The glamor of Hollywood.

It’s 10 a.m. and Amanda Kloots is driving her 2-year-old son to school while on a producers’ meeting. She arrives at work and multiple meetings follow. She heads into hair and makeup, while still being on producer calls right up until she gets dressed. She finishes her live TV show. She continues her busy day by working on projects, podcasts, and social media posts all-while still attending meetings. At 5 p.m. Kloots is back into mom mode with her son until 8 p.m. when he falls asleep. It’s then back to work until she falls asleep.

Welcome to the life of Amanda Kloots.

Kloots, a GlenOak graduate, is a bestselling author, Broadway actress, fitness instructor, and co-host of the talk show, The Talk. Kloots is a former Broadway dancer and actress and Radio City Rockette famously known for documenting her late husband’s struggles and journey with the COVID-19 virus on Instagram.

Kloots’ passion for entertainment started early when she was in fourth

grade at Pleasant View School for the Arts.

“I learned to dance, play the piano, and how to act and I fell in love with all of it,” Kloots said.

Her love for the arts continued throughout high school as Kloots joined the choir department at GlenOak and fell in love with performing, musicals, and singing.

For Kloots, being a part of choir, Drifters and Notables was just a small taste of what her future would be.

Two GlenOak choir teachers left a lasting impact on Kloots’ life: Brian Kieffer and Mary Meese.

“They encouraged me and helped me decide on college and if I should pursue acting or singing. They sat down with my family along this process which was helpful and great,” Kloots said.

With help from others, Kloots knew exactly what she wanted her career to be.

“Performing for me was nothing else, I wanted to be on Broadway. There wasn’t another option,” Kloots said.

However, being on Broadway is not an easy challenge to take on.

In the entertainment industry trying and failing is a huge part of success; you do not always get it right away. You have to break down before you build yourself up.

“You get told no a lot more than you get told yes. You have to come back the next day in hopes of getting told yes,” Kloots said.

Living in New York helped Kloots deal with repeated rejections. The big city forced her to keep trying again because without a job she knew it would be impossible to survive.

Kloots moved to New York when she was 18, throwing herself into the world of Broadway while also going to college.

“I was able to get student tickets to Broadway shows, forcing myself to see things and be places, right in the center of the culture and business so I could soak it up and learn by watching and admiring,” Kloots said.

Being in such a demanding industry requires a lot of sacrifices. However, Kloots did not sacrifice a family.

There is always a struggle balancing career and family, especially for Kloots now being a single mother. This is a constant struggle with asking for help and trying to figure all of the logistics out.

“I have about five different jobs. Being a mom is the top one, all the other jobs I am doing is to provide for my child,” Kloots said.

One of the multiple projects Kloots has recently completed was writing her book, Live Your Life: My Story of Loving and Losing Nick Cordero.

For Kloots, writing her book was very difficult since she had never written a book before. Luckily her little sister Anna Kloots was able to help write the book, who has had previous journalism experience.

“My book made me relive a lot of very painful, hard moments and trauma in my life. Eventually, it gave me a lot of therapy and helped me process everything a lot,” Kloots said.

It was hard logistically writing the book because Anna was living in Paris, and Amanda was in Los Angeles.

“Distance was hard for us, but eventually we got into a swing where because of the time difference it kind of helped us in a way. I would write and then go to bed, and then she would write,” Kloots said.

This experience turned out to be a refreshing one for Kloots, but it was also one of the most difficult.

Kloots has begun branching out lately into new endeavors like participating in Dancing with the Stars. 

“It was just wonderful, I had not performed or learned dances in seven years. It was a throwback to the lifestyle in New York,” Kloots said.

Kloots and her dance partner, Alan Bersten came in fourth place after having a season filled with praise from the judges and viewers.

“I felt like I was going back in time, so nice to go somewhere everyday and force myself to learn a new skill. I loved every second of it and I would do it again in a heartbeat,” Kloots said.

Kloots’ is widely known for appearing on Dancing with the Stars, being on Broadway and documenting her late husband’s struggles with the COVID-19 virus through Instagram. However, her journey started here at GlenOak and she has only just begun.

This story was originally published on The Eagle on March 16, 2022.