Alessandra’s Questions
What attracted you to performing arts?
What attracted me to performing arts was seeing how artists move so fluently on stage, how melodic their voices are, and how everytime they finished a presentation they would get a standing ovation. Another important factor is that I have the talent. What my voice sounds like is different from everyone else’s and that makes me unique. I’ve noticed that every artist has something that makes them an artist and that is what inspires me to be like no one else and be Alessandra Clarke.
What do you love most about it?
What I love the most about performing arts would be how each time I step on a stage I let go. I insert a chip and I’m a different person. I feel appreciated and I feel like I brightened someone’s day when I see them smiling and dancing along with me. After my performances, people often tell me how good I was, and that makes me feel good to know that they really enjoyed it. I also love all the costuming that goes into all of my shows; the hair, the makeup, the very elaborate outfits and accesories.
What do you do through performing arts to influence the world?
I would say that through performing arts I’ve been able to teach people. I’ve taught people about my culture (with my performances in the Dora P. de Zarate and Manuel Zarate which is a intercolegial Folklore competition and it celebrates Panamanian culture. The one from Africa en America was another one were I got to embrace my culture. Africa en America is a convetntion held every year during the momnth of May, Black History month in Panama, it celebrates black culture and educates people about it). I tell stories through dance, my movements and my passion. A perfect example would be my performance as Lil Inez from the Musical: Hairspray, in All Dance International World 2019 (I told the story of a little african-american girl that was living through 1962 and dealing with racial segregation).
What difference are you trying to make? What is your main goal with what you do?
The difference I’m trying to make with the Instagram Live Series’ that I do, is that I want to be one of the teenagers taking action and speaking about things that are happening in the real world and, I try to connect with my audience by speaking to them and expanding their horaizons by doing collaborations with other people on the Lives. My main goal with the Intagram lives would be to educate people on different topics that are not normally talked about with mostly teens but adults also. Another goal is to give hope and take peoples mind off of the current pandemic that has affected everyone greatly, COVID-19. The difference that I am trying to make while being an entertainer, (singer, dancer, actress and model) is that I want to make people be connected, happy and living in the moment. I want to bring people from all parts of the world, no matter their nationality, gender, race or sexual orientation, together through my music and shows. My main goal being an artist is to make poeple feel content and that they have someone they can relate to. I want to have a special connection with all ofthe people that listen to my music and/or enjoy my shows. I feel that it is very important for me to be able to make music that can speak directly to everyone listening.
What motivated you to become a social media influencer?
What motivated me to become a social media influencer was the COVID-19 pandemic. During the quarentine, my mom and I began to think about ways that I could contiune to develope my talents while staying at home. She became worried about the possibility of me disconnecting so we decided to reinvent ourselves and my social media accounts. My mom had the idea of having weekly Instagram Live’s so that I and other people can still be entertained and learn new things during the quarentine. Since then and with the help from a graphic designer to make flyers, we’ve come up with new ideas for my show for every week. I have interviewed teenagers from different parts of the world, a retired Center for Disease Control (CDC) Epidemiologist and influencial Panamanian Afro-descendents, including my mom who is a Clinical Psychologist.
What is the message you want to spread?
As an artist, the message that I want to send is that everybody is equal. I want everyone to know that we all can reach our goals no matter our skin color, race, sexual orientation or religion. I believe that we all can do anything if we put our minds to it. You can’t let others negativity, jealousy or envy make you doubt yourself because you have to believe in yourself, the only person’s opinion that you should be thinking about is your own and some of your loved ones.
What was the experience like being able to interview a retired CDC epidemiologist?
For one of my Instagram Live’s, I had the opportunity to interview retired CDC epidemiologist, Dr. Murray Cohen, about the current COVID-19 pandemic. At first I was quite nervous because I have never interviewed someone with that kind of knowledge before, but as the interview flowed I grew more and more curious about the information Dr. Cohen was giving us. I learned that there are asymptomatic people that can carry the virus and spread it without experiencing symptoms. He also explained that asymptomatic people are the most dangerous and that because of this, when the quarentine is over, everyone should still treat people as if everyone has the virus.
Were you nervous about putting yourself out there? If so, how did you overcome those nerves?
Putting myself out there has always been challenging for me. I am always nervous of what people are going to think about me. I worry if they are going to like me or not and whether they are going to enjoy my performances. Sometimes when I’m presenting myself and my resume to others, I feel that people may think that I can come off kind of conceited. Most of the time it’s not true but that has to do with the nervousness that experience when I put myself out there. I think that I am still learning new ways to overcome the nervousness that I feel because sometimes, they are still there. But when I do feel nervous, I try to think about what I am doing or what I am going to do and how it is going to help me succeed and get me closer to my dreams. When I think about what other people may think about me, I just think about how at the end of the day this is what I have to do to make my dreams come true. I feel that in order to make my dreams come true I have to constantly work on it, always promote myself and also listen to constructive critisim.
What others challenges have you encountered in your process?
During the process of developing my career I’ve gone through various challenges that I’m still working on today. One of those challenges is that everytime before a big and important performance I get anxiety, and that gets turned into anger. Sometimes when my mom wants to help me (fix my hair, makeup or outfit), I get really upset and we start quarreling.
What is your advice to anyone who is thinking about becoming a social media influencer or anyone who wants to put themselves out there for whatever cause it may be?
My advice to anyone who is thinking about becoming a social media influencer or anyone who wants to put themselves out there for whatever cause it may be, is to believe in themselves because if you don’t believe in yourself no one will. When I believe in myself I feel like I can do anything and my talents ou out of this world. That mentality has led my to a lot of successes like winning first place in the Dora Perez de Zarate Folklore competition, winning second place in the musical theater solo division in All Dance International and more. I have also had my downfalls like not passing auditions, not getting callbacks, falling on competition stages, not hitting the not properly in a song… All these things should drive you to get better. Another piece of advice I would give is that you should probably get people to help you in different aspects of the process of you putting yourself outhere. For example, my mom mannages my social media accounts (all expect TikTok), that has been very helpful because she has a lot of good ideas, a lot of contacts and she helps me get confortable will talking to people and putting myself outhere. I think my best advice to anyone that is starting this journey would be to not be shy. If your shy people are not going to know what you do, their not going to remember you nor your talents, they will not talk about you and spread who you are to others.