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

Cami, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

In this question I’m gonna focus on my profession, I am an actress and there are many ways of learning the craft. I started when I was a kid, 9 years old to be precise, I took some classes in musical theatre in Spanish and continued with theatre classes, that’s when I discovered this art but it wasn’t until I was 11, when I got my first role on a play – A midsummer’s night dream in English- where I had to audition and everything, that I realized that I had a penchant for theatre. Since then I took it seriously and started with classes, a drama school alongside high school until I turned 18 and moved to Buenos Aires (yes, I’m from Argentina and I lived in a small city which gave many chances to learn but not enough to practice and get started in the business.
When I got to Buenos Aires and started auditioning for commercials, short films I got a better understanding of the business and I can now tell you a couple things I learnt, some are not directly related to acting per se but they have a great influence in what you do, how you do it and what to expect from it.
*Be Humble: have self esteem but be humble enough to learn from your mentors and the people who have gone through the path you want to traverse. They can anticipate mistakes, so you don’t have to make them, guide you and correct you… And this takes me to the second lesson
*After receiving some -or a lot of- education, you’ll know, defend your work, your art, there are people who are gonna try to change it, maybe even teachers. Just remember, you and your art are unique, trust your gut, fail if necessary but find your path, there’s nobody who knows everything, there’s no magic formula, you gotta make it your own.
*Confindence: Step on stage, film that audition, go for it with the confidence like you already have it, it’s yours, that’s the only thing you need to have in that moment. Self esteem, confidence; trust yourself, trust the knowledge that you got and trust the process. If you got it, it was meant to be, if you didn’t, life’s got something better waiting for you.
*It’s a 50/50, don’t take it personal. This is for every project, audition, etc. Be prepared, of course, but if you don’t get it don’t get upset, the equation might not be 50/50, it might might be 70/30, who knows, but if someone is choosing, if there’s a selection involved, the responsibility is not all yours, so focus on what you can control and let the rest flow.

About acting in particular there are tons of professors, academies and techniques, search for the one that suits you, work with what’s best for you, for the character you are preparing or the situation, after all, when you are on stage or on camera you must forget all of that and trust that the knowledge is running through your body and act, be present there. And last but not least always stay sharp, practice, learn, get jobs, never stop working.

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.

I get the impression I’ve told the story of I decided I wanted to be an actress a million times, so I’m gonna make it short this time. It all happened when I was 11 and since then it never stopped, I knew it was my purpose way before calling it like that. Only last summer I flaked during a crisis because a couple years ago I discovered I loved traveling so much and I started documenting my trips and I fell in love with that (but who doesn’t love traveling) and I thought to myself, are these two things compatible, can I have a nomad life travelling from one place to another creating my little show (if you are interested you can see some content on Youtube under the name: Una Cossa por el Mundo) and still book acting jobs and create my own plays when that’s something that strikes me as such a still job, where you have to give time to the process and such.
But then I was walking through a State Park and saw this amphitheater and immediately went on it to perform a monolog from Hamlet that popped into my mind and I realized it’s hard like many things at once but I would have to make work because both things make me happy and I’m not gonna go depriving myself of things.

As an actress I’m really sure of what I’m doing most of the times, I do a great job, and no one can do it like me, as I said on my last interview when asked what set me apart from others “I AM ME, that’s what sets me apart from others. I have my own vision of the world, my mind creates in it’s own peculiar way and every concept I’ve learnt, every course I’ve taken, every decision I’ve made along the way has built me as person, therefore as an artist. I offer myself to art, to each project I take part in, MYSELF is the only thing and all I have to offer”. I wouldn’t change that answer, I enjoy playing a wide variety of characters from more dramatic to more comical ones. I have a penchant for film but I’ve also done theatre my whole life and now I’m working my way back into musical theatre again.

Right now I’m focusing on preparing to launch my career in the US and for that getting an agent would help me a lot, so if you are reading this and you are one or know one would be interested in considering me as one of their clients don’t doubt to contact me. Contrary to art, where I’ve worked professionally and earned some money already, traveling and vlogging has only been a hobby for now, but since I’m passionate about it and take it very seriously I would love to pair up with a travel magazine, hotels or any lodging, touristic attractions, to be able to create content for them and promote traveling even further. As a travel vlogger and content creator I like to share my stories with people to encourage them to travel, unleash their creativity with their plans, have fun; I like to spread the idea that it’s not necessary to have tons of money to explore the world, the are so many options out there, you just need to take that first step and that’s gonna propel to adventure quicker than you think. In my videos and instagram content I offer to the backstage of planning, prepping and taking decisions as well as taking people with me throughout my adventures.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Well, I don’t have an enormous audience but the ones who stay are pretty loyal, I think you have to focus on quality over quantity. From my perspective it’s useless to try to please your audience and believe that just because you have a bigger audience you are better or vice versa. For me, the key is in staying true to yourself and creating interesting and creative content that set you apart, from your own unique perspective, again, follow your gut. Of course it helps to understand how social media work but sometimes we get so blinded by trying to understand the algorithm or focusing on just one topic -when we like many things- we become blocked in the creation process.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

I’m gonna mention a couple books that have helped throughout my life regarding the creative process and the management philosophy

-The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity by Julia Cameron
-Make Your Art No Matter What: Moving Beyond Creative Hurdles by Beth Pickens
-Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki
-Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

And Sergio Fernandez videos, specially the one about the 12 laws of abundance

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cami.cossa/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@unaCossaxelmundo
• Other: Photography Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/metanoia.films/