Today we’d like to introduce you to Aurea Gonzalez.
Hi Aurea, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Going back to the root of my artistry seems so complicated because no path or journey is linear. I feel the Universe provides opportunities to seize and shows us signs that we are on our path to success throughout different phases of our lives. I knew I wanted to be an actor at a very young age, having worked with Dreamyard Productions in the fifth grade and creating a short film, but I didn’t grow up with the right supporting environment. Being a working professional in the Entertainment industry was very cliché and unrealistic in my household. I was taught to perform well academically if I wanted to succeed, so I did but I was unusually sad and turned to poetry to express myself beginning in middle school. I had a teacher known as Coach G who introduced this form of creativity to me and I felt better as I began writing more.
In High School, I attended a trade school that allowed me to study a profession on top of my academic curriculum and I chose Cosmetology because my mother wanted me to stay in the Bronx for school, automatically trashing the possibility of my attending LaGuardia HS for Performing Arts. Since I could not attend a school that focused on acting, drama, performing overall, I joined the Drama and Poetry club at my high school my sophomore year. I had a few teachers who were encouraging in my dreams to become an actor. An English teacher encouraged me to write for the USA Today Dream Job Essay Challenge, where two students per school in NYC were selected to shadow their dream profession. I was one of two and went on the New York Film Academy to shadow two Acting classes, becoming more enthralled with the craft.
Throughout my high school years, I performed short skits, sang in front of the school during competitions, modeled runway for hair shows and won first place for makeup artistry as a senior. It was clear creative expression was my holy grail and went on to audition for a few drama programs for college. I didn’t get into Julliard, but I was glad to have been able to audition nonetheless. I ended up attending Fairleigh Dickinson University in Madison, NJ for my freshman year, having been accepted into their competitive Theatre department, studying Acting Arts. I was so happy to not only leave home, experience campus life but to throw myself into something I dreamt of for so long.
I learned the craft of acting exponentially. I starred in student films and worked backstage during major theatre plays. But ultimately, I couldn’t afford to continue studying at FDU. I was in debt and had to take a year and a half off to work and come up with the funds to transfer schools. I was devasted I couldn’t continue studying at FDU. I had wonderful professors and felt I had only truly begun my training and barely touched the surface of what I was meant to do. In my time out of school, I dove into freelance modeling, developing an entirely different relationship with the camera and growing my own confidence in my body and self overall. I found a new passion that felt like a sister to acting.
When I finally transferred back to NYC, I made Theatre Arts my minor, also minored in Journalism, and majored in Advertising and Public Relations at the City College of New York. In my time off, I had reflected and wanted to learn the ins and outs of the industry in its entirety and felt this way, I would become better at pitching myself, branding myself, and getting more work while I was in school and after. I began performing on stage again while I was a student, and I published so many articles about different things, primarily on mental health.
Fast forward to a few years post grad, I continued to create. I modeled and was published in a few magazines and featured in a national campaign for Blink Fitness. I wrote and released my first single “Mejor” in the middle of a pandemic, accompanying a music video I directed, produced, and starred in. I began training again with award-winning, working actors in LA from the comfort of my home in NYC. I continued to act, selling out seats in the Bronx and on Broadway in the original play called “Checklist” directed and produced by the Burgos Brothers. I starred in my first musical off Broadway in Brooklyn before that. I am still acting in films, series and recently started working production on an NBC Universal television show to learn more and continue to manifest the environment I am attracting.
So the story feels long for me. I am not old, but I am not what the industry considers to be “young.” At 29, I have accomplished a lot on my own, with the help of the support some family and friends have given me. I am grateful for where I am and excited for where I am going.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
From my story, I think one can assume it has not been a smooth ride. I don’t know what smooth is. I have always faced obstacles, from the environment I grew up in, to mental health struggles, to feeling like I’m hitting a wall in my career due to my body size. I feel there will always be something, but I also believe God gives his toughest battles to his strongest warriors. I am quite resilient, and over the last two years have been more focused on awareness, raising my vibrational frequency to match who I envision myself being by becoming her. I’m a lot more tapped into the energy surrounding all that I am, surround myself with, and do so I do not become distracted by things that do not serve me. For the things I cannot control, that is that. I can only focus on my reactions, my responses, myself and my dreams. Again, life isn’t linear.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I classify myself as a Creative Entrepreneur or Artist because there are so many mediums I exercise.
First and foremost, I am an actor. I say actor because I don’t believe in gender norms and while I stand proudly in my femininity, I also love my masculinity and can portray anyone or anything. Diving deep into a character beyond the pages of a script excites me. I love developing real-life history that to drive character objectives on stage and in front of a camera. I am fascinated by the land of make believe! My imagination has always been an adventure.
For ten years, I have freelanced as a model. I was never signed because my body does not equate to divisions most agencies hold. I am petite in height but curvy in body size/type. Because of my history as a model, I became passionate about activism in body positivity to celebrate all bodies. I modeled in #TheRealCatwalk twice in NYC, in my underwear during the Winter. I created, produced, and directed a movement called #PetiteCurveMatters to highlight and educate the masses on petite curvy bodies. Images are on Instagram, an article was featured on xojohn.com and a documentary released November 2021 on YouTube highlights the shoot and the stories behind some of the women featured in the shoot.
Music became another medium for me naturally because I love poetry. I love storytelling and love music overall. I was excited to create my first work musically and learn and apply what I have with my first single. As an independent artist, however, creating music is quite expensive and you are not rewarded as much as you invest unless you have a solid team and constant turnaround in musical releases.
I got my first experience doing assistant directing for a music video and thoroughly enjoyed the process. As a leader, I enjoy telling people what to do. As an artist, I understand what is needed and what needs to be communicated. As a perfectionist, I enjoy the little details of production and as a puzzle maker, I love creating and putting all the pieces together to form a whole vision either I or any other creative director I work with envision from the start.
Overall, I am known for my social media brand #definitiondesire deriving from glamour modeling, later becoming a vessel for becoming all thing I desire, physically, mentally, financially, and spiritually.
I am most proud of how far I got without representation as a model. Seeing my face and name on billboards across the nation, in the gyms, and so forth was proof that I was worthy of representing others as standard models. It was proof my work ethic, passion, and determination was not for nothing. I am also most proud of seeing a musical project to completion. As an artist who wears many hats, it can get challenging finishing projects when you’re constantly developing new ideas. I have unfinished novels, songs, plays, and so forth lying around.
I believe what sets me apart from others is my versatility and ability to understand how most things in the creative world work. My education and experience have taught me to be equipped with all the different parts of creating and distributing a piece of work. I am passionate, I am hungry, and giving up is never an option. I’ve come too far.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
People interested in working with me can email me. You can support by following me on social media, on your streaming platform of choice “AUREA G” and by donating to the art fund here:
CashApp: $AUREAOFFICIAL
Venmo: AUREAOFFICIAL
Any donations are greatly appreciated and will go directly to creating more work.
Contact Info:
- Email: bookaurea@gmail.com
- Website: aureaofficial.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/aureagofficial
- Facebook: facebook.com/aureagofficial
- Twitter: twitter.com/aureagofficial
- Youtube: youtube.com/c/aureag
- Other: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/aureag/mejor
Image Credits
Tylik Hill, Mauricio Jorquera, Blink Fitness, Inc., Jason Douglas, Aurea Gonzalez & Gillian Francis, Tyler Aryai
