Episode #62: Elana Safar
Elana Safar is a New York-based stage & screen actress, singer, and educator and holds a BA from Brandeis University and a Master's degree in Educational Theater from New York University. She has appeared on television shows like "Quantico," "The Blacklist", "Damages," the web series, "Small Miracles," and has worked alongside legendary theatre performers like Brooke Shields and Tovah Feldshuh.
As the daughter of a doctor and a nurse, she learned early on in life that staying preventatively well was paramount to living a high-quality life. Therefore, from a young age, she fostered a deep interest in everything "wellness" from food to fitness to mindfulness and wound up working professionally for many years for wellness companies, supporting initiatives and campaigns to health people live happier, healthier lives. These days, Elana stays busy teaching musical theater at a middle school, producing short films, auditioning for television, and appearing in staged readings of new plays and musicals. Staying healthy and feeling good is vital to her ability to sing and perform optimally, not to mention, enjoy everything life has to offer.
For Elana Safar, navigating the world isn’t always simple. That’s because she has multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS), a condition where the body reacts to chemicals often found in perfumes, colognes, deodorants, cleaning solutions, and beyond. Elana is very sensitive to synthetic fragrances, and she encounters them on a daily basis, whether she’s riding the bus or subway, auditioning for a role or working on set, eating at a restaurant, or attending a Broadway show. On today’s episode, Elana and I talk about the physical symptoms of MCS and how the condition impacts her day-to-day life. We also discuss why it’s uniquely hard to ask people to refrain from using perfumes, and her hope that, one day, fragrance-free spaces will be the norm.
“I want us to live in a world where we recognize fragrance-free spaces.”
Here are some of the things Elana and I chatted about:
What multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) is, and the substances she’s particularly sensitive to
Watching her parents becoming sensitive to fragrance before she had any symptoms herself
Being aware of problems fragrances can pose, in part thanks to her father’s neurology practice
Stopping using perfume to respect her parents, and then realizing she noticed it everywhere
The types of products where fragrances lurk, including scented deodorant and body washes
The Instagram post she created to create awareness about MCS and its impact on her life
Specifying “no fragrance” on her call sheets, and the response she’s received from others
Needing to plan an “escape route” for every situation she’s in, and how that can be isolating
How MCS impacts her work as an actor, and the challenges auditions and working on set pose
The fear that if you complain or are “difficult,” it will be harder to find work and gigs in the future
How it can be especially difficult for her to bring up the issue of perfume with good friends
Her hope that the issue of scent can be introduced into HR manuals and workplace etiquette
As a skincare lover, the brands and products she does like that don’t trigger her sensitivity
“A lot of people silently suffer because they’re so afraid to speak up.”
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