Today we’d like to introduce you to Kandyce Marie
Hi Kandyce Marie, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
These are always so hard to fill out because someone’s story consists of so many things. However, I’ll start here, I’m a divorced single mother with 2 incredible children. My son and daughter are my world. And while I am a mother first, I have always raised my children to know that I’m so much more than just their mom.
I’m a local performer who has been blessed with many opportunities to travel the world. To name a few, I played Aida in Tim Rice and Elton John’s Aida 3 times here in Utah as well as played the same role in select cities in Nederlander’s International China broadway tour of Aida. I was also privileged to travel the world with Creative Studios by Norwegian Cruise Line as a production cast principal. More recently, I was seen in the Utah Premiere of Passing Strange at Salt Lake Acting Company.
I remember when I was pregnant with my son, the amount of people that told me I would never perform again was disheartening. But, I knew I’d perform again. Maybe not to the capacity that I had in the past, but I truly believed that I could do it all. It’s all about finding balance. I still remember the first time my kids saw me on stage. It was magical for all 3 of us. In a way it was a huge middle finger to all those who said I wouldn’t perform again. At my core I’m a creative, so it’s not surprising that my children have taken to their creative sides as well.
A few short years after our divorce, my kid’s father and I found out that our son was showing signs of autism. In 2020 my son was officially diagnosed with both Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Unspecified Anxiety Disorder (UAD). That was a huge change for all of us that came with a lot of unknown and worry. I often wondered what the world would be like for my son as he got older. Would people accept him? Would he be misunderstood? Would he ever be able to live outside of the family home? Would he make friends? All these questions and more ran through my head constantly for the first few years.
One day I thought about sharing our story and Thee Royal Three was born. I wanted to share our real wins and challenges of our family. People tend to only share the good on social media and ASD was still very new to us, so I thought there may be others out there in the same boat. I wanted to be a space where others could relate as well as provide a space for me to not only be creative, but to share what I learned about parenting a neurodivergent child all while being a divorced single parent that had goals and aspirations of her own.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
While my little family has had and continues to have some amazing wins, we definitely have had our fair share of challenges. When my son was first diagnosed with ASD and UAD, his father had a really hard time accepting his diagnosis. Which forced me to handle a lot of it on my own for the first few years.
Granted, everyone works through things the way they need to. However, it was especially hard as a one income single parent household learning to navigate all of this on my own. I didn’t want to let my son down. So I had to quickly learn about resources my son needed to thrive all while making sure our neurotypical daughter didn’t feel left out due to her brother needing more attention.
I went from setting up family therapy, weekly occupational therapy, and a 504 for school. I had to explain to teachers that my son masked all day with them and would come home from school and have extreme meltdowns leaving it where homework was impossible to complete and so much more. It was a nightmare because despite having an official diagnosis, the teachers didn’t agree that my son needed the extra resources. That quickly became another fight on my plate. After a lot of debating, I finally got my son his 504! My son’s level of success has gone up 10 times since then. I would be exhausted from it all, but let me tell you, I always had the energy to advocate for my boy. Don’t take no for an answer if your child needs more resources. You know your child best.
To make things more challenging on myself, because your girl has goals, I recently started a business. I’m in the pre-launch phase so it’s not something I’m able to discuss yet, but navigating everything can be hard when you’re doing it alone. So stay tuned. 😉
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I always say I’m an Artist/Creative first. I’m always looking for the next show to perform in or ways to fulfill my creative side. But the bills gotta be paid, so during the day I’m a full time HR Generalist. When people ask me what I do for work I always joke and say that I “babysit grown folks.” Most people laugh at the comment because they know it’s true. 🙂
Locally, I am best known for my theatre credits, having worked at HCT West Valley, Sandy, and Orem. My performances have also been seen on other Utah stages, including Park City’s Egyptian Theatre, Salt Lake Acting Company, and, more recently, Lagoon. Additionally, I have been a featured vocalist in several High School Broadway Benefit concerts organized by Casey Elliott, where my children had the opportunity to see me perform for the first time. This experience stands out as one of the highlights of my performing career. Beyond theatre, I am also a vocalist in the local Utah Live Bands Motown Tribute Band, The Sugatones.
Since I don’t get to perform as often as I used to, I have to find other ways to be creative. Much of my creativity now goes into Thee Royal Three, where we share our wins and challenges on our journey of learning more about autism and neurodiversity, raising kids as a single parent, and advocating for mental health. I also frequently share my current performing opportunities, offering a behind-the-scenes look at what I do.
I was recently diagnosed with ADHD and OCD, and as I learn to navigate both, I’ll be incorporating this journey into our platform. The kids and I love making videos together, and many of our sillier content ideas come from them. As their mom, it’s so fun to see their creativity.
Although people have mixed feelings about social media, it has provided us with an amazing outlet. Over the years, we have built an incredible community by sharing our story, and some of our followers have become dear friends in real life.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
Ways to support us is simple, like and share our content.
I love meeting new people, so I’m always down for a collaboration. You can reach out via Instagram, YouTube, or Facebook @theeroyalthree or feel free to email theeroyalthree@gmail.com. Please be patient if it takes me some time to respond. While I always do my best to respond to everyone, mommy duties be callin. 😉
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theeroyalthree
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theeroyalthree
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@theeroyalthree
- Other: https://linktr.ee/theeroyalthree
