Most actors spend a lot of time sitting around between gigs. But not Alison Chace—she decided she was tired of waiting.
“The secret is to create your own project,” says Chace, who has been acting since 1996. “I like to say that even Brad Pitt has his own production company. You have to create your own project and always keep that going.”
To keep herself busy in between acting jobs, she started an online show and community called “Wake Up to a Break Up” in 2009, which provided an outlet for women dealing with the ubiquitous struggle of ending a relationship to share their stories. Inspired by experts who shared advice on the show, Chace decided to grow the site into a new platform, Pink Wisdom, in spring of 2015.
According to Chace, “taking control” of her career “led to focusing on helping other women.” In “Expert Advice,” for example, one of her favorite sections of “Wake Up to a Break Up,” Chace interviewed everyone from bestselling authors to life coaches and therapists.
“I expanded on that with Pink Wisdom,” says Chace. “It became all about interviews and video. I started it with relationship experts and then transitioned recently to powerhouse career girls.”
Chace discovered a connection between a successful career and thriving relationship through her own fascination with the psychology of relationships.
“The more time you spend focusing on your own passions, that translates into happier, healthier relationships,” the WeWork Soho member explains. “You spend less time obsessing over the relationship and more time focused on yourself, and then in turn, the relationship is better.”
Realizing that attention spans online are short, however, Chace decided not to post lengthy videos of the experts dishing all their knowledge. Rather, Pink Wisdom’s visitors click on a question and then receive the expert’s advice in a video that’s usually less than one minute long.
“One thing that’s cool about the site is whatever the viewer’s interested in, whatever question resonates for them, they just click on that question and get their response. They’re not sitting through this 20-minute interview,” says Chace.
Inspired by the power of introspection, she herself absorbs what these experts have to share.
“I surrounded myself with these women and continue to do so to teach myself,” she says. “So much of my self-talk is I’m not good enough, I’m not smart enough, I’m not pretty enough, I’m not this, I’m not that. But after meeting these women, I walk away thinking, Why not me? If they can do it, I can do it. They’re go-getters. They don’t give up. They just keep going.”
From relationships and career advice, Chace plans to expand the site to include other topics and voices: women in politics, women in Hollywood, parenting experts, health and beauty experts, and more.
The most powerful piece of advice she’s heard? Say yes.
A few years ago, while Chace was working for Plum TV, they offered her a job “that felt like a demotion.” Chace consulted her friend, actress Julianne Moore, about whether or not she should take the new gig, and Moore’s answer has been invaluable: “The main reason for my success is I say yes to everything, no matter how stupid, silly, or small.”
She soon realized that Moore is not the only person who feels this way.
“After interviewing these women, that’s something they have in common: They say yes to things,” says Chace. “That can translate into dating too. Let’s say someone sets you up on a blind date, and you say, ‘No, I don’t want to go.’ But what happens a lot in dating is you meet him and you don’t necessarily like him, but that leads to someone else, a friend of his. Saying yes creates an energy, a momentum.”
Photos: Katelyn Perry