We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Bettina Lobo. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Bettina below.

Bettina, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

I am able to earn a full time living from my work as a performer and that is one of the best feelings in the world. The fact that there are so many people striving for the same dream as mine and I am one of the lucky ones who can do this 24/7, it makes me feel very blessed.

I started performing professionally about 15 years ago and in the last few years I’ve been able to fully immerse in this form of art and make a living out of just this. It wasn’t like that from day one because there were other things I had to do like finish High School, move to New York for college, get my BFA in Musical Theatre, work a few survival jobs while auditioning and also starting to become a content creator in social media. It was all organic but it did require lots of work whilst doing various things to survive in a city like Manhattan but I wouldn’t change a thing because this journey is particular to me and it has made me who I am today.

Also, when you work so hard towards something, it makes the reward so much more meaningful.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Well let’s start by introducing myself: hi! I am Bettina Lobo. I’m a performer and content creator who specializes in all things musicals, live performances, all the way to making educational, entertainment and parody contents online. I’ve been singing for most of my life, traveling around the world and performing, and in these recent years I have become a lead vocalist for Celebrity Cruises on their stage production shows.

As I am writing this, I am currently in my hotel room in France while we get ready to embark on Celebrity’s newest vessel, Ascent. I am so excited to be a part of the inauguration of this brand new ship as a lead in this original production cast, and become (with my fellow cast members) part of the Celebrity legacy. This particular part of my journey makes me very proud because five years ago, I would’ve never thought that I would be in this position of performing for a living and to also be helping with the creative process of three major production shows.

Don’t think that it is an easy path though, of course the reward (as I’ve said before) is amazing but it has taken a lot of nights studying, a lot of training, missing out on many, many, many family events, important dates, some tears, and core breakdowns to get to this point. it’s definitely not for the faint of heart, but it’s the only thing that I know in my heart that I wanna do for as long as I can: performing and inspiring audiences through music. And the reason I keep documenting most of it on my socials is so I can inspire anyone who wants this dream as well, specially if they come from other countries where opportunities are limited and some dreams seem “too big”. No! I am from Caracas, Venezuela, born and raised…and it is possible to make your dreams come true, it just takes more work.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

I think sometimes it’s hard for non-creatives to understand why we (many times) have to leave our homes for this career. I mean not being present in birthdays, weddings, New Years, for Christmas, for my nephew’s recitals, or any single major event where we just cannot make it because we’re working on our craft somewhere else. It kills us inside, even if we love what we’re doing in terms of the art we’re making. I know it’s not easy having your best friend, daughter, boyfriend, cousin etc missing out on so many experiences because they are out there pursuing their dreams…believe me, I’ve asked myself many times if it’s actually worth it.

And I come to the same conclusion every time: could I see myself doing anything else with my life? and the answer is “no”. Non-creatives or “muggles” (as I like to call them – yes, referencing the humans of the Harry Potter world), have my outmost respect and I really wish sometimes, when things get hard, that I could just drop off everything and be in a regular, steady 9-5 scenario….but I think as most creatives know, this path chooses you and for the true creatives…even if you were to try and let it go, it’ll sneak back on to you.

Anyway, to my “muggles” thank you for giving me the best support system, even when you don’t understand why this path takes me far away from you. We creatives hope to make our people proud one day.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

This one is just a tip for any artist wanting to move to another country. For example: if you wanna move to the United States, SAVE EVERYTHING! Every single thing that you’ve done in your artistic career, the people that you’ve worked with, tickets of the places your art has been presented – and it applies to all art. Save it. One day you may need all this information to make a file and apply to be have a talent working visa in the countries that offer that opportunity, and you too, can bring your creative and extraordinary mind to that place!

Contact Info:

• Youtube: Bettina Lobo
• Other: Tiktok & Instagram: @bettinald

Image Credits
TBI media Lewis Clay Dante Jamal Payne