On today’s BEP Talks, I sat down with Diane Strand, an award-winning producer whose journey from struggling with dyslexia in second grade to building a million-dollar business in the arts is absolutely inspiring. Diane shared how saying yes to new opportunities and embracing creativity—even outside your comfort zone—can lead to unexpected success. Her passion for the arts not only transformed her own life, but is making a difference for neurodiverse adults through hands-on media training. If you want to learn how resilience, creativity, and showing up can connect the dots toward your goals, you’ll want to hear Diane’s story.

Support the arts in your community, and remember: there’s something for everyone, even if you haven’t discovered it yet. To connect with Diane, please visit: https://jdsstudio.live/

---------------------------------

B.E.P. Talks makes it possible to connect with those who most resonate with your own personal or professional life – or both. Follow-up in the moment or come back to them when you need them most, attend their events, read their books, participate in their courses.

Visit often! Meet experts from the cross section of the world. Let them motivate, inspire and educate you.

🎤Interested in telling YOUR story?

Visit https://www.beptalks.com/ for all the info you need.

Schedule an interview. Expand your reach and influence. Begin to change the lives of others by changing your own.

You’ll love the experience and your audience will appreciate you.

🔎Explore the MeetN Platform: https://meetn.com/features?x=94034

▶️Subscribe to our Channel: / @beptalks

Follow Us on Social:

Facebook: / thegsew

LinkedIn: / johnstonbeth

Well, hey there and welcome to today's edition

of BEP Talks. We're amazing. People from all around the

world, all walks of life, all industries and

professions, all ages and stages of life and

career, come to the BEP Talks stage to share

their beliefs, their experiences and their

passions. BEP Beliefs, experiences

and passions. What I love so much about

bedtalks is the generosity of the

information that is shared. To

inspire, to motivate, to educate, entertain,

whatever it is. It's your story and we are here

to share. BEP Talks is where you come to share well, to take

center stage where you can become easy to remember and

impossible to forget. I am so excited to introduce

today's guest to you. Very

multidimensional. She's going to share her stories, her beliefs, her

experiences and passions. So please welcome to today's BEP Talk

stage, Diane Strand.

Hello. Hi there, Diane. And thank you so much

for joining us here today on BEP Talks. I've

been looking forward to this. As I said, so many of our

guests really come from multidimensional

places in life. You are certainly no exception to that.

You have a fascinating history

and I'm going to share with our listeners from my personal perspective

why I feel that way. You come to us

as the creative director. You're

an award winning producer. You have an exciting Hollywood

background. You and your family have an amazingly

successful business called JDS Studios out on

the west coast of the United States. I don't know

where to begin because everything about you

excites me and fascinates me. I'm going

to share why I don't even know how many

years to go back because we'll both be dated by this. Of being

a viewer of General Hospitals, a show that you worked

on the production of and Friends,

one of the most popular sitcoms, has to be of all

time. I still watch the reruns.

It's one of those shows that's always there, it always

entertains, always puts a smile on my face. So

that fascinating background and then you had a pivot.

You had a pivot. Share with us. And I

know your story goes back further than that. It goes back to the second

grade. Your love of the

arts, of getting involved in the Hollywood whole

biz, which kind of everybody, I think, dreams about somehow.

Diane Strand, what is your story? Where

does it begin? Well,

it does have lots of different beginnings for sure,

but the one through line that really comes through is the

arts. That really connects it all the way

from second grade to today. There's a

great quote by Steve Jobs that says you can't connect your

dots looking forward, you have to look back and trust that they will

connect in the future. Every

milestone or dot or pivot

or change that has happened in my life, the through

line has always been the connection to the arts and the

tools that it teaches and how it really impacts

life and business. Whether that was the second grade little

girl who just wanted to play Betsy Ross in the school play

and couldn't understand why teachers and even

my parents said, maybe you should try something different,

that isn't such the best idea. I couldn't read

and as a young girl I was

undiagnosed. But I am dyslexic

and that didn't get diagnosed many years

later. And I was a struggling

reader and school was not my friend. But the arts kept me

connected and somehow in second grade I figured out how

to audition and I got the part of Betsy Ross

in the school play. And you know, that other big

pivotal moment in second grade was there was a huge

fundraiser that year and whoever sold the most

candy in the whole school, and this will date me, would

win in a black and white 19 inch television set.

And I really wanted that TV for my room so I could

watch TV in my bedroom. And so I set a goal

and I enlisted help from my parents, but I did the

work and I sold the most candy in that whole school.

And here I am still working in television. I

still love the arts. I raise money for fundraising

all the time now. And, and so those are

like huge little milestones and dots in my

life that connect all the way through, whether that's what kept me

in school, back into college, started

my career, what I do today in

teaching other people about the power of the arts. It

all connects. Yeah, that is such a great story.

So I love that you quoted Steve Jobs and I'm thinking,

let's go back to that second grade child who wanted to be Betsy

Ross and became Betsy Ross. Were you on stage actually making

the flag? Were you? Oh, I love it, I love it. I was.

Could you at that time. And I know it's hard to go back and kind

of put yourself there, but let's try to do that. Could

it have been possible to foresee

from the mind and the beliefs

and the experiences of a second grader? Because at second grade you're

like 8 years old. Could you ever have seen where all of

those dots would bring you all these years later?

Ever? No, never. And you know, I even

say that because where I am today, if you would have asked me,

this 10 years ago, would I be doing what I'm doing

today? I wouldn't understand it because

there, it all makes sense now.

But when I was first

approached with working with neurodiverse individuals

and teaching them video production and multimedia, I'm

like, what do I know about that? Right? I mean, I don't,

I don't have a child that I had to has autism

or learning disability. I mean, in hindsight,

yes, because of course your dots connect. All three of my kids have

adhd. All three of my kids, you

know, do suffer from some sort of something.

I would even say my oldest, you know, he's not diagnosed,

but there are moments of autistic traits in there as

well. But we all live somewhere on a

spectrum. That's why it's called a spectrum. We're there

now. There are different severities and executive

functions that come into play when you were dealing with learning

disabilities and how you could move through them. And that's what I

know today. And that's why I say I would have never

have known that 10 years ago. And putting the connection.

And this is where my business philosophy comes into

play, which is show up and say yes. Because I was at a

chamber event introducing myself as an executive

producer who does video and multimedia and

you know, teaches acting and help launches acting careers. To have

somebody come up to me and say, I'd love to talk to you about

some of the clients that I serve at Inland Regional Center. And I'm like,

inland Regional center, what's that? Oh, it's a

clearinghouse for people with learning disabilities and on

and on the spectrum. And if I would have said, oh, I

don't know anything about that and pushed it away and not said tell me

more and how can I serve or

sure, I'll have that coffee meeting and learn more,

I would have missed out on an a million dollar revenue

business a year, you know. So that is the show

up and say yes. And I would have never ever been able to believe

that I could have done what it is that I'm doing had

I thought about it, you know, in that

moment, going, I don't know how to develop a program for that. I've never taught

anybody. I'm not a teacher, I don't know anything about autism. Those would

have been all the things that I could have fear came up, could

have told me all those things that would have made complete sense to

me. Right, right. But because I

said show up and I say yes, it doesn't mean that I don't

ever Say no to anything, because of course you have to know your limits and

your boundaries. But you show up and you say yes,

and you're open to serve and the pathways that

open in front of you just

are opportunities of so much.

And then you look back and go, oh, now it completely makes sense.

Now I really know why they connect. I am

that young girl. I do know that hands on learning is what

taught me. I do know tools that got me through school

and dyslexia and business and all the things

I had to learn and, and I had to figure out on my own. I

want to share that with other people. And now I can. What a

great story. So you know what I just heard here? As an eight year old,

a second grader, you wanted to do something and you were

kind of discouraged from even trying. Even your

parents, you said, and your teachers, oh, maybe that's not the best role for you.

Maybe you should just be like in the background as an extra kind of a

person because of the reading. And then all those years later,

someone approaches you from the opposite direction and

you don't realize your capacity to be able to do it, but somebody

else did. We just never

know. That is such a lesson unto itself that

everything is possible. If from my perspective,

if there's a passion somehow burning in your heart that you might not have

recognized until that moment, you are clearly a

lifelong learner. Yes. And you have

figured out for you the best way

to learn. And it's not always by reading.

It's not always by reading. It's by doing,

hands on, touching, seeing. Now, it doesn't mean that, you know,

obviously I can read and I follow steps, but

don't, you know, I love everyone. Everyone always asks, what's your favorite

book to read? I'm like, I write books. I don't necessarily read books.

That's kind of my life. But I do read

periodicals. I read for information, that sort of

thing, which, you know, I have learned tools. But

the best thing is I gotta learn something, I gotta do it, I gotta

repeat it, I gotta go through that function over and over.

And then I know how to do something. Instead of reading it five

times, I do it five times. How you learn?

Because I know a lot of people who were a whole lot better than I

as students at young ages and

got much better grades than I, who do read novels

and everything else. But I will say something that we Learned

back in 6th grade. How do you remember that? Because

I actually learned it. I didn't just read it in the moment.

I had like you, my own system for learning how

many impressions were made, were made. And I want

to go back. You commented about your children. You mentioned that you have three and

you know, all of them. I give you such honor and praise for that because

if we dig deeply enough on anybody, we will find

something. So I want to congratulate you on having very

normal children. Very normal children. And

obviously being raised by an exceptionally wonderful

mother. Share with us, Diane, what

it was, because the common denominator here is the arts.

Not only what got you through, and I love that as a

second grader, you were performing, you were engaged

in the arts way back then. And look.

Oh, baby, look at you now. What is it about that

common thread through life, the power of

the arts? Talk to us about that, please. Oh,

well, if you want something done in life, find a theater kid. That

is for sure. They are going to know how to get something

done on a shoestring budget. They're going to be able to do

something and step outside their comfort zone and do it scared

anyways. They're going to learn communication skills. They have.

They understand education and history and

they're able to market and they're able to

just be in the moment as well

as listen. Those are all the big tools that

we need in life to be able to succeed.

And so I truly believe that, that,

you know, that's what. That's what creatives do every

day. I really, truly call myself a creative preneur. Because

we get creative in difficult moments. It's how we problem

solve. It's how we pick ourselves back

up with resilience. And, you know, it doesn't matter

why or how you fell down. It matters that you get back up and you

keep going. And those are the things that, you

know, the arts really teach us. You know, you get up on stage and,

you know, your scene partner forgets their line.

You gotta figure out what to do right in the moment while there's

100 people staring at you. This

is how you learn how to improv your way

through life. It's not fake it till you make it, but it's

be prepared so that in moments that

happen that are unscripted, you can

go with the flow. You can not

shrivel up and die. You just keep going and

moving on. You know, fear has its right place. It

tells us not to jump off the cliff without our parachute.

But then I'm going to encourage you to pack your own

parachute. Trust yourself so that

when you need to jump, you know the

parachute's gonna open because you packed it because you packed it.

Wow, what a metaphor that is. So

you're now so sad that

money comes into every conversation somehow. So

you look at school budgets,

you're driving an incredibly powerful story

about the benefits of the arts

as a lifelong learning tool, a lifelong show up,

you'll figure it out, you'll solve the problem. You'll think with that other side of

your bring. Why are the budgets on the arts always the first things to be

cut? Well, I truly believe because

the more that you install the arts

into kids and humans, they become

critical thinkers. They start thinking outside the box, they start

being disruptors, you know, but, you know, in

that aspect, you know, but the arts

are the only thing that is consistent through

time in everything going way, way, way, way. All

the way back before civilization, cavemen were

drawing on the caves and the walls

to tell stories, to share things to do that

act things out. That's how language began. It all

started with the arts. So, you know, I wish I had the

magic answer of why they cut it out of so many budgets, but I'm

here to tell you that if it's not in your school, go find

it elsewhere for your kids there. It's never too late.

I don't care if you're two, you're. Or 200.

To get in, you know, get involved in the

arts, be creative. I'm not telling you to go be an artist,

to be an actor, to paint murals, to

sing, you know, to go be a professional singer, but

sing a song, color in a coloring book. Get

up on stage and do things you've never done before. These

are what's going to strengthen you on the inside and

give you the tools that you need to

solve that financial crisis you're going through. To

be able to give you some new direction to pivot, to

get creative, to not have to know

how the end is going to resolve itself. Just

know that you got to take the next step, which is, I'm standing here

on stage. My obscene partner does not know what to do.

So I have to figure out what to do. And that's where you

just. Weren't you going to tell me that I needed to go get my

hat so we could exit stage left? Whatever. It's going to

be right. Fill in the blanks. Well, you know, that's so true.

That's so true. And improv itself, as a. As

an art form has become its own division

in theater. Improv theater is fascinating to watch. I have a

niece who, she's so talented. She sings, she dances she does

comedy, she does drama. She's the perfect femme fatale. And what she,

she hosts GMCs. And what she loves most, because I

think it's where genius is really recognized, is in

improv. Not to have had that script.

Just to get an idea and work with people around you. And if

nothing else, at least support the arts. If you're not

someone, support the arts for others. So you and your

family, your passion is palpable,

your experience is incredible.

And of course all built on your own personal beliefs and experiences.

You have done a lot in the arts to support

others. You mentioned about this woman approaching you and say, how

about doing this? Tell us about your, your not for profit

and how you've brought the arts to that group of

people. Well, when we

started really stepping into teaching the arts from

our video production company, we created JDS Actors

Studio, which was a professional actors studio. My

partner in life and business, my husband Scott, he's a

professional actor and he's been in film and movies. And

he was getting that itch. And so we were also

noticing that there wasn't a lot of the arts in the school.

And so we decided that we were going to create a drama

club. And it started as an after school drama club.

And we thought maybe 15 to, you know,

20 kids might show up. And we had over 55 kids

who showed up for the first drama club eight week

session. And that really grew into the actor studio. And

in four years of growing from a drama club to an

actor studio, we were being asked, can you do

musical theater? Can you teach us? Camera, you do video? Can you do.

So it was like, oh, there's still only 24 hours in a

day. And that's where I knew I had to pull in some of my other

industry professionals. And we gathered around my kitchen

table and decided that we were going to create

a nonprofit. And started as

a nonprofit for the arts is really how it began. Where

we could bring in other industry professionals to

teach musical theater, script writing, some other

creative classes that we were beginning to start. And as

that was developing, it was all out of the nonprofit. It was

really, we were a nonprofit nonprofit for the arts. And we still are. But

then it really grew into. When I was

approached by Beth Crane

at Inland Regional center to talk about

a Title 17 program, which is for

adults who are neurodiverse and

intellectual, have intellectual disabilities. And

at that point I did have, you know, there are gaps

in that story. I had written a curriculum with a

educator out of Mount Sin Jacinto Community College. And we

created an apprenticeship. And so that got approved

through the state of California. So I took that

curriculum and I started augmenting it of

how it would really work for somebody who might not

traditionally learn. And that's how we created

the Title 17 program to be

for adults with developmental disabilities. And

In May of 2018, we

welcomed our first participants through the door. And

sitting next to me on the other side of that

wall, right next to me is 30 adults with

developmental disabilities who are here learning,

doing production and multimedia. They support our

productions and multimedia. We've placed 13 into real

industry jobs and now we have

a whole bunch of television shows and festivals.

And we just finished Guys and Dolls. We're doing

Fiddler on the Roof. So, you know, we have the theater art side,

the performing art side. We have the

digital art side. We partner with all the school districts

and pre apprenticeship. So it's.

It's fun. It sounds

fun. It sounds incredible. What a major project. And as you say this

24 hours in the day, how you get all of this done, obviously you have

a team and I love that it's a family business that your husband,

you mentioned and your kids, you're all involved in this. And

the one word that I kept hearing and I wasn't necessarily

listening, Arts, arts, arts, arts. And

for my own life, thinking back about what are the things that you've

enjoyed the most? Where do your memories come from? You think of

what's your favorite song? What was your favorite

movie? What was your I'm a New Yorker. What was your favorite Broadway

show? It's all the arts now I'm a sports

junkie. And sometimes sports in schools takes

precedence over arts. As we're discussing it here today.

It's all financial legacy kind of stuff. But isn't that a form

of art in a way? It's putting on a production. It's

a business. It's entertainment. Multi. Billions

of dollars. And those are the. It's somebody else's

performing or putting on some kind of a show. So

what. What I'm hearing from often relate sports and

athletics and athletics. Performance. Performance,

absolutely. What I've heard is that there's nothing

for everyone, but there's something for every. There's not one thing that's

for everyone, but there's something for everyone. And

often it's in the arts. We just don't think of it the

way you've brought it to life for us. I think we've all thought that

you have to be Academy Award and this. That

it doesn't need to be at that level, it's even when

I watch with my little great niece and nephew, their nanny,

how she's performing for them all day long and getting

them to. To create things and to put on their little

shows and to do art and that

they're exposed to it. It's her gift that she's giving them because

it's the gift that God gave her. You've

really provoked a lot of thought here. Is it fair to ask you

of all the things you've done? It's probably not, but I'm going to ask you

anyway. What's. Was there a favorite show that

you worked on? Was there a favorite production that you

did? I mean, sure. I mean,

you know, at different phases and times in my life, you

know, when I was in my Hollywood days

working at Disney Channel

was, you know, that was one of the great dreams ever.

Even more so than, you know, you mentioned General Hospital.

I watched General Hospital be from when I was in

sixth grade, and that was like my favorite show. And then I

worked on the show for over two years and

then I left the show. And still today, I still

watch the show every single day.

So, you know, as far as that goes, I would say

they all have different meanings, but work wise, I

mean, I could tell you the moment that Barbra Streisand picked me out of

the producer pool and asked me to be her personal producer. I mean, I

have great moments like that. But then the moments that

make a difference are when we do wizard of

Oz and I watch my daughter now play Dorothy,

right. Or, you know, I get to

have one of the adults with developmental disabilities come up to me and

tell me that I'm making their dreams. Dreams come true. So

it es and flows from what would be my favorite

moment, you know, to my favorite show. And, you know, and

there are proud moments. I mean, winning non profit of the year or

winning business of the year, you know, there are those

kinds of moments too, that, you know, they all kind of

just stack up and, and I'm so grateful.

I'm just so grateful. And I have,

you know, a very full, beautiful life with, yes,

yes. With wonderful family and people who support

me on my team and, you know, I get

to serve and see other people's dreams come true.

So, yeah, you casually,

you casually mentioned the name Barbra Streisand, but my

feeling was it's the people on the other side of that wall that

you just referenced that really

resonate with you so much in your heart. I get that

every day with those people. I get that about you. So

you said, you know, show up. Say yes.

Try something. You always show up. And you

have made it possible for other people to show up and to find

the way for them to connect their dots and where their

futures are taking them. For you to be one of those dots

on that chain, God bless you,

that has to be exhilarating and so gratifying.

And I am so blessed to now know you, Diane, and I'm so

grateful for the time that you have taken to share with me today

and with our viewers. And I want to say to

everybody viewing show up, say yes. Try

something new. Sing a silly song.

Crayons and adult coloring books came back 10

or so years ago. Do something silly. Do something and

celebrate something that maybe you've never tried before.

Music is in my heart, but every time I sing, I'm told to

stop. And all that does, Diane, is encourage

me to sing more, because it's in my heart and I

don't have to sound great. I. I still sing. I still

sing. And I think that's. That's such a gift. I give it to myself

somehow. It sounds good to me, but it doesn't sound good,

apparently, to anybody else. So. The arts. The arts,

the arts. Thank you for your life's work. Thank

you to that little girl who played Betsy Ross, who. Who.

Who played the role of someone who. Who created the American flag

for us. And through that experience, look what you have created

for so many other people. You're still putting stripes.

You're still putting stripes and stars. You're creating stars now

for other people. And I honor you for that. I thank you for that.

I. I am so appreciative, truly, Diane, just to

know you. Just to know you. And as I say to

everybody watching, go do something.

Go and look up JDS Studios. There's got to be

something that you can do through Diane's charities,

through her programs, to help a child, to encourage somebody

else. Just even support the arts. Do something

fun. And as we always say, you have a story.

We want to hear it here on BEP Talks. And until we talk again,

we say, may the best always be yet to come. And

I know when you say goodbye to me, you're jumping over on that other

side and going back and playing a

very, very beautiful role in the lives of those 30

people. Go talk to me. And keep doing it. Keep connecting the

dots. You are an amazing inspiration.

Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Bye. Bye.