Lisa Lucille Watson

Although it's taken me years to achieve my dream, I believe that my journey is only starting

My name is Lisa Lucille Watson. I am inspired to take a leap, and showcase and inform the community, to join me in my journey of finding myself as an adult and a creative. I came to Boorloo, Perth, with my family at the age of 15. I was originally born in Cape Town, South Africa, but when I was 6 years old, my parents decided to pack up our lives and fly over to Aotearoa/New Zealand.

Even though apartheid was finally "finished", this was our ticket for a different opportunity. When growing up in New Zealand, we lived in a little country town called Whakatane for 4 years and then moved to Auckland and lived there for 5 more years. When the opportunity arose, my Dad flew us over to Perth, Australia. As you can see, I have been moving around a lot, and I never really had any time to settle in any one place.

Perth is the place in which I have lived the longest in my life.

It has been a struggle for the past 15 years I've been here. When you move countries most of the time you start from scratch, starting with nothing and having to build your life up all over again. I remember moving here and celebrating my 16th birthday with no friends, just with my family. My Mum, my Dad, and my brother. From that moment on, I knew things would be a little harder to handle than I was used to.

I studied at Kent Street Senior High School for a year and a half and knew that the opportunities for University were a slim chance, and that broke my heart. My passion for drama studies was my life, and I wanted nothing else. But when you have to start over in another country, your hopes and dreams get shattered because you have to make sacrifices to accommodate the more important things in life. I was at a dead end.

I gave up my passion and was told that I would have to give up this part of my life, and that was that. After that, I worked in the hospitality and retail industries until this year, all to keep food on the table. Throughout the 10 years since graduating from high school (with the top Arts Award for Drama Studies), I always craved to continue my dream of acting and becoming a performer. At 23, I decided to go on a self-love journey (cliché, I know) to achieve my dream and slowly hack at my dream. I now can say that I feel that diamond shining through.

In this year alone, I became a part of a CALD diversity lab with Performing Lines WA, which gave me a chance to continue living my dream.

I was chosen along with 12 other beautiful artists, and it was my dream starting to manifest.

Although it's taken me years to achieve my dream, I believe that my journey is only starting. I look forward to continuing my journey as an artist, not just for myself but also for others on the same journey. Just remember that no matter what happens, pursue your dream. It doesn't have to be buried beneath the surface. There are ways to achieve your dreams even if a system doesn't agree with you and says no.

I thank the City of Armadale, my new home, for allowing me to share a snippet of my story, and I hope you can follow my journey to make dreams into goals and goals into reality. Follow @creative.discoverer to keep up with my journey.

I dedicate this story to my family. I wouldn't be here without you, no matter where we are and where we go we will always have each other. Even if it’s been a struggle, we always know how to make the most out of life. My parents, for being brave enough to leave their country and travel to places and support their kids in their creative ventures. To my brother for being a light in my world and never giving up his dream and making this life an enjoyable one to live, keep shining. To my fiancé Kuda, for the encouragement to never stop chasing our dreams, you’re that missing piece to my puzzle. I also dedicate this to anyone who has left their home to start in a new place and has struggled with achieving their dreams, it's never too late to start. To my home Africa, we may have left, but Africa has not left our hearts.