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

Stephanie, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Do you have any key partners or vendors – if so, how’d you find them and start working with them?

Being social has given me the most opportunities. I pride myself on my interpersonal skills and outgoing personality. Many people in my network are because I’m actively involved in organizations, I attend networking events and most importantly, I am a big believer in being kind to everyone. Because of my comedy and improv background, I am more spontaneous and tend to take risks. I just walk up to people at parties fearlessly and have met some incredible people. One such person is a new business partner who recently came on as a producer for one of my projects.
This project had many layers of past connections that culminated into the perfect combination. Because of how I treat people, they want to help me out and when I work with them, it’s fun!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am a BIPOC Actor/Writer who has worked in live comedy, TV and in film. An award winning artist, I have also received multiple grants which allowed me to teach improv in schools and with adults with special needs. I have written on several Kids’ TV shows and am a published author. My work as a professional improviser allowed me to work with incredible talent and my love of education has translated into teaching thousands of people, across North America, about the power of improv and interpersonal skills. I am most proud of my latest pilot that I co-developed, wrote, produced and directed. From start to finish, I got to show off my reach in regards to locations, cast, as well as making every day on set a fun time!

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 have been brought in to teach corporate improv workshops and one of the things I think is a gift in improv is embracing failure. People are so concerned with not looking stupid, or saying the wrong thing, that they tend to stay in their head, rather than listening and being in the moment. Improv gives you a comfort in failing and improvisers tend to take more risks, be more creative and this is something that anyone can learn. Non-creatives often say “I could never do what you do” but I truly believe that improvising is something we all did as children and it was stifled. It’s a natural state that I think anyone can tap back into.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

It is quite shocking to see the lack of Latino/Hispanic representation on television. This is one of my goals, to create more versions of what Hispanic is. My writing is not focused on what makes my culture different, I like to focus (through comedy) how we are more similar than we knew. I loved hearing Diane Guerrero, while being interviewed by John Leguizamo, said that Latinos want to be represented as they are, not just stereotypes. “Why can’t we be the boring family?” like the white families have been represented. My mission is to focus on stories, without agendas of teaching and putting ethnic diversity into boxes. I rather watch characters figuring out life, regardless of their backgrounds, so those are the stories I want to bring to the world.

Contact Info:

• Website: stephanieherrera.com
• Instagram: @comedianstephanieherrera

Image Credits
Jason Chow Photography Daytime Durham