We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ciera Harding. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ciera below.
Hi Ciera, we’re so appreciative of you taking the time to share your nuggets of wisdom with our community. One of the topics we think is most important for folks looking to level up their lives is building up their self-confidence and self-esteem. Can you share how you developed your confidence?
Building my confidence and self esteem has been a long journey, but I wouldn’t change any of it!
Starting out in the world, I’d say I had a solid foundation of self confidence and worth, that came from my family. I grew up with nicknames like “pretty girl”. “beautiful” and “baby girl” or my dad’s favorite abbreviated version “BBGs!”. So, I kind of always knew that I was beautiful. And on days I didn’t feel it, there were people around me who loved me, who would remind me ’til they were blue in the face. Also, I loved expressing myself through fashion. My mom would let me create outfits for myself and just let me rock whatever I decided, even if it did look a little wild! That gave me a good foundation of self-esteem and autonomy! I am so blessed to have had that foundation, because the outside world wasn’t as loving and kind.
Middle school and high school were very hard years for me. I wasn’t seen or known as the “pretty. popular girl” at all and the boys I was crushing on, seemed to be very offended when they found out I had a crush on them. These years really changed the way I viewed myself. I let the opinions of others weigh so heavily on me, that I had completely re-wired they way I looked at myself in the mirror.
The defining moment that really changed the way I felt about myself, happened one day after gym class. We had lunch after gym, so I always took my time getting dressed and preparing for the other half of the day. I was walking to the cafeteria alone. Along the pathway, on the other side, there was this boy named Troy, (who I had a huuuge crush on) and two of his friends. As we were passing each other, he turns to his boys and then points in my direction and yells “Look y’all! There’s Ciera, she’s sooo ugly!” And all the boys started to burst out laughing, like this was the funniest thing they’ve ever heard. And I’m yelling “shut up!” as I walk as fast as I can to the cafe. I remember immediately calling my mom and crying to her on the phone about what happened. There wasn’t much she could’ve done, but she did tell me that wasn’t true and to never let anyone steal my joy. I had countless moments like that in high school and I carried that baggage with my to collegiate years as well.
It wasn’t until the end of my Junior year of college, that I started to build a new stronger foundation to stand on in terms of confidence and self-esteem. If there’s anything I didn’t have to re-build upon, it was my personality. I loved to make people smile and laugh and feel good about themselves, because I knew what it was like to have someone make me feel the opposite. I believe what changed the way I saw myself, was how I spoke to myself. I would say such negative things! “Oh, maybe you really are ugly” and “You’d probably actually be pretty, if you had better hair” or “You don’t have a sense of fashion at all”. Such nasty things, that were taking up so much space in my brain! Once I changed the negative talk to positive and started to hype myself up daily, things really turned around! I now could probably spend all day in the mirror telling myself how beautiful, talented and funny I am, which I am so grateful for!
Truly the main thing that got me to the headspace I’m in today, is nothing but God. I did a 7-day, water-only fast about 2 1/2 years ago. It fully re-vamped me! I just focused on God and asked him in prayer multiple times a day, to show me what He sees and it changed everything! He really took the time to show me what makes me special, how I’m fearfully and wonderfully made, and made in His image. Now I see a beautiful, determined, go-getter, who can achieve every single goal she has!
At the end of the day, you cannot listen to the opinions of others. If you do, take them with a grain of salt and combat the negative things with the truth! Once I freed myself from thinking that nay-sayers have any say at all and found out I have the power to control who and what I let affect me, things got so much better!
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I am a Singer/Songwriter and actor! I came to Los Angeles 4 years ago, from Pittsburgh, PA. I went to school there at Point Park University, where I received my BFA in Acting. Acting is absolutely my first love! I’ve been acting for as long as I can remember. I truly could not imagine what life would be like, if I didn’t get to do what I love daily!
Right now, I’m in ‘The Little Mermaid’ X CAMP immersive experience. It’s in the Westfield Century City Mall and I have the amazing opportunity to sing for little kids and to every adults’ “Inner Child”! It’s an hour long experience. You get to go under the sea to Triton’s Kingdom and hang out with mermaids and other sea creatures. I get to sing all your favorites from the movie, from “Part of Your World” to “Poor Unfortunate Souls”! It’s a blast and a half and you can buy your tickets now at: camp.com/disney-the-little-mermaid. I’d love to see you all there!
As much as I enjoy acting, singing is also a very huge part of my career right now. I am so excited to share with you all, that every month (on a Sunday) at The Stowaway in Downtown Los Angeles, I have a 2-hour happy hour set! I sing for the full two hours, doing covers we all know and love and originals. My next date has officially been set for October 27th. It’s from 6pm-8pm and it’s a free event! This will be my third show at The Stowaway and the first show to kick off my 27th year of life! On October 24th, I’ll be officially turning 27. So, I’m considering this my birthday show and would love to celebrate with you all!
I’d say from all of this, I’m focused on creating a life for myself where I am always doing what I love. My main goals for my career at the moment, would be to perform live as much as I can, to go on a tour and release my EP! I’d love to open for a major artist and promote my EP once it drops. Then in turn do a tour of my own! I have so much faith in my myself and God, that I will achieve all of these goals and cannot wait to share my future successes with you all.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Looking back, I believe that having perseverance, humility, and a great sense of self-confidence; are qualities that have been most impactful on my journey to my purpose.
Perseverance is so important. Without this, I feel it gives us an ‘easy out’ to quit when things get hard. Or even, when we’ve been working so hard and not seeing any major results, to get into a ‘woe is me’ mindset. A career in the entertainment industry, no matter the field, is so hard to accomplish. It doesn’t happen overnight! If it seems that way for some, I’m sure they could tell you, they’ve been putting in the work for years, it just seems sudden to you. If we want it, we have to go get it! The thing I enjoy most about perseverance, is that you know all the trials, tribulations and hardships you’ve gone through or are going through won’t last forever. It continues to build up your character in ways that just quitting wouldn’t have done. The things that you want most in life are not super easy to grasp and if it was that easy, everyone would be doing it!
Humility is a huge one for me, because you’ve got to be humble to learn! When I came to school as a freshman acting major at Point Park, everyone was so good. It seemed that every single person had been training since they were in the womb or went to the best high school conservatory in their state. That was nerve-racking. Mostly, because it was showing me, I had a lot of work to do. Although, instead of letting my pride get the best of me and having this ego trip that “no matter what, I was still the best”, I came in just willing to learn more! At times it was rough, I would do a monologue that was really challenging for me, do a horrendous job and then hear just how horrendous it was from certain classmates after class… which sucked. But it did make me stronger and helped me not to be afraid to look dumb or make mistakes in front of classmates. In the end, it all worked out. I ended up being cast as the lead my Senior year, in our big fall production of “Vinegar Tom” and was so proud of myself! Being in the mindset to just be vulnerable and learn, really helped me achieve my goals!
Having a great sense of self-confidence, has gotten me to where I am today, in a major way. As you read before, I had to build this self-confidence up again throughout my schooling years. Once I had a great grasp on who I believed myself to be, it worked wonders! I think you’ve got to be a little crazy and a lot of bold to go after the things you want. One of the boldest moves I ever made was moving to LA during the pandemic. I was supposed to be moving to LA with a very good friend of mine, so we could take LA by storm together. It didn’t work out that way at all. I ended up having to go all by myself and I was actually terrified to go at it alone. I knew though, who I was. I knew that I was very adaptable to whatever environment I was in. I was very outgoing and friendly with a very sunny optimistic outlook on life, and that with God all things were possible! So, I continued on quite afraid, but still did it anyway! If I didn’t know who I was, deep down, I believe I would not have lasted this long in LA. My strong foundation of self has kept me here and every year I grow more and more into the wonderful woman I was always destined to become!
If there’s any advice I would give on developing these qualities, it would be don’t be afraid to fail or look silly! The first time you do anything isn’t going to be great, but the chances of greatness will multiply if you don’t give up. Also, be sure to always follow your gut and do what’s best for you! Do not make decisions based off pleasing others or what others will think of you. You know deep down what you need to do to succeed! And if you don’t, ask for the help of those who love and want what’s best for you.
What was the most impactful thing your parents did for you?
The most impactful thing my parents have ever done for me, would be fully supporting me and my dreams! My parents (and little brother) have been my biggest cheerleaders since day one! They have encouraged me to be the best at whatever it is I wanted to do. Moreover, that I knew I could always come home, if I need a place to start back over. Since I was young my parents have told me and my brother daily that we were destined for greatness! My brother and I actually have these posters, that have pictures of us doing what we love. In my case it’s all photos from musicals and plays I’ve been in and on the bottom in huge letters it says: “Destined for Greatness”! I look at it all the time, as a reminder that even on my worst days, my parents are proud of me and will always be my biggest fans. They have made an effort no matter where I am, to come and support any show I’ve ever been in. They also were key players in helping me get settled and navigate the vast land of LA. They have been there to support me with every major career decision I’ve made thus far. It will forever mean the world to me, that as much as I’m achieving these goals for myself, I’m also doing it for them! They have been my solid rock support system forever and I know they will continue to be. My family or “the core four” as I like to call us, have a family group chat and the amount of inspirational messages, words of encouragement and funny memes (of course haha) are endless. It is such a blessing that ,I have a beautiful family foundation, to lean on no matter the circumstance. Thank you so so much mom and dad for raising me and helping me grow into who I am today. I would not be where I am today, without your constant love and support!! I love you!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hardingciera
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@CiciHarding
- Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@cieraharding
Image Credits
Knotty.PNG
Zari Rose
Good Day LA
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
