We were lucky to catch up with Mariana Gomez recently and have shared our conversation below.
Mariana, we’ve been so fortunate to work with so many incredible folks and one common thread we have seen is that those who have built amazing lives for themselves are also often the folks who are most generous. Where do you think your generosity comes from?
As a kid I was always a cute chubby kid, but it wasn´t so cute when I started growing up. I remember girls laughing behind my back since probably the age of 7. Then my brother was born, he was diagnosed with autism. I saw and heard kids laughing at him, yelling at him, he would come back with sand in his hair. It broke my heart every day. Something in me started to change, I wanted to never treat anyone bad in my life. That grew stronger when I experienced years of bullying in Middle School to the point where I ended up in the hospital. I knew there was nothing I could do about them, but there´s a lot I can do with how I make other people feel. I love gifts, curated gifts, those gifts that are exactly catered to a specific person. It makes them feel listened, loved and cared for. I guess the bullying I saw in my brother and experienced on my own really changed my life and made me who I am.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I am a Mexican actress and writer living in the crazy city of L.A. I followed the American Dream, and at 25 I am producer of a LIVE TV show. I was extremely grateful to receive two SE EMMY AWARDS when I was 22. I was not expecting them, since all I thought I was doing was extracting my feelings out of my body and putting them on screen, I didn´t think people would necessarily like them. But I learned, that if you don´t try, you´ll never know. A fun fact about me is that I speak 4 languages: Spanish, English, German and French. Loco!!! I love doing different characters in Spanish on TikTok, you can catch me there in my LIVES (whenever I remember) @mar.gomz.mx
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?
WOOOOOOOF!!!! One of the most important skills I had a super difficult time with was: learning how to stand up for yourself. I know, this one is tricky! Specially in my case, I was coming from a lot of trauma of all kinds, that was the last thing I wanted to do ever. I hated conflict. But with a couple of people at work, I realized if I did not stand up for myself I was the only one suffering. I had to understand NO ONE is going to judge you if you do it professionally and respectufully (I totally looked up on Google ¨How to Report someone to HR professionally¨).
Second one would be this one: You never know who you are sitting next to. GOLD! That one is GOLD! Meaning ALWAYS be kind because you never never know if you´re sittiing next to the next Bill Gates, Steve Jobs or Celine Dion. I would say, just to be sure… BE NICE.
The last one I think is the most valuable in the industry I am in and it´s: IT’S NOT A COMPETITION. I feel like we’re always rushing if we are in a big role or who got it, but trust me, it is much more healthier to focus on your own path, your own growth and even celebrating others achievements. It would make life way more lighter.
Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?
I mean.. who hasn’t been affected by the strike? I have friends who have nothing to do with it and whose jobs were extremely affected. Don’t get me wrong it’s absolutely necessary!!! I have seen with my own eyes AI creating fake voices, accents, videos of real people with moving lips, entire articles being not only written but shot and aired. I got into an angry crisis for a moment… Someone told me: “you’re wasting your time by writing and recording VO, even looking for footage, if you use this, you would have so much free time to do whatever you enjoy”, to what I responded “what if I enjoy writing? What is that is my passion? What if acting is my life-long passion? What if I enjoy doing the Voice over? What happens to me? Did I get replaced completely?” It’s a horrible existential crisis, I know, but let me tell you a secret: “it does not compare even a little bit to actual human emotions. It works? Yes. It’s fast? Yes. Is it the most wonderfully written and narrated piece I’ve seen in my life that makes me cry and want to save the world? Absolutely not!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @mar.gomz.mx
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariana-gomez-ruiz/
- Other: TikTok: @mar.gomz.mx
