We recently connected with Susanne Kretschmer-Schmidt and have shared our conversation below.

Susanne, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your creative career sooner or later?

I feel that if I had started sooner I wouldn’t be the person I am today. I’ve learned so much from my past decisions and mistakes, and it’s so funny how things start to click with the passage of time. Things I learned a long time ago which I thought would never be needed, became extremely useful years later and I wouldn’t change those experiences at all. I believe I am right where I’m meant to be and I know now that the best moment is the present. Who knows where I’d be if I had started earlier or where I’d be if I had started later on.  The hardest thing is to focus on the present moment, and I am thankful that is now my priority, what I am living today!

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?

I was born to chilean parents in Mexico City but I grew up between Mexico and Argentina due to my dads work. Growing up I had the opportunity to travel around the world and visited many wonderful places and cultures that made me very curious about human life in general. There was so much to see and learn from other people that were so much different from what I was and what I knew!

My love for the arts started very young. I got into my first ballet classes at the age of three and enjoyed dancing and acting by myself , impersonating characters in front of a mirror (my mom even caught me a few times making myself cry and laugh while I studied my reflections in the mirror). I’ve been surrounded by artists my entire life. My mom comes from a family of musicians and artists, being a jazz singer herself and the daughter of a concert pianist, my grandma. This greatly influenced my passion for music and singing.

I always loved movies, the idea of being able to create another world and be so many characters in one life just fascinates me. When I was about eleven, I started reading a fantasy book and completely fell in love with the story and I really admired the main character: a thirteen year old heroine that saves the world. I was so obsessed with it that I heard a rumor that a live-action adaptation was being made! I felt I was the perfect person for the role. I wanted to audition so bad. Even though it never got made, it really had an impact on me to want to pursue acting. I ended up doing five years of Musical Theater up to my senior year in high school where I got to be a part of incredible musicals such as Les Miserables, Fame and Into the Woods.

However, upon graduation I decided to study Industrial Design in San Francisco while continuing to fulfill my artistic path through side projects. In my free time I would always audition for projects and would get casted in Short Films! Later on I moved to LA to study acting in The American Academy of Dramatic Arts where I completed my studies. Funnily enough, I started assisting in Production Design during my last year of studies and now work on this almost full time! Who would’ve thought that my Industrial Design skills would be perfect for this. Now I get to do the two things that I love: acting and set design and I’m happy as a clam.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Do not let people influence you. Don’t. While I was in high school I always loved acting and the arts in general. However, in my last year people always told me that it wasn’t a reliable/stable/good career and those thoughts kind of got in my head. I studied something else before realizing that my passion was elsewhere. Now, my family has been incredibly supportive throughout my entire life and always have had my back on my decisions and I’m very grateful to them. But people’s opinions will always be there. Trust yourself. Do what you love. I love who I’m becoming and how I do things, flaws and all, and it’s these little things that help you become a better person.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

The greatest challenge I’ve ever faced was to make the decision to change careers and move to Los Angeles to pursue my love for acting and set design. Starting again with a new career was both exhilarating and terrifying at the same time. Moving from another country is already a challenge as you push yourself to discover new things and places, but the experiences will be unforgettable and unregrettable. Getting out of my comfort zone was the best way to keep learning, I’ve learned so many new things through these past years being abroad, that I believe it could have happened in such a different way staying back home. So, yes it was a challenging time when I had to pivot, but I am so grateful for where I am today.

Contact Info:

• Website: sukretschmer.com
• Instagram: su_kre
• Other: IMDB: https://imdb.me/sukre Email: kretschmers17@gmail.com

Image Credits
Getty Images – Paul Archuleta Matt Marcheski Dominic Leano Robert Meares