Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jovanna Vidal. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Jovanna thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
What has been perhaps THE most meaningful project for me, has been writing and publishing my book, Teen Anxiety No More! Becoming a #1 Bestselling Author on Amazon has been the cherry on top;)
It is SO AWESOME to receive SO many comments and messages sharing how my younglings are doing better in school and that they love to share kindness and positivity in their different ways! That they are feeling happy and hopeful!! That my book, my channel, my Lives and my videos have helped them along the way!! It is really cool to hear from parents who decided to read my book together with their teens!! That this book is opening the lines of communication with their kids and helping the parents to actually have a discussion about the very serious and difficult challenges that so many teens face or perhaps may face on their journey. It is INCREDIBLY gratifying to help be that connecting point for parents who may feel that distance from their children when they begin to become more independent and removed as so many do during their teen years.
The seed for my book was planted when my young following, my “Younglings” as I refer to them, kept asking me how I dealt with being bullied or made fun of and how I managed to work through my own fears or anxieties and even peer pressure. Because I was asked so frequently, I decided to write a book in answer to their questions. It is sort of a big-sister love letter to them. It was and IS my intention to address the fundamentally difficult issues so many of us experienced in our lives when we were their age. Except now there are infinitely more realities that plague them that so many of us, now adults, didn’t have to contend with when we were in middle and high school. We see it with trolls online who suppress so many with their cyber-bullying and hateful comments. We see it in the news every time there is another story about candy colored drugs being offered at school or YET another mass shooting in an unexpectedly nice part of town.
Oh, I go there!! I touch on most all the real and raw topics and I do it in a way that the young reader feels that I am on THEIR side!! That I SEE them and that I want to help!! I realized I could help other teens when I witnessed first-hand how my Younglings were showing up differently for themselves and with others since having created my YouTube Channel where so many of us first met back in 2020…
My channel is called The Scenic Route with Jovanna Vidal. It is a place where we are reminded that life is not a straight line and that we MUST stop to smell the roses along the way!! It is a safe place where we can discuss issues and concerns that they are facing and coming up for them. It is a place where I offer them alternative ways to not only see and respond in certain situations but also help them process their feelings and emotions!! I want to empower and inspire our Younglings while also cheering them on as any BIG-sister would!! Our Fridays together when we celebrate OUR “Fri-Yay Lives” as we’ve coined them, have become SUCH a sanctuary of support and optimism! I just LOVE, LOVE being there for them in this way;)
I also use this space to be very transparent about my own anxieties or insecurities and I permit them to see ME walking THROUGH what may be weighing heavy on my heart or when I am experiencing any of my own fears coming up for me! This was especially so when I was writing, publishing, and putting my first book out into the world. The whole process was daunting and terrifying for me and they ALL had a front-row seat!!
I feel our youth needs to see more of our REAL feelings and that they are NOT alone when they experience theirs! That it is natural and typical as humans to feel fear and anxiety! I want to showcase and highlight that it is HOW you manage and “GO THROUGH” it that will make the difference in how you show up in the World.
And through it ALL, it is my mission to utilize my acting platform to teach teens struggling with fear and anxiety – how they, too, can live with more ease and joy! This is what I anticipate will dominate the coming years! Going to schools and colleges to share with our teens easy, fun, different ways to counteract the anxiety-provoking realities they are experiencing during these trying times! It is just INCREDIBLE to me and I feel VERY blessed that I am able to marry what I am so passionate about and love to do with making a positive contribution! Stay tuned as they say;)
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
So I am an actor, host and voiceover artist and now a recently bestselling author and speaker living and loving Los Angeles!!
I love everything ‘New’!!
That is…
New Experiences, New Places, New Ideas and of course…New Adventures!
So that is how it all started!! I really DO thrive on doing and seeing new things, learning, and growing!!
I started out my journey KNOWING there was more! More to life, more to live, more to enjoy, and more to give!! I began my early adult years in my corporate career that just wasn’t me! Here I was in my early 20’s in this “dream” job, earning well, traveling, being picked up in a limo at the airport to attend some of the top red-carpet shows and events! I had incredible, and to the outsider looking in, perhaps enviable behind-the-scenes access, perks and trajectory for great success! And yet I KNEW there was more! I grew increasingly more frustrated and hopeless that I was going through the motions of life with a mask and smile that read “all is good”. However deep down I was struggling! I was tired, frustrated, unhealthy, and dissatisfied! This realization ultimately led me on my quest to answer the biggest question I had that no one was willing or able to answer for me…
Which do I follow? Do I follow my heart or do I follow my head?
Of course, the logical side of me was like – STAY in this cushy position with ample opportunity and great potential to climb the corporate ladder, marry my then rich fiancé and make my parents and family very proud in doing so. I would have “achieved” what I had aimed for while pursuing my degrees and manufactured dream to become a top business executive dripping in Gucci and Dolce with NY views for miles from my corner office.
And my heart? Well, it said, heck NO! This is NOT the life I want!! So I had to make the extremely difficult decision to jump off that train immediately in order to go find my heart’s calling and purpose!!
I left everything behind in New York and took another train (literally…lol;) to Miami to pursue my new, or perhaps long-forgotten, dormant and not permitted to pursue, dream of dancing and acting! Having never taken a dance class and just a handful of acting classes in college, I risked it ALL!! Talk about SCARY!!
I “made” it in Miami as a dancer and actor, or so I thought. I mean, come on, I had danced on some major live and televised shows and events even some of the top music videos still highly regarded with PitBull, Daddy Yankee, LL Cool J…lol;) I mean it was SOOO FUN and that to me, that was “making it” in Miami at the time. The time had come when I began feeling that all too familiar and similar yearning for more. After just a few years in Miami, I decided to get back on my quest, following my heart to Hollywood, CA.
Like most indescribable things in life, doors opened and closed on things that I needed to pursue or leave behind. I meandered for a decade answering the calls, poking my head in to test the waters and continuing on my journey when nudged to do so! There have been SO MANY mean bumps and lengthy detours along the way. Then one day, it was like I had found a clearing. An opening where I began to feel like myself and that I had arrived where I needed to be!! For the last several years, I have felt an overwhelming and INCREDIBLE sense of peace and joy and APPRECIATION for what I am doing and the LONG path to get here!!
I’ve come to realize that I would not change a thing!! I will FOREVER continue to follow my heart because it KNOWS!! It has led me to this most magnificent place of calm and gratitude where I’m experiencing GREAT satisfaction and love with and for myself as well as how I can help others!! I’m committed to going back to extend MY hand out to who is wanting and willing to go on this ride with me to change their inner discontentment and turn it into the magical life we ALL yearn and seek!! So my story is now morphing again as both it and I should!! It is my next chapter in this book called life that is making me BEYOND excited for what is TRULY possible to create in our lives!!
Again, I am living, experiencing and BASKING in ALL the NEW adventures and experiences I encounter along the way!! I have found it to be THE MOST wonderful way to live;) And I encourage ANYONE and EVERYONE reading this to do the same!! It is when we step into that supposedly “scary” unknown that ALLLL the magic and FUN happens!! All it takes is one step at a time and to KEEP GOING!! THAT is ABSOLUTELY what I want your readers and those just being introduced to me to take away and REMEMBER!!
By the way, thank YOU for this!! I am really grateful to CanvasRebel for asking me these incredibly thought-provoking questions and permitting me to share my story! Truly THANK YOU;)
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
Oh absolutely! I have found my mission in working with teens struggling with fear and anxiety! I want to share with them how they can experience more excitement in their lives, how they too can live with more ease and joy! Going to schools and colleges to share with teens my fun, easy, and different ways to counteract their anxiety is what is driving my creative journey right now. I am creating content for my channel that speaks to them specifically. My book, Teen Anxiety No More, is just the tip of the iceberg of ideas I have that I will be introducing to both, teens and parents! It is just absolutely amazing that I am able to do what I love – acting and being in-front of the camera with what I am most passionate about which is making a positive contribution in this world. That I can do that by helping our younger minds evolve and grow and feel GOOOOD about themselves and where they are going in life is my mission!! It is the purpose that eluded me for so long as I journeyed THROUGH it to get to it!! It feels incredibly exciting and rewarding to share and help;)
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
What has been incredibly rewarding for me as an artist and creative has been the learning journey! I have LOVED LOVED LOVED meeting so many incredible teachers and friends in all the classes and workshops I have taken over the years to learn my craft and evolve my acting pursuits into a real business. So the classes on craft, the workshops for personal development, the weekend intensives for financial freedom, the masterminds integrating all my newly discovered tools were ALL SO INVALUABLE to me and my STILL being an artist and creative in Hollywood 14 years later!! And now that I am able to utilize my acting platform to support my mission to help teens struggling with fear and anxiety is just the GREATEST satisfaction and reward!!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.thisisjovanna.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/thisisjovanna/
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/thisisjovanna/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thisisjovanna/
- Youtube: www.youtube.com/thisisjovanna
Image Credits
Oscar Guzman; Core Media Photography