We were lucky to catch up with Pilar Gonzalez recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Pilar, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
My resilience was learned and is fueled by a few things, firstly, my mom – I will always give her credit whenever I have the opportunity to. My mom raised my brothers and me by herself and with the help of my aunts and uncles when we were at our most awkward – tweenhood. My mom, the amazing Yrene Santos, is also an artist – she is a poet and an educator who both directly and indirectly taught us that there is no limit to what we can do. This, thankfully, became my inner voice as I grew up and also chose an artistic life. I grew up seeing my mom work in multiple schools in NYC at the same time, come home after a long commute on the train to read us a poem that she had written. This simple act instilled in me that if you really want something, you have no choice but to carve out the time and energy to work towards it. However, this is definitely easier said than done, so I often remind myself that I am never going to know how close I am to a goal if I stop, and that always keeps me going. I always say that if I “make it” it won’t necessarily be because of talent, it’ll probably be because I never gave up.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I am an actor who just moved to Los Angeles a little over a year ago from Queens, New York. Being an actor, or any of the collaborative roles in this industry, is immensely special because we’re all just a bunch of complex lovers of humanity. We want to tell stories and play and explore the intricacies of life because we, in our souls, feel that we must! This is complex because, often, it can feel like a lonely existence, which I’m seeing more now having moved to LA. But to me, that just means that I have to proceed with more intention. So, in order to find a sense of community here as well as feed myself creatively, I started taking classes at The Groundlings, which is really lighting my fire and is so fun. I also just voiced the Dominican marine biologist Idelisa Bonnelly in “Time Traveling Tonya,” a children’s history podcast series co-produced by Monique Madrid, and I am playing the lead in a short film written and directed by Alex Vásquez Escaño, shooting this January in NYC. Aside from acting, I recently translated one of my mom’s books of poetry, Después de la lluvia (After the Rain), and we hope that it will be published by the end of the year. This list is serving as a visual reminder that even though I, and many of my fellow creatives I’m sure, feel that we don’t ever do enough, when you sit and write it down, you realize that you actually do plenty!
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Hunger for knowledge and skill, discipline, and a collaborative spirit. To those who are in the early stages of their journey I would urge them to just DO, and I think that applies to any kind of goal one might have, not just the creative ones. If you are able to develop the muscle memory and good habit of just doing without judgement, whether that be writing, producing, cooking, whatever it might be, you will have an easier time listening to your inner voice and trusting your gut. You will have an easier time of not being crippled by procrastination and perfectionism (which is what I constantly battle with). You will understand sooner than I did that “it’s not precious,” which is something I first heard here and now is becoming a mantra. In terms of having a collaborative spirit – keep your eyes open for those around you who want to work with you and help you and seek out who you want to work with as well, and don’t be shy about reaching out. Slowly, you’ll create a like-minded community and this life is just more fun and bearable that way. Lastly, never assume that you know everything – there is always more to learn and improve upon. See how good you can get!
How can folks who want to work with you connect?
Creating work has become increasingly important. You want to see yourself represented in our culture in honest, whole ways, and who better to tell your stories than you? My destructive and self-sabotaging thoughts when it comes to this are: “well, I don’t have money, I don’t know people with equipment, I don’t have this, I don’t have that…” I seem to forget that I’ve done it before and can do it again! I want to surround myself with folks who can empathize with that thinking, but who have their ways of coping and do. The empathy part of this is important because we’re not robots – we feel! But it’s our job to work through those thoughts and push through enough to make something and fulfill ourselves. I want to work with folks who practice accountability and can learn from me the same way I can learn from them. I want to shoutout Jessica Heath and Frank Krueger of The Annex Acting Studio because without them, I wouldn’t have been able to sit down and write my first short! Now, it’s about putting together a team to make it happen. If anyone wants to connect with me, the best ways would be through email: [email protected] or Instagram: @p.gonzy. DM me!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @p.gonzy
Image Credits
Photos by Rex Lott and Kat Peña
