My TRAVEL Self Tape Set Up

The industry has changed quite a bit and self tapes are now 90% of the way we audition. The upside of this is that we are no longer tied to being in LA in order to get opportunities. We can literally be anywhere in the world, still auditioning and taking our shots at getting jobs. It can be difficult to find the best lighting in hotel rooms so I typically bring along these tiny lights just to help. They are super light weight and fit in my carryon.

You can click on the images and they will take you to the Amazon Links.

I also usually pack an extension cord just incase the outlets are far and these lights don’t have long enough cords.

My Self Tape Set Up

Many of you have asked what equipment I use when doing my self tapes, so here is a list of the products I like. If you click the images it should take to you the amazon link:

This blue/gray backdrop has made a world of difference in my audition tapes. I was shooting on a white wall before, which worked, and was fine, but I think the blue contrast makes my skin look much better.

This is the stand and the clip you use to hold the blue/gray backdrop in place. You attach the clip to adjustable stand so you can raise or lower the backdrop and then the clip will hook on to the blue/gray backdrop to keep it in place.

I use this computer stand when I have to do zoom/ virtual auditions. I prefer using my computer over my phone because I think it’s easier to see everyone who’s in the room (director, other actors I’m playing the scene with, etc). It moves up and down too so it works well if you need to get a full body shot, or change your set up to be seated in your audition.

How I Learned to Keep Promises with Myself

If you know me, you know how much I LOVE dessert. It’s an obsession. It’s such a large part of my identity that my friends correlate any kind of sweet treat with me and vice versa. They’d send me articles about new ice cream shops opening up. I’d get forwarded instagram posts about places offering free dessert. Anytime we’d plan to hang out, they always knew that there would be some kind of dessert adventure in store. If not, they literally thought something was wrong with me and questioned if I was the “real” Nikki. I love dessert so much, I would eat it after every meal!

In more recent years, many of my family members (including my parents’ dog Chewy) developed Type 2 diabetes. I know that I should not be eating so much sugar, but I’m pretty sure I was addicted to it. I’d try to get myself to go on “Dessert Diets” where I would tell myself I wouldn’t eat dessert for a certain number of days. Like any true addiction, I could never get past day 3 without caving and satisfying my cravings. The only motivation that could even get me through those 3 days was doing the challenge with an accountability partner so that in my mind, I related breaking the diet with not being a good friend and breaking a promise to him/her. 

I thought it was so interesting how difficult it was for me to hold myself to that commitment. Why couldn’t I just do it because I told myself to do it? I go to the gym even when I’m not feeling quite up to it. I went through years of school, studying, getting my masters, all while doing a whole bunch of work I didn’t want to do. I even conditioned myself out of biting my nails when I was a kid. So why was I incapable of giving up dessert?

I didn’t crack the code until I had the opportunity to attend Tony Robbins’ conference this past year. He addressed our limiting beliefs and what stops us from achieving what we want in life. He helped me realize that I had tied dessert so strongly to my identity and as a positive thing in my life that taking dessert away would create a sense of identity crisis unless I replaced my current beliefs about dessert with different beliefs that would reframe my relationship with it. Subconsciously, I was also eating dessert in rebellion to the judgemental industry I’m in that constantly shames artists for not looking a certain way. Eating dessert was my way of saying, “Watch me eat ice cream and cookies, enjoy my life, and still be able to work as an actress!” Little did I realize, it was causing me to overindulge to a point that I couldn’t resist temptation. I became addicted to not just sugar, but to the identity of who I was in relation to it. I figured, dessert makes people happy and if they relate dessert with me, then they’ll be happy when they think of me. It worked! But it was at the detriment of my health.

It really bothered me that I COULDN’T tell myself no to dessert, even if I tried. I would give in. I would give up on any commitments I made to stay away from it. I would just “do what I wanted” and keep with my old habits because it wasn’t negatively affecting me in the moment. That was until Tony Robbins gave me this revelation. He said that every time you break a commitment to yourself, you are creating self doubt, you are disrespecting yourself, and you are teaching yourself that the words you say don’t matter. He likened the situation to a friend telling you that they were going to show up and do something, then they don’t. Most likely you would’ve started not to trust them, maybe lost respect for them, and conjured some doubt about them. That was literally the light bulb moment. It hit me that I spend so much of my time and energy trying to manifest my reality, saying affirmations, putting my intentions into the world of what I want to receive, creating vision boards and visualizing the life I want to live. Realizing that I was weakening my word and diminishing my self confidence and self trust was something I could no longer stand for. 

At Tony Robbins doing our Power Poses! Ready to take on the world!

From the moment I learned that lesson, I decided to go on a Dessert Diet, and managed to stick to my goal for a full 40 days straight! I did it by facing temptation with the statement that I will not let dessert diminish my self worth and I am refraining from indulging in it for the purpose of building my self control and self respect, because I want my body to know that my word matters. What I say, I mean. What I say, I’ll do. I am trustworthy. I am a woman of my word. And I’m holding strong to instill those lessons into my being. The crazy thing was that it was just a shift in mentality, a reframing of my relationship to a specific action, and that’s all I needed to change my habit. It was life changing. And now I’ve proven to myself over and over since then, that I can do ANYTHING I put my mind to. 

Defining What SUCCESS Means to YOU

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything…

The past year and a half I decided to reprioritize my life, giving “entertainment” only a piece of my time pie. I have been grinding for years and years in the entertainment business, and don’t get me wrong, I love this business and can’t imagine life without it… but I had been given a once in a lifetime opportunity that I really couldn’t turn down.

My best friend, Angelia Trinidad, who founded the company Passion Planner, decided that she was going to go on sabbatical and wanted to shoot a documentary in the Philippines. She asked me to be her assistant as she traveled the world, to help her with logistics and make sure everything run smoothly. It’s actually quite ironic that for years I had been writing IN MY Passion Planner that “I want(ed) to get paid to travel the world.” And here I was, being presented with the opportunity to GET PAID to travel the world WITH my best friend. It sounded like a dream offer. However, I did know that that meant I would be out of town a lot, away from Los Angeles, and away from opportunity.

It’s funny how hostage you can feel to LA when you’re an actor. You fear leaving for that slight chance that you’d miss that one big audition that’d take your career to the next level. You worry that your reps will drop you and you’ll come back having to start at the bottom again. And to be honest, it is kind of true. When you lose momentum in this business, YOU DO have to start all over again, reinvent yourself, and get back on the grind. It is hard. It is scary. But on the flip side… sometimes you’ve just got to take opportunities as they are given to you, because you never know if you’ll get them again and waiting on the business is no guarantee.

My philosophy is to do what makes me happy everyday, so that when I look back, I can say I led a happy life. I weighed my options and decided that even though I was coming off arguably my BEST year in acting that I’d ever had, it would be worth partially “leaving” the business to take this opportunity with Angel. As I continue to get older and realize that soon enough I’ll find myself settling down and starting a family, I won’t be able to get up and go wherever, whenever, like I do now. So this was the time and the opportunity and I was going to take it.

It’s really important to me that I am growing in all aspects of life. That I am becoming the best, most well-rounded human being that I can be. I know that people say if you want to be SUCCESSFUL you need to FOCUS. But have you ever stopped to really think about what YOU believe “success” is?

Typically, people associate “success” to a person’s accomplishments, financial wealth, title and status. For me, success is: being happy and being free… getting to do what I want, when I want, where I want, with whom I want. For me, that means doing ALL the things in life that make me happy: acting, traveling, speaking, mentoring, volunteering, spending time with the people I love, playing, etc. So it’s not about me focusing on one thing… because that wouldn’t make me happy… SUCCESS would be having time to do everything I love.

I’m really glad that I figured out what “success” means to me and am not mindlessly striving to achieve other people’s definition of it. Before I knew what it meant to me, I stressed about not living up to societal standards, when those standards didn’t even bring me happiness. All I did was shift my mindset and I realized that I’m living just fine. I don’t need to be like everyone else, or anyone else. I am just living how I choose to live my life and that’s the perfect way to live it. I feel more successful than I’ve ever felt.

I challenge you to take a look at your life… take account of how you are spending your time. What are you focusing on? It is helping drive you towards your definition of success?

What Would You Want Your Tombstone to Say?

I know the title is a bit morbid... but it's also one of the most powerful questions that anyone has ever asked me.

Sometimes I feel like I'm in this consistent battle of knowing what to prioritize in my life: work, family, relationships, health, socializing, etc. It's so easy to get caught up in all the DOINGS of life... What am I doing? Where am I going? What's happening? And at times, I feel like I loose sight of the big picture. I get overwhelmed or stressed over small things that in the grand scheme of things... really means nothing and will soon pass.

When I can just take a step back and say, "What really matters?" I find it helpful to have these more specific questions that help me narrow down my answer to that. When I was venting to my roomie/ best friend Shawn about feeling lost and not really knowing where to focus my attention, time, and energy, he asked me the question, "Well, what would you want your tombstone to say?" I found it a funny question at first but it really did make me think... When I die, how do I want to be remembered? Do I want to be known as the "Famous and Talented Actress Nikki SooHoo who had a very successful career," or the "Best Friend, Daughter, Mother, and Woman who brought light into people's lives, spreading happiness, positivity, and love into the world." 

Don't get me wrong... of course I want to be successful and great at what I do... but is that the FIRST thing that I'd want people to think of when they think of me?

Recently, many events in my life have made me realize how fragile life is... how easily it can be taken away from us, or how quickly your quality of life can change with the slightest accident or mishap. I've been thinking about how important it is to live EVERYDAY, trying my best to be the best woman I can be, and to not take my life (or anyone else's) for granted. I was also just listening to Oprah's podcast interviewing David Brooks and they were talking about how we've become a more self-centered society, focusing more on fame and success than on morality and character. They mentioned a Harvard study where high school sophomores were asked what their parents cared about more: the kids getting good grades OR the kids being kind people. The kids answered that they thought their parents cared more about them getting good grades. 

I don't want the first words you think of when you think of me to have anything to do with my career... I want the most impactful and memorable parts of me to be the way I positively impacted your lives. Here's my dedication to the woman I promise to strive to be everyday:

I AM A LIGHT. I AM KIND. I AM LOVING. I AM OPEN. I AM ACCEPTING. I AM CARING. I AM COMPASSIONATE. I AM EMPATHETIC. I AM PRESENT. I AM FUN. I AM HAPPY. I AM LOYAL. I AM HONEST. I AM COMMITTED TO THINGS THAT I CARE ABOUT. I LIVE OUT OF LOVE NOT FEAR. I AM ADVENTUROUS. I AM EXCITED BY LIFE. I AM ENERGIZING. I AM UPLIFTING. I AM MOTIVATING. I AM INSPIRING. I AM ENCOURAGING. I AM FULL OF OPTIMISM AND POSITIVITY. I AM A GOOD FRIEND. I AM A GOOD DAUGHTER. I WILL BE A GOOD MOTHER. BUT NONE OF THE LESS... I AM A GOOD PERSON.

Oh... AND I'M WILDLY SUCCESSFUL AT EVERYTHING I PUT MY MIND TOO ;)

Persistently Consistent

I want to tell you a little story about Persistence and Consistency...

So often, people ask me what is the key to success in this industry... or what would be my best advice to give to new comers... and though there are many things I could tell you from my personal experience, persistence and consistency seems to be a common thread to everything I have to say.

Let me start by telling you a first-hand experience: I got a voice over agent when I first started acting. I took voice over classes and private lessons and I consistently auditioned at least once a week for voice over jobs... but NEVER booked anything. Year after year I continued to practice... continued to audition... would get some callbacks, but still, no bookings. I was lucky that my agent stuck with me even though I never actually made them money (if you don't know... agents don't make money until you make money). My mom even joked saying, "Are you sure you don't want to quit yet?!" (but I'll promise you it's a joke because she never really encourages me to quit anything).

But I consistently persisted... And it wasn't until TEN YEARS LATER that I booked my FIRST voice over job! TEN YEARS! A WHOLE DECADE! Maybe I had finally put in the 10,000 hours Malcolm Gladwell talks about. Or maybe I finally got lucky. Or maybe, I just got better... all I know is that keeping at it was the key to my success. 

Had I given up... I would've never gotten the opportunities that I have today. That one voice over job gave me confidence and then not too long after, I booked my reoccurring role as Princess Samira on Nick Jr.'s animated tv show Shimmer and Shine. And then I booked another reoccurring role on a Disney XD show that'll start airing in 2018. I got to be the voice of Lynx in the video game Dropzone. And I started getting other little voice over gigs here and there. 

That made me think about the rest of life and how persistency and consistency played a role... and I realized, those are the keys to success for many things. Because if you keep trying and you keep putting yourself out there, the only thing that CAN happen is that you get better and you will create more opportunities for yourself. One day opportunity will meet preparation and it'll be your time too. Like they say, "If there's a WILL, there's a WAY!" 

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I'm going to tell you one more great story of persistence and consistency. It has to do with pullups. 

A few years ago I only knew myself as being SKINNY FAT... basically what that means is that... as a small framed, good-genes-blessed individual, I've always been petite and small... appearing healthy and in shape just because I was skinny. But then came along my best friend Nick and he changed my whole perspective on what it meant to workout and be in shape. 

I used to go to the gym and frolic around... lifting some weights here, jogging on the treadmill for a few minutes there... I pretty much just did whatever felt fun to me in the moment and when it got too hard or wasn't fun anymore, I'd stop and go home. I worked out for the pleasure of it... which I guess sounds good... but Nick really taught me a lesson in persistence and consistence, even when things aren't fun and easy.

Through working out he basically taught me what hard work ethic meant. I was one of those kids that liked trying hard at things I was already good at, but stayed clear of doing things I could potentially fail at. I had a fear of failure and not being good enough. That played out fine for most of my life because I was naturally good at a lot of things I did as a kid. I was good at school. I was good at sports and dancing. So I succeeded easily. But that didn't help me build character within myself to overcome struggle. That's where Nick comes into the story.

When I first started working out with him I couldn't do NOT EVEN ONE pull up. I'd hang on the bar and he'd say, "PULL!" and literally nothing would happen. I felt like I was engaging all my muscles and trying as hard as I could, but I wasn't moving anywhere. He still made me try EVERY SINGLE WORKOUT. He said, "Even if you don't go anywhere, I need to you try pulling at least 5 times." So every day I'd go on the bar and practice pulling. He'd assist me through some but everyday we worked on them.

Then one day I could do ONE all by myself!!! It was soooo exciting! It's like it just clicked and I was able to do it. Maybe enough lat engagements made me just strong enough. So I'd do all of my reps one at a time. One by one. 

Then eventually I could do TWO in a row!!! And that was even MORE exciting! From then on I'd do all my reps two at a time... and so on and so on... until I hit my personal record of 16 strict pull ups in a row all by myself. When people see me do pull ups they always comment on how most people can't do pull ups, and I usually respond by telling them that I'm not anything special or any crazy athlete, I just practiced them over and over.

So keep at it... whatever it is that you dream of doing or becoming... because some things just take persistence and consistency. The more you practice the better and stronger you get. The more you keep trying and putting yourself out there, the more connections you make of people who'd want to help you. So if you've dabbled in living your dream but it hasn't happened quite yet, just remember that every pull counts... every effort towards your goals ARE going somewhere. In the Entertainment Industry A + B rarely equals C, but you never know... because it might equal J! Plant those seeds... keep getting better. Never give up. As Nick would say, "Be persistently consistent!"

Heathers

One of my biggest wishes in life was to get to work on a TV show where I felt like I was part of the family. Interestingly, throughout my whole 14 years of experience in the business, I've never actually gotten the opportunity to grow with a show. I've gotten to do pilots, but none got picked up, or I got to guest star on shows that were already running. But it's a whole different experience when you get to be there at the start and then live out a story over a whole season with the same group.

It was such an exciting moment when I found out that the pilot we shot last November had gotten picked up by TV Land. I literally couldn't believe it. I had done so many projects in the past and NONE of them had ever made it to TV, it seemed surreal that it was finally happening. And the crazy part... it was like the best case scenario. 

Since the show was moved from TV Land to the new Paramount Network (formerly known as Spike TV) the network gave the show creators so much freedom to do what they wanted with the show. That meant that everyone could make art the way they wanted to make art. That meant everyone was super passionate about what we were creating together. From the wardrobe stylists and set decorators getting to go all out with fun, crazy, they-probably-couldn't-do-it-anywhere-else outfits and sets, to the writers getting to write in absurd things that probably wouldn't happen on any other show, to the actors getting to showcase their random talents because the writers were actually writing FOR THEM. It was a dream come true for everyone. Not to mention, the energy on set was magical.

So many of the cast members were relatively new to the industry so there were no egos, less complaining, and a whole lot of positivity and passion to create something amazing. I literally saw no drama on this set, over the course of like 3 months. You'd think there'd be at least ONE bad apple! But we lucked out. 

My experience with this cast was so awesome. We hang out outside of set, biking down the beach path, attending improv shows, karaoking, etc. Everyone is a character of their own but it makes for a really intriguing and entertaining group.

Our show teaser premiered at the VMAs which started a nice little buzz around the show. I didn't realize what a cult following Heathers has. Like most things amazing, there's both people who are super stoked to see it, and others who are already hating on it because it's different than the original movie. If you aren't aware, Heathers was originally a movie from the 80s starring Winona Ryder and Christian Slater. It's a dark comedy, similar to Mean Girls, but people die. 

We just had a really cool activation at New York Comic Con. Heathers was all over the bathrooms. It was pretty sweet. I'm really looking forward to all that's to come. We are supposed to premiere on Paramount Network early 2018. I'll keep you posted!!

Check out a teaser clip of my character: 

A little teaser clip of my character, Betty Finn, on the show HEATHERS.

Iceland

No better way to show you my travel adventures than to give you a quick insight into my day. Through these quick vlogs I capture moments that stood out to me during my trip... things that made me smile, made me feel happy, things that I wanted to remember. Hope you enjoy :)

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Vlogs shot through Snapchat @nikkisoohoo

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

My Reflection in Mulan

Have you ever thought you knew how something was going to happen? Like you just saw it so vividly in your mind, your body would get the chills because just imagining it felt so right?...

I know my purpose in life is to bring light, love, and inspiration into people’s lives. I’ve made it my life’s mission to be the fire that helps people’s light burn brighter… to give them hope and the strength to fight for their dreams. I know that all I need is a strong platform and a way to reach a large audience and thankfully all my opportunities in entertainment have helped me reach so many… but I’ve been ready to take it to the next level… to really make an impact and explode my radius of inspiration to people all over the world…

I really thought I saw my path line up, but you know what they say… “If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plan…”

Well, casting is now searching for their lead actress to play Mulan… and of course, she MUST BE FLUENT in Mandarin. I’m not going to lie, my heart hurt and I cried a little knowing that my opportunity to play my dream role would be stunted because my 3rd generation-Chinese American-self doesn’t know how to speak Chinese… but at the end of the day, I want to say how grateful I am that this movie is even being made and how adamant they are about giving Chinese people a chance to tell our story.

Sometimes I wonder who I really am and where I fit in… when I look in the mirror I see my jet-black straight hair, and my almond eyes… I know that I was raised with the Eastern philosophy that nothing means more than “family” and my grandma was literally a picture bride set up in an arranged marriage… yet I know I’m also the girl who’s Chinese family doesn’t speak Chinese, and I’ve grown up watching Western philosophy movies teaching me that I should follow my heart and that I can do and be anything I desire. It almost feels like sometimes I’m too Asian, and then other times I’m not Asian enough. I don’t know... I’m not typical. I don’t fit the box. I’m just ME… Moments like these push me to grow and become better and all I can do is be the best me I can be and trust that what’s right for me will come along.

Until then… I’m going to keep doing what I do… I’ll never stop fighting… I’ll never stop trying… I will continue to be the “light that lit a thousand candles” and be grateful for all that God/ The Universe has given me…

Everything happens for a reason and what’s meant to be, will be…

p.s. If you're looking for me, you'll find me in my books... Mandarin lessons here I come ;)

Browsing Effect movie BTS

One of the things I'm most grateful about this project was that I was cast just as A PERSON. It wasn't an Asian character who does Asian things... she was just a girl, with normal girl problems, living a normal girl life... and I was fortunate to get the opportunity to play that. It's nice to just play "a person." 

I really enjoyed my character Rachel Strauss, who happened to be Jewish, so they said I was adopted. She was flawed in such a real way and I was really able to relate to the struggles she was going through. As a millennial trying to find herself while also trying to "make" herself. She was successful and had everything she wanted in life but still didn't feel fulfilled. On the outside she looked like she had everything together, but on the inside she was a mess.

Experimenting with threesomes, and multiple Tinder dates, this girl was quite a handful. ;)

The Browsing Effect's Facebook Page

Awaken Arts

Nothing makes my heart more warm than getting to work with the kids through Awaken Arts. 

For years I searched for a non profit that really resonated with me... one that I could give my heart and soul to and know that we were really making a difference. And then I found Awaken Arts. We teach art to at risk youth as a tool for healing and an outlet for expression. I'm now so humbly a board member and have been volunteering for this org for the past 5 years. 

It's literally life changing to get to meet and work with these kids. They have so much potential and I believe that everyone deserves a chance to live their dreams. I'm so proud of the generations of kids that have gone through the program. It makes me so happy to see how far they've gone.

Here's a few stories that have stuck with me through the years...

One of the art projects we do with them is have them draw/paint a picture representing their "past." One kid drew a big blue box with a handful of red polka dots and the #5 with his face on top. We are trained as mentors to ask them what this represents... he said "This is me playing football. I was number 5." And I said, "Was that a happy time for you?" He responded, "Yes." Then I asked him if that was his jersey and if it was polka dotted... and he said, "No, those are all the places I've been shot." I was literally stunned and speechless. He said it so matter of factly as if it was just a normal thing. That was the moment I realized that we come from such different worlds and that I probably had more to learn from these kids than they would probably learn from me.

Another story that really got me was when this kid drew a marijuana leaf, a bottle of alcohol, and a pipe looking thing. I asked him what these represented and he said that he used to be an alcoholic and party all the time and that he was addicted to cocaine before he had come to this facility. I couldn't help myself but ask where in the world he would get cocaine because I was years older than him at the time and had never even seen cocaine in my life... then he said... "Oh, I used to be a drug dealer," as if it was nothing. Even more shocked I asked him how that happened and he again, nonchalantly said, "Well my dad was a drug dealer." That's when it hit me. These kids have never had an opportunity to succeed in life. They were literally set up to fail. It wasn't fair. They deserved more than that.

All these kids at Sunburst Youth Academy, the government run facility that gets them back on track and allows Awaken Arts to do our program with their kids, all of them CHOOSE to be there. They want to turn their lives around and they want to have a better future. I really admire these kids for all they've been through and all they've fought for to have a better life. They are amazing.

If you're ever interested in learning more, go to Awaken Art's website to apply to be a mentor or to donate to the cause. It's a grassroots organization so every little bit is greatly appreciated and helps a whole lot.

MISS 2059

Nothing is more fun than getting to be a BADASS.

Produced by New Form Digital and available on Verizon's go90 app, this sci-fi comedy is like Miss Congeniality meets Hunger Games. I play Arden Young, Earth's Ambassador who has trained all my life to fight for Earth's place in the galaxy, only to get replaced by my beauty queen sister (played by Anna Akana).

Check out the series HERE

Tiger Lily in PETER PAN

So excited to be playing "Tiger Lily" in Pasadena Playhouse's production of Peter Pan and Tinker Bell, a Pirates Christmas! Dec 9- Jan 3! Come watch!

Starring alongside: Sabrina Carpenter (Girl Meets World), Corey Fogelmanis (Girl Meets World), Auggie Maturo (Girl Meets World), Chrissie Fit (Pitch Perfect 2), Parvesh Cheena (Outsourced), John O'Hurley (Seinfeld), and Kevin Quinn (Bunk'd).

SEE SHOW DATES/ TIMES HERE

p.s. I get cast discounted tickets for my friends and family! Email me if you want ticket reservations for 20% OFF! Just note in the message how many tickets and the specific date and time of the performance you'd like to attend. 

nikkisoohoo@me.com

Learning to FLY

I recently started hanging out with some amazingly talented calisthenic friends who started teaching me super cool tricks. I love the calisthenic community. Everyone is so nice and welcoming. It feels like a family that just wants to help you learn and grow and have fun with them. I'm so grateful to have been introduced into this world of awesomeness and I can't wait to show you all the cool new tricks I learn! :) 

Follow my Instagram to see what I'm up to!

Hear My Voice!

I'm so excited to get to be the voice of PRINCESS SAMIRA on Nick Jr.'s new adorable show SHIMMER AND SHINE. This preschool show follows the magical adventures of maternal twin genies who unintentionally create chaos while attempting to grant wishes for their human best friend, Leah. The new series features an emotional-intelligence curriculum that highlights mistakes as an important avenue to learning and doing better next time.

My character is the PRINCESS whom is the most powerful of all the genies in Genie World. She is the keeper of all the gems, and radiates kindness, generosity and sincerity. My role doesn't get introduced until Season 2 so my episodes won't come out until 2016, but check it out and watch some episodes! You can find it online HERE and later this year it'll premiere on TV.

Romeo and Juliet

Your Romeo (played by Ramone DeOcampo) and Juliet (played by ME! hehe)

I believe that EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR A REASON... and though I also believe that you have the power to create the life you want to live, there are just SOME unexplainable things that seem to happen that are blessings in disguise... opportunities you never even thought you wanted... experiences that are given to you without asking for them... this Romeo and Juliet journey was one of those...

It's kind of crazy how it all happened. I never had an interest in theater before, let alone Shakespeare. Since I had grown up doing film and tv work, I always felt like theater was a very different world and something I wouldn't really like. 

Well it just so happened, that I found myself in the right place at the right time to get this opportunity to play JULIET in Shakespeare Orange County's production of ROMEO and JULIET this summer. I had gone back to my alma mater Orange County School of the Arts to teach a master class, a new program set up through the alumni association. Although I had been a commercial dance major while I was in school there, since I was a professional actor, they asked that I speak to the ACTING conservatory which happened to be headed by Mr. John Walcutt. Not having really having much of a chance to get to know me first, John asked if I'd be interested in auditioning for SOC's production. I told him straight up that I didn't do theater nor Shakespeare. He told me just think about it over the holiday break and we'd touch base again in the new year.

The new year rolled around and he asked if I was still interested. I said I really didn't have any experience in this field. He told me he'd work with me and see how I felt about it after. So I show up on the first day at this beautiful amphitheater in Garden Grove and just think to myself, "Man! How did I get myself into this!" I couldn't understand a line I was saying and when I asked how they mic the set, I was definitely shocked to hear that we weren't going to have mics we'd just have to project our voice over the 400 seat theater. 

John set me up with the co-creative director of the production, Mike Peebler, who so graciously gave me a Shakespeare 101 lesson. I learned that if I did the work to breakdown and understand Shakespeare's text, the words would do the work for me. So that's exactly what I did. It was actually really comforting to know that if I worked hard, I would succeed. So that's exactly what I did. And when I came back to that amphitheater stage a couple weeks later to audition for John again, I must've pulled it off just enough so that he believed in me.

I was so honored to be giving this role of Juliet. I never in a million years thought I'd be here. But this is probably one of the greatest acting opportunities I've ever had. I've learned so much from so many different mentors on the company and at the theater and I've gotten to express myself in a way I've never felt while acting on screen. I've fallen in love with the beauty of Shakespeare's words and have grown so attached to my new theater family. I am so grateful for this opportunity and hope that I will get to experience many more like this. Thank you for believing in me. Thank you for teaching me. I am truly grateful.

Find tickets and show dates at: http://shakespeareoc.org/2015-season/2015-romeo-and-juliet/#Box%20Office

Tag.

Last year I started a passion project called TAG. to start a movement of spreading positivity and kindness around the world. I realized that doing something such as a simple act of kindness towards someone could create this ripple effect of positivity and happiness. When one person did something nice for someone that person was more likely to do something nice for someone else. That could continue on and on and end up sending a massive wave of love, positivity, and kindness into the world. 

I starting making these bracelets so that I could give them away to people as MY simple act of kindness. It was just a small gesture that could put a smile on someone's face, and I enjoyed that. I enjoyed sharing something of mine with someone else who'd appreciate it. I loved giving them a little memory of the friendship we created or had, and that moment we shared together. 

The special thing about these bracelets is that they are all engraved with a unique hashtag so that people can find each other on social media if they want to stay connected. These bracelets are basically friendship bracelets with a modern twist helping people connect with other amazing people in the world.

Check out the movement on our Website: www.passthetag.com

Or on Twitter: @passthetag

Or on Instagram: @passthetag

BRING THE FUN!

My best friend, Rachel Brooke Smith, and I have started a project called BRING THE FUN where we provide videos, podcasts, and other online material to help people manage stress, raise their personal esteem, and live happy, healthy lives by inspiring all to discover the power of FUN! 

Check out our website: www.letsbringthefun.com

We also speak at schools, to organizations, or private events. For Business Inquiries:

CONTACT US: info@letsbringthefun.com

FOLLOW US: Instagram @bringthefun Twitter @bringthefun