Today we’d like to introduce you to Lala Guerrero.
Hi Lala, 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?
My mom had me in commercials since I was a toddler, so I’ve been acting since I was young.
I did theater in middle school but switched to sports in high school and when I eventually got to college, the stage was calling my name again. My parents wanted me to “grow up and get a real job” and so even though I majored in Intergrative Studies, I had a minor in Theater to scratch my itch. For what was almost a decade after, heavily engrained in the corporate life, my position was outsourced to South America and I found myself without a job since I was like 13.
Leading up to the outsourcing, I had been really considering hopping back into acting. I had just recently started taking some classes with a local coach and while I was devistated at the loss of my corporate job, after dusting myself off, I took this as a sign from the universe to push me further into acting and to really lean in – and so I did.
I truly believe that the Universe has an unique way of supporting us in the endevours that we most desire. I have met some of the most wonderful people during my journey, I work with some of the most talented coaches and now have opportunities to work for some of the most amazing productions, that little La would only dream of.
My day to day now consists of eating, breathing and living any activity that progresses my acting career further and that’s just the way I like it 🙂
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I won’t say it’s been SMOOTH, but I have been blessed. I believe in the concept of the Universe having our backs in what we most desire and I can’t help but think how every so often the Universe shows me that I am on the right path with this whole acting thing. I think the biggest struggle for me has been the patience and the ego death. I am notoriously on the move and I like to move fast. This craft has really taught me the art of slowing down and being more intentional. If anything, through the art of acting, I have been forced to face a lot of my inner demons in my personal life and have become a better person for it. I consistently watch my fellow acting friends evolve and a metamorphosize into better, healthier, and stronger versions of themselves that I don’t see happen so frequently anywhere else. Congruently, I have had my ego knocked down a few flights of stairs. Being in this industry, you learn to build a thick skin and that you really ain’t shit. You can work hard, be talented, beautiful and a handful of other postive descriptors and it could still not matter. The real trick is the consistency and the perseverance and being open to learn, grow, and be more flexible.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Yellow Canary Media / Hell Bus Entertainment / Tiny Reselling?
I am (low key, high key) a serial Entrepreneur. I own multiple businesses across multiple industries. The first two of which, are in the film production space. I actually opened Hell Bus Entertainment before Yellow Canary Media. I always had a dream aesthetic of dark and sexy with a sprinkle of bad ass, that I never got to outwardly develop. I have no tattoos, because if I had one, I’d really just be tatted from head to toe. My preferred music taste is darker and harder, and I’ve always been drawn to the spookier side of things. Horror has always been a genre I fancied as well as Action and I created Hell Bus Entertainment to tell those types of stories, with the talented people of Texas, in the easthetics I’ve always dreamed of. Funny enough, Texas is a Bible Belt State, and legally, you cannot have the word “Hell” in your business name apparently and thus Yellow Canary Media was born. YCM “does business as” Hell Bus Entertainement from time to time but also allows us the opportunity to produce the lighter side of things ( i.e. Comedies, Romance, and even Music Videos). Both YCM and HBE have films in the film festival circuit right now and are being well recieved.
As for outside of the film industry, I currently own one of the, if not THE, largest Alterntive Real Estate Professional Services companies in the state of Texas. What started out as just a girly trying to be more intentional about how I lived, I fell into a very niche space of helping people aquire alternative types of real estate for personal and business use. We offer a wide portfolio of full circle services from advisement, marketing, legal, financing, contracting, investment, and more! I mention this really to give thanks to this company. What was once a side gig, has turned into a resource that allows me the flexability and finances to really chase my dreams in the art of acting. To say I am blessed is an understatement.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
A childhood memory I think about often is when I booked my first professionally paid “off-broadway gig” at the age of 17.
I’ll set the scene – When I was in highschool, I was apart of their off-site work program. Basically, all the kids who needed to work, to help support themselves or their families, got special permission to leave school early so they could go to work and make money. This program, although very necessary for my specific situation, was very alienating, because my parents had moved us to a very prominent and affluent neighborhood to try to give us a better chance at life. My classmates, who rolled up in Range Rovers and Hummers, didn’t understand this concept or why ” I needed to work”.
I had basically graduated highschool early with like one class left my senior year and was taking advantage of a hybrid program of classes at a community college that doubled as both senior credit and college credit. I was doing all of this while also working full time as a kennel tech at my local veterinary office trying to save up for vet school.
At that time, I had given up the idea of being a professional actor, but the options for electives in my community college course curriculum reignited the possibility of getting back into acting. I took to my acting classes with enthusiasm and started to recognize, that acting was the only thing my ADHD brain would lock in on for hours at a time. On my final day of class, we had to put up performances in front of our classmates and their family and friends. I invited only one friend to attend that day, my best friend, because my scene had a lot of adult themes that was pushing me out of my comfort zone, and to be honest I was a little embarrassed I was about to be so vulnerable. I rememeber giving what I felt like, was the best performance of my life. All actors know that feeling, when you just black out, lose yourself to your second reality, and when you’re done you go “what just happened?!” Well, my acting teacher must have thought the same thing because as I was leaving what would be my final class in that program, she asked me to stay behind. “I think this role might be too old for you, but if your open to it, I would like you to audition for the lead in this play I am producing “Mauritius”.
Initially, I told her I wasnt sure, because I couldn’t take off of work because I needed the money, but she assured me it was paid and it was paying way more than what I was making as a kennel tech. So, I humored her. It was the first, professional audition had I ever attended. They let everyone sit in on the auditions and all the actors there were full blown adults and so very talented. I was getting nervous because I felt like I was so out of my league. I was watching the actors go up and perform and I was taking notes of things I liked and things I didn’t, just to perfect my performance before I went up. (That’s such a laughable thing to say now in hindsite.) I was one of the last people to audition and I went up there and gave it my all.
And then I heard nothing.
My life went back to normal, slaving away for $7.25. hour taking care of rich people’s dogs in the early hours of the morning and late at night. Picking up poop and pee, feeding the animals, administering medications, cleaning the clinic, taking them on walks, etc. When one early Saturday morning, when all of my friends were “Catching the glass water” on their wakeboard boats, I found myself at the clinic in the middle of mopping up urine, in my dirty scrubs, when all of a sudden I had gotten a call from my old acting teacher from the community college. It had been long enough that I knew this was the courtesy call to tell me that they went another direction and it started just like that. With the “thank you’s” and “great jobs”, you know, the positive set up they always do right before they rip your heart out. I was bracing myself for the “But” to follow, BUT it never came. Instead, I heard the words “We want to offer you the lead role.” It was paying something like 800 a week when I was making maybe $500 every two weeks. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Here I was, this little broke girl, working hard to try to make ends meet, and a full blown adult production trusted ME, to lead in their play. I graciously accepted and when I hung up the phone I just sat on the floor and cried. It was such an out of body experience that my memory of it, is from above. Like an aerial view looking down on me.
I don’t know, I think about that day alot. The universe telling me to keep going and now here I am 🙂
Contact Info:
- Website: Guerrerolala92@gmail.com; Tinyreselling.@gmail.com; Tinyreselling.com
- Instagram: @lalaguerreroofficial @HellBus Entertainement @Yellow Canary Media @Tinyreselling
- Facebook: @lalaguerreroofficial
