Michele Kwasniewski

After graduating from Loyola Marymount University with a BA in Technical Theater, Michele Kwasniewski spent over fifteen years in film and television production. Starting out as a film set assistant on movies such as INDEPENDENCE DAY, FACE/OFF, PRIMAL FEAR, and EVITA, Michele eventually switched to the small screen and worked her way up the ladder to production manager, gaining experience on television shows such as BIG BROTHER, ADOPTION STORIES, EXTRA YARDAGE and MEET THE PANDAS. She is also a proud member of the Producers Guild of America. Michele’s colorful experiences in the industry inspired her to write THE RISE AND FALL OF DANI TRUEHART series. Michele lives in San Clemente, California with her husband, their son, and their disobedient dachshund. 

How does Dani Truehart’s journey highlight the tension between pursuing a dream and questioning whether it was ever truly her own?

Sometimes we get so caught up in our daily routines that we never stop to think about why we do the things we do; they simply become a matter of habit. Though fifteen-year-old Dani Truehart has spent more than a decade training to sing and dance, she never once questioned the long hours, missed birthday parties or blistered feet. Her love of entertaining is so genuine, she never thought to suspect why her mother insists she work so hard. She truly believes her mother only wants her to be happy. But when Dani is offered a recording contract by a famous producer, her daydream becomes a hard truth and for the first time Dani realizes how dramatically her life will change if she pursues a singing career.  She must decide if her love of entertaining is worth leaving behind her home, family and friends and giving up her life as she knows it or will she regret passing up a once in a lifetime chance to be a star because she was scared. The question of whether being a pop star is truly her own dream or her mother’s is an issue that resurfaces throughout the series as Dani experiences the rewards and pitfalls of fame

In what ways does parental ambition—especially her mother’s—shape Dani’s identity, and how does she begin to separate her voice from that influence?

While Dani has always loved to sing and dance, it was her mother’s obsession with fame and fortune that pushed her into endless dance and vocal lessons from the time she could walk, often pulling her out of school in order to practice. A natural people pleaser, Dani never questioned her mother’s ambitions to make her a star as anything other than a mother helping her achieve her dream. Dani accepted the diets, long hours of training and the push to succeed without question, assured that her mother loves her and has her best interests at heart. Her father Don never questioned her mother’s drive for Dani’s career, so she assumed nothing was wrong.
 
But Dani catches a glimpse of her mother Jodi’s motivations while they review the recording offer she receives from Jenner Redman. Her mother’s unvarnished greed and anger at the contract’s safeguarding of Dani’s future earnings, forces her to examine her mother’s reasons for pushing Dani so hard. Her father’s inability to stand-up to his wife causes Dani to question his love for her. As her career gains momentum, Dani realizes just how much she has given up in order to pursue her mother’s dreams of fame.

How does the transition from a normal teenage life to the high-pressure music industry impact Dani’s sense of self and belonging?

Having barely attended school as she trained to be a star, by the time Dani signs her recording contract, she is already alienated from a normal teenage life. But once she leaves her home and loved ones behind to record her debut EP, her sense of self and connection to her old life slowly slip away. From dawn into the dark of night, Dani’s days are filled with vocal rehearsals, dancing, tutoring and maintaining peak physical condition to prepare for her upcoming career. Without her sister, boyfriend or best friend to ground her, surrounded by strangers making decisions on her songs, costumes and more, Dani feels increasingly isolated and has trouble hanging on to who truly she as she is reinvented as a star

What role do Martin Fox and Jenner Redman play in Dani’s development, and how do their conflicting motivations complicate her path to success?

Martin Fox saw Dani’s star potential the minute she stepped into his dance studio years ago. He knew introducing her to his former band manager, Jenner Redman was the best way to make her a star. After experiencing Jenner’s managerial tactics firsthand as a teen member of one of Jenner’s 80’s boy-bands, Martin has no illusions that Jenner would care for Dani’s emotional development and goes to great length protect her. While Martin has the best of intentions, he is not a parent and his troubled history with Jenner at times prevents him from being a good guardian to Dani.  
 
Washed up and desperate for a comeback, Jenner Redman is surprised when his ungrateful former protégé reaches out with a lead on the next big pop star. After her stunning audition, he offers her a contract, too blinded by Dani’s earning potential to see her as anything but a second chance at a retirement plan. But as Jenner comes to know Dani and faces the hard truths of how he failed in managing Martin and his former bandmates, the callous music maven develops a bit of a conscience which changes the trajectory of Dani’s career in ways he cannot imagine.

How does isolation—being removed from friends, family, and familiarity—affect Dani’s emotional resilience and decision-making?

When Dani leaves home to record her EP, her isolation from her friends and family sends her into a depression which she is unable to fully articulate or understand. While she knows how lucky she is to be actively chasing her dream, she is the lone teen in a world of adults looking to make her into a profitable star. Missing out on school activities, unable to hang out with or speak to her friends and family only increase her anxiety. Her reactions are emotional and often she is unable to logically think through her emotions and issues because she has never been given the tools by her parents. Her isolation from everything she knows makes recording her EP an exciting, but emotionally unstable time for her.

What does the novel reveal about the cost of fame, particularly for someone so young and still forming their identity?

Rising Star brings to light the importance of parenting and boundaries in the pursuit of childhood fame. As talented as a child or teen may be, they do not possess the critical thinking, life experience or ability to make financial, legal or moral decisions for themselves in regard to legally binding contracts. While a child might be working as an actor or singer and earning millions, they still need the same guidance, education and unconditional support any child needs as they mature. Managers, agents or tutors are not adequate replacements for engaged parents. Just as you wouldn’t trust a dog to watch your porkchop, it is not realistic to allow a manager or guardian who is on a child-star’s payroll to make the best decisions in that child’s welfare which might run in direct contrast to their own financial interests. A parent who does not profit from their child’s earnings has the best shot of making decisions that will ensure the physical and emotional safety of their child and not force them into situations that are exploitative or too mature for their age.

How does Dani’s struggle to “find her voice” function both literally as a singer and metaphorically as a young woman?

Finding her voice something Dani grapple with throughout the series, both as a singer and a maturing teen. In Rising Star, Dani’s stage fright threatens to derail her pop star dream. A prickly lyricist makes Dani too nervous to perform as does suffocating imposter syndrome and fears letting both Jenner and Martin after they have worked so hard to give her the opportunity to record her EP. But Dani must find her voice across her professional and personal life, learning to speak up for herself, which is hard for a people pleaser girl. From coming to terms with her overbearing, jealous stage mom, the antagonistic dynamic between Martin and Jenner and keeping the relationships going with her boyfriend and best friend Dani must go beyond just trying to make the people around her happy and tell themhow she really feels or risk being bulldozed over on the road to fame. 

In what ways do trust and power dynamics influence Dani’s relationships with the adults managing her career?

Trust and shifting power dynamics with the adults managing her career are a crucial theme throughout The Rise And Fall Of Dani Truehart trilogy. In order to create a pop singing sensation, every adult shepherding Dani toward fame inevitably drops the ball in safeguarding Dani’s mental health. Dani’s stage mom Jodi scheduled her childhood away with daily dance lessons, vocal training, diets and a shameful amount of missed school days. The result is a lack of critical thinking and emotional intelligence children develop in the classroom as well as on the playground. 
 
Dani’s blind trust in her parents, her vocal/dance coach Martin Fox, and her manager Jenner Redman are not only the key to her landing a recording contract but make her more compliant in the recording studio. Dani never questions the grueling rehearsal or recording schedules, the isolation from her friends and family or any demands her mother, her vocal/dance coach or her manager. Not realizing she is being pushed to the brink of mental health, she naively believes the adult advisors her have her best interest in heart and any distress she is experiencing will be worth the fame she eventually achieves.  Once stardom is achieved and she’s earning millions, Dani finally starts to push back at the restrictive management of the adults around her. Forced to choose between trying to discipline the out-of-control teenage pop star they created or risk losing their paycheck, the power dynamic eventually shifts in Dani’s favor, but can she handle it? 

How does the story explore the idea that success on the outside doesn’t always reflect fulfillment on the inside?

From the very beginning, Dani is urged by first her dance/vocal coach Martin to guard herself against her future fans and develop a stage persona because he knows from his own career as a former member of an iconic boy-band, that fans who love to raise up a celebrity to the heights of popularity, inevitably love just as much to watch their downfall. However, being so young at the start of her career, Dani can’t conceive of a moment where her fans will turn on her and gets caught in a self-destructive loop of not only believing her own hype in the press, but believing the rules of life don’t apply to her because of her fame. Later in the series, she comes to terms with her personal accountability, not only to herself, friends and family, but to the world at large because of the public platform her fame affords her. She must decide whether she wants to continue on a path of selfish attention-seeking or perhaps use her influence to shape the world and it’s future.

At its core, what is the novel suggesting about the importance of agency—especially when the world seems determined to define your future for you?

Throughout the series, Dani Truehart grapples with finding her voice. Trusting to a fault, her only hope for self-preservation is to figure out what she wants and find a way to articulate that in a meaningful way to her management team, family, friends and also to the world at large. While most of us will not become world famous singing sensations, each one of us is challenged to live by our own morals amid the pressure of friends, family, and whatever society deems right and just. We all must strive to live by our conscience, make the hard choices which are not necessarily the easy ones. Teens are just beginning to find their voice as they start to think and act more independently from their parents and explore how they see the world. Dani must do that in the public eye without the benefit of close friends or supportive parents to guide her along and she succeeds and fails many times before she figures out how to be her own best advocate.

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