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

Nana, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

Since I was 8 years old, I would spend hours dancing and singing in front of the TV, dreaming of becoming a singer and a dancer. I taught myself to dance and took every opportunity to practice. At 9 years old, I joined the best traditional flamenco school in the state. Each class was like a dream come true. Wearing the traditional flamenco dress and shoes, with my hair perfectly pulled back in a ponytail, I felt like a professional dancer. I also learned to play the castanets and loved it.

However, frequent moves made it difficult to maintain continuity with my flamenco classes, and eventually, I had to stop. In each new city, I explored different activities: gymnastics, piano, the cuatro (a traditional Venezuelan instrument similar to a small guitar but with four strings), classical guitar, electric guitar, and the organ.

I attended Catholic school and played and sang in church every Sunday. While I wasn’t particularly fond of attending mass, I loved singing and playing the guitar, which sounded heavenly in the church. I took jazz dance classes in Caracas, Venezuela, and later at Carnegie Hall in NYC during college. During my college years in New York, I attended every Broadway show I could, sometimes watching the same musical 2, 3, or even 5 times. I loved it. However, the interesting thing is that I was studying Business Administration with a minor in computer science. I didn’t dare to pursue what I truly wanted to study after high school, opting instead for what my mom thought was best.

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.

As you probably read before, I didn’t study Arts, Drama, Music, or Dance in college. Instead, I studied Business. After graduating, I entered the business world, starting in the IT department of the organization that had granted me a scholarship. I then worked for the Venezuelan subsidiary of Phillip Brothers, the commodities trading division of Salomon Brothers. Later, I ventured into entrepreneurship, but my business failed. Afterward, I joined Microsoft, working in sales for 12 years. Although this period brought great financial success, it also took a significant personal toll. After 12 years, I resigned, uncertain of my next steps but determined to reduce my stress and its impact on my family. I continued with some business consulting for a few years. During this time, a friend suggested I attend a weekend workshop at “La Casa del Artista” (The Artist House), believing that acting could help reduce my high levels of stress. The moment I stepped into that black box theater, I felt at home. The passion I had for the arts in my teenage and college years came rushing back like a tornado. One workshop led to another, and I took acting classes in Caracas, Los Angeles, and New York, eventually giving up consulting completely. I auditioned for the first time and landed the role of the mother of Francis, one of the main characters in the feature film “La Clase.” Two weeks later, I received a call confirming I got the part without a callback. Following this, I played “Karla” in the Venezuelan blockbuster “La Hora Cero,” which won many local and international awards and was featured on HBO. I also starred in a Venezuelan TV mini-series. These early wins led me to move to New York with my daughters to formally study acting, as I felt it was too late to pursue a career as a dancer or singer. I studied with Susan Batson, renowned for coaching stars like Nicole Kidman, Juliette Binoche, Oprah Winfrey, and Lady Gaga, among many others.
Then, I enrolled in the two-year program at Stella Adler Studio’s acting conservatory. This marked the beginning of a new chapter in my life. During my interview at Stella Adler, I was told, “We have absolutely no problem with this, but we want to let you know that you will probably be the oldest person in the classes.” I laughed and replied, “No worries, that has been my experience in almost every acting class I have attended.” And so it was and I loved it. After graduating, I stayed in New York and began working as an actress. It was challenging, and the industry was overwhelmingly demanding and competitive. I worked for free initially to build my reel in English, taking on anything that seemed interesting. Gradually, I started landing better parts and no longer needed to work for free. I became a working actress.
Today, I proudly say I am an award-winning actress for my lead role as ‘Mother’ in the play “My Mother’s Severed Head,” performed in New York at Theater Row on 42nd Street and produced by Bruce Willis. Before the end of this year, the film “Clika” will be released, in which I play ‘Mari,’ the mother of the lead character “Chito,” portrayed by the famous American/Mexican singer JayDee (Jesus Diego) of the group Herencia de Patrones. Produced by his record label Rancho Humilde, the film promises to be a hit in the Latino market.
While my acting career was flourishing, I went through a divorce after 22 years of marriage. This experience led me down a path of personal development. I discovered the concepts of feminine and masculine energies and realized that my predominantly masculine energy contributed significantly to my divorce. I became passionate about this subject and began conducting workshops for women to share my learnings, believing that many women’s stress, unfulfillment, and strained relationships stemmed from similar issues. Thus, ACT FEMININE was born, an initiative helping women connect with their feminine side using powerful acting techniques and tools.
Now, I am preparing for my first men and women workshop in Los Angeles. My mission is to create a world where women and men collaborate, cooperate, and co-create together. As part of this project, I became a balance and restoration coach, offering one-on-one coaching for women and conducting workshops on this initiative. To learn more about this project you can watch my TEDxTalk “Masculine and Feminine Energy is A Balance” on YouTube which has over 73 thousand views at the moment of this publication.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

The world and society we live in today were built on a patriarchal system, one that predominantly values and utilizes masculine energy. In the terminology I use, this means a focus on qualities like getting, obtaining, extracting, and accomplishing. In contrast, feminine energy—characterized by creativity, intuition, wisdom, vulnerability, love, connection, receptivity, and flow—has been undervalued.

While a masculine-focused society has brought about significant benefits and progress, it has done so at a price. We have become overly focused on productivity and achievement, often neglecting the importance of simply being, enjoying life, and appreciating things that exist solely to bring joy and admiration for their beauty and magnificence.

As a result, art in its various forms is often seen as non-essential, lacking the perceived value or necessity for our well-being. Artistic expression does not receive the same recognition or compensation as other professions deemed to generate profit and “true” value for society. It is imperative that everyone begins to recognize the importance and benefits of the subtle aspects of life alongside the material world. Only then will artists thrive in a flourishing ecosystem.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

My creative journey today is driven by something different than my beginnings as a girl dreaming of being a ‘famous’ dancer and singer. Although I must admit that fame and recognition are still motivators for my career in the entertainment industry.

However, the possibility of using my creative journey to bring forth my mission of creating a world where men and women collaborate, cooperate and co-create their share world together is a much more powerful driving force today. Using my creative journey to impact the men and women around me so that we can all create the peaceful world we deserve to live in is a powerful motivator to get up and smile every day.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.nanaponceleon.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nanaponceleon/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Nana.Ponceleon/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nana-ponceleon-b17272/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOsuDSdE2y1CI92k5J2O3WQ
• Other: TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@nanaponceleon07

Image Credits

Glyph Creative Studio