We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Gabriella Scerbo a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Gabriella, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I got the role of Crystal Snowflake in my fourth grade production. Basically, it was one of those shows that the entire fourth grade had to participate in. While most of my class just mocked the storyline, I got to play this sassy, Snowflake with lines. I loved rehearsing, I loved expressing and I loved my lines. I remember one of them was ” Where’s my makeup? What’s my lines?” As a very typical girly girl I was very excited to tap into Snowflake, a typical diva of the North Pole, while also brining a bit of Gabby in there. And I just remember feeling so confident, and so good on stage, expressing, creating and just being somebody else for a short amount of time- at such a young age it brought me an immense amount of joy. During the performance, I will never forget the chorus of laughter from the audience as I was on stage saying my lines, singing and dancing. That was the moment I knew that making people express and feel something had an intense magical amount of power. I wanted to continue doing that- not only did I love it, but the fact that it brought emotions onto people that I had never knew in my life, men, women, all kinds of people, in one common space, that was such an insane experience. Although I was so young, all this registered very quickly and I knew I wanted to continue creating and performing.

Gabriella, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Gabriella Scerbo. “Gabby” for short. I started in this industry with dance, a movement of both body and soul. I started with hip hop, and I loved the way it made me feel, I loved the music and the way I was able to move through space with dance. For a while I just did dance, until I was about 11 or so, when I picked up theater. I loved the comradery and energy of the casts and the wonderful artistic people that I met. As the youngest one in most of the community theater shows I did, I learned a lot about the industry and myself very quickly. I knew what I wanted to do and the person that I wanted to become, setting my goals higher and higher with every opportunity that came my way. I was always busy, from a theater show, school, dance, rehearsel, voice lessons.. that was my life for so many years. High school wasn’t amazing for me, I struggled with a solid friend group, and typical “high school” things. Looking back on it, I don’t feel like I missed anything, I was the doing the things I loved every single day. Many people struggle with just finding that thing or that industry that they love, and I’m blessed that I figured that out at such a young age. What sets me apart from others is my work ethic, I never make an excuse for not being able to do something, whether it is in my zone and capacity to do, or not- either way it gets done. Even if something doesn’t work out, I look at it as a growing experience, a way to better myself for the future, and along the way I have learned so much about myself. These are things that school doesn’t teach, nor will ever. Dealing with people can be one of the hardest things in the world to do, anyone can go to school and get a degree, I truly believe that. It’s unfortunate that school doesn’t teach us life skills, such as cooking, cleaning, how to pay taxes, how to budget our finances. how to deal with any and all people. I have learned more from my life and artistic endeavors and work, more than any undergraduate education. I encourage all future creatives and those looking to break into this industry- to just go for it. School is important. but what is also important is to do something that makes you happy everyday, even though it may be very difficult, figure out a way. What is crazy about life, is there is something new to learn every single day, and who knows if that new thing can be a career.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

For me, the most rewarding aspect of being an artist is the capability of making people feel something, every single day, whether that be through a picture, a film, a performance, a song, a dance. In no way is this intended to be negative, but life is very difficult. I think many times we go through the motions of life, whether that be waking up, and going to our 9-5, school, or just the usual routine of life. I believe it is the artists job to make people feel something, an emotion so powerful, that makes us forget about normal life, even if its just for a few hours, to show them that life is more than just a routine but rather something to be cherished and how complex it is. Especially in theater performances, it is the artists job to take them to a different world. It is the models job to create an image so captivating and telling a story. I am very emotional, as a cancer woman and an artist, I am definitely afraid to cry and I do want everyone to know that. I encourage everyone to tap into any emotions that they are afraid of, its truly a moment of growth. I think society norms, especially with men, encourages us to not cry or talk about our feelings. It is any artists job to show there audience, that emotions are good, normal and a beautiful part of who we are.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I think when I first started in this business, I was shy to ask for help, and put myself out there. I didn’t really talk about my work with my friends, and I was embarrased a bit. I was one of the only people in my friend group, especially growing up, that did any kind of artistic work. Most of my friends just did sports, or didn’t really get what I did, so it was a little hard to relate or for me to talk about something we didn’t have in common. I just feel like we would have very surface level conversations, and there is a point in life in which that doesn’t cut it anymore. When I am someone’s friend, I like to be in 10000%. Growing up, I have learned the hard way that most people aren’t like that, and since then had to cut off many “friends.” I now relate much more to people that are in the same industry as me, and are like minded. A resource I wish I knew earlier about in my career, is truly just cherishing every moment with my peers, asking questions, and not being afraid to talk to others and network, and put myself out there. People are going to judge, and I feel like when I was younger I was so worried about what others thought of me, and afraid of sharing my success. I think the only way to go forward with your brand, and build an empire is to talk about yourself with life minded people, bounce ideas off of each other, learn from each other mistakes and just simply just be you.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.gabriellascerbo.com/
• Instagram: https://www.gabriellascerbo.com/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009755131704
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriellascerbo/