Meet Laura, a Senior Musical Theater Major originally from Bogota, Colombia!
1. What extracurricular activities are you involved in?
I am a Water Skier ranked 4th in the region for trick skiing after only 1 year of knowing how to ski.
I am Co-protagonist of a Web Series Call Stargirl13
I have and internship with Jazz Hands For Autism, which is a non-profit that creates performance opportunities for exceptional talented kids with autism. Our goal is to bring awareness to the fact that people with disabilities don’t need to be defined by such.
I work for Equinox at the Kids Club.
I am a Big Sister for the Big Brother/Big Sister program.
I am a Kappa Delta.
I am a private dance coach.
I take any singing opportunity the world has to offer, so I do that A LOT!
I was president for the Odyssey magazine (2014-2015).
And finally, I model for monster headphones.
2. How did you get involved with musical theater?
I have been singing for as long as I can remember. Being a famous singer has been my dream since forever and being the motivated, persistent, hard headed person that I am I have been pursuing it since I was a little girl. My father was always very opposed to me being a singer or any kind of artist for that matter. I am originally from Colombia and down there, pursuing a career as a singer is almost stupid because even if you make it big, it’s a tiny country and the revenue won’t be much. Well I never gave up on my dreams clearly, so my father took me to audition for the one and only Musical Theater School in Colombia, convinced that I was not going to make it. People from all over South America come to audition for this school and very few make it every year. Well much to his surprise I MADE IT!! So I started training at MISI, that’s the name of the school. I loved it more than life itself! Then we moved to the U.S. and Musical Theater was a big deal in the high schools I got to attend. I first moved to Trussville, Alabama. I didn’t know any English at all, but I auditioned for the musical and sure enough made it in as a chorus member and that’s how I made all my friends. Then when I moved to Texas I joined choir and theater and in many ways it saved me from being sad or missing home. Musical Theater has always brought me peace and comfort when I need it most. It doesn’t matter what happens in my life, I know that I can just go to my room, or the theater, and sing for as long as I need to. That to me is priceless and that’s why I stayed with it. I want to make people feel what I feel when I am up there singing or dancing or acting. Because for that moment nothing else matters, nothing else exists! And I think that if I am able to make whoever is watching me feel that, then that’s all I could possibly dream of.
3. How do you balance all of your activities?
I am always running, which is hard considering I only wear tall shoes and dresses! I have learned how to be organized and write everything down so I don’t forget what I have to do. It’s hard finding time to yourself between 22 units at school, a job, an internship, the sorority and waterskiing competitively. But it’s absolutely possible. I have a set schedule and yes it does not always goes exactly the way I plan, but as long as its there, set for me to follow, everything is so much easier. I literally write everything down hour by hour, including meals and sleep and hanging out with friends. Every blank space I find on my schedule I take it as time for myself. I either watch a movie, or get my nails done, or just sit on my balcony and have a nice glass of wine and breathe. I also think that I never take on anything that I don’t particularly enjoy, because I have this mentality of striving to be the best at everything I do. Therefore I enjoy all of my classes, except for some GE’s here and there, and waterskiing is playtime for me, the lake is my safe place. I am a true believer of dropping jobs or activities that don’t make me happy because why put up with something that makes you miserable? Therefore is not hard to balance all the activities I enjoy doing because I WANT to do them.
4. What is your favorite memory from UCLA so far?
There are so many good memories! Definitely being a freshman in the Musical Theater program and getting cast on my first show here! Becoming Captain of the Waterski Team and taking my team to Nationals for the first time in The UCLA Waterski Team History! This is super cheesy, but definitely joining Kappa Delta! Every time I spend time with my sisters I think, “How could this possibly get any better?” and then it does! Moving in with my best friend Austin and becoming even closer than I ever though possible! And its goes on…
5. If you could travel through time, who would you want to meet and why?
I would like to meet Shakespeare! After my senior classical training acting class I fell in love with him, I would just like to see how his brilliantness came to be. What inspired him? Is it true his plays are enchanted?
6. Are there any other fun facts about you?
I moved to the U.S at the age of 16 and when my parents told me we were moving here I remember bursting out in happy tears and asking them if it was really true because, aside from being a famous singer, that had been one of my biggest dreams for as long as I could remember. We moved to the smallest town in Alabama, and like I said I didn’t know any English! There I had to overcome racism and discrimination and the fact that what I expected my dream to be was absolutely not accurate at the moment. I learned English in about six months and by the time I was 17, I was fluent and could understand everything anyone had to say. I was doing musicals and singing in English, I joined a dance company and was getting incredible grades at school. I got into UCLA two years after I learned English, not only into one of the top schools in the country but into one of the hardest Theater programs to get into. I became Captain of a water team after 3 months of being in it. I’m not saying all this to brag, but because I want all of you to look at yourselves in the mirror and ask “what do I want to do?” or “what do I want to be?”, because if Laura Henao from Colombia who knew no English can do all this things, imagine what you, who have all the opportunities at your feet and the education and hopefully the drive, can do? I want to INSPIRE you to take a chance, and to give yourself a chance, to jump and just go for it, and to try and fail and to get up and try again! I am not saying that achieving your dreams is going to be easy, but I can assure you that it will be worth it! When people ask me why I’m not afraid to follow my dreams I simply explain to them that I have never met the first person who has tried and tried and tried and not make it to where they want to be. The only people who don’t make it are those who give up half way because it starts getting too hard. Its your choice to make, are you going to fight? You lose nothing by trying! Because one day something WONDERFUL WILL happen! You too can make your dreams come true!