with not being able to pay Sydney rent and always struggling and feeling hungry. It made sense from a creative point of view, but there’s a lot of shame and guilt around moving back in with your parents in your 30s. I don’t feel that now; it was the best decision I could have made.”
The hardest part of the arrangement is dating – trying to find space to be alone with someone
While Craig concedes there are plenty of challenges to living back home as a 30-something, she admits the benefits outweigh the downsides.
“The hardest part of the arrangement is dating – trying to find space to be alone with someone, so for me that means getting hotel rooms or having sex in cars like a teenager,” she laughs. “There’s also a lot of emotional management, so plenty of moments where I have to remind myself to think positive thoughts and to accept others as they are. That said, now that I don’t have the financial pressures (she now pays $200 a month rent and $500 a quarter in bills), I have time to daydream, and this gives me the emotional space to spend on my career. This is something I wouldn’t have if I were out there on my own.”
Knowing what she knows now, what advice would she give other creatives trying to make it in Sydney? “You need to be willing to make sacrifices, but you also need to put a time limit on how long you’ll give yourself to achieve your dreams,” she says. “I’ve made a huge sacrifice by turning my back on a career in investment banking and moving back in with my mum, but hey, I’m now at a stage where I’m auditioning regularly and scoring roles, such as my recent one on Home & Away (she appears as “Danika” on an episode due to air on March 29). Yeah, it’s been tough, but you know what? It’s all been worth it.”
Genevieve Craig appears in the new season of , streaming now on and airing on Friday, February 17 at 9.20pm on SBS Viceland. It’s also available subtitled in Arabic and simplified Chinese script – visit our and collections to view more.
