STAR STUDENT Teresa Tuan: Woman of Many Talents
I am fascinated by creativity: what it is, where it comes from, how to channel it, and who possesses it (I think we all do, in our own ways). Some artistic people I’ve met, upon discovering their creative calling, devote themselves intensely to the pursuit of one particular craft, with a single-mindedness that borders on obsession.
Then there’s Teresa Tuan. For people like her, creativity is much too wild and unruly to be confined to just one direction. She writes songs with artists in country, R&B, pop, and electronic genres, playing keyboards, acoustic and electric guitars, and whatever else is needed in her home recording studio.
Now we learn that she has just won a coveted spot in the Paramount Studios Writers Mentoring Program for aspiring television writers. From over a thousand applicants, just seven young people (below) have been chosen to work closely with showrunners, producers, and other industry insiders to learn the business and develop projects. Any number of writers currently working in television got their start in this incubator of talent.
Oh, I almost forgot — barely into her thirties, Teresa is also a pediatrician, having started college at 12 and medical school at 16. So clearly there is some sort of embarrassment-of-riches level of brains and talent at work here. But what I find so striking about Teresa is not just her brilliance but her humility, curiosity, and true “beginner’s heart”. She is interested in everything, asking very thoughtful questions, and then (this is her super power) actually LISTENING TO THE ANSWER! She even takes notes, which I take as a challenge to say something worth writing down :)
Teresa took years of classical piano growing up, so she has an excellent working knowledge of music, but guitar is organized quite differently, and many piano players find the neck of the guitar maddeningly fractured and non-linear. Rather than getting frustrated, Teresa seems to enjoy figuring out the puzzle of guitar and peppers me with queries about power chords, extended voicings, composition, etc. This endless curiosity combined with her phenomenal attention span seems to me to be the hallmark of a mind that is constantly seeking to make connections.
Teresa has also mentioned that her experiences as a pediatrician have given her a wealth of material for her screenwriting. I imagine that every day spent caring for babies, children, and teens, as well as for their mothers and fathers, in both sickness and in health, gives you a front row seat to the drama of the human story.
On top of all this, Teresa was born in the US to parents who immigrated from Taiwan, so she grew up fully bilingual in Mandarin and English. As a student of languages myself (Greek is my favorite!), I’ve long believed that language facilitates integration of various parts of the brain, so exposure to multiple languages can only amplify the effect.
So while we can’t all be pediatrician/songwriter/guitar-player/screenwriters, I do find it encouraging to be reminded that creativity takes many forms, surprising us with its inter-connected sources and expressions, and I think we would all do well not to underestimate our artistic selves.