Celebrating Blanca Blanco's Career Leap
Education has always been incredibly important to Blanca Blanco. Her career, before Leaping into acting full time, was providing therapy for hospice patients and their families. This work gave her personal depth and an understanding of the challenges people face particularly at the end of their life.
Blanca grew up in a traditional household from Mexico and her family struggled financially. A girl’s place was in the home; however this is not where Blanca saw herself. She did not understand why she was discouraged from playing sports or from focusing on school. Instead, Blanca decided to listen to her inner self at a young age and follow her dreams. She stayed focused on attending college even though family and friends repeatedly questioned why she was doing it. She kept her dream of becoming an actress silent because her teachers, while they supposedly had her best interest at heart in encouraging her to finish school, told her that acting was not a “real” career. She played sports and stayed dedicated to her schoolwork even when she got into trouble for doing so. This made her appear rebellious, but it was her fierce determination that carried her through.
Blanca graduated from Washington State University with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and a Masters in Social Work from Eastern Washington University. Before becoming an actress, Blanca worked full time providing one on one counseling and emotional support to hospice patients and their families.
“It was through the incredibly emotional, and at times beautiful, experience of working with people near the end of their lives that she learned the importance of following your dreams and living in the moment - because we are not always sure what will happen tomorrow.”
She knows that some moments in life are unstoppable; no matter how hard you try. Blanca learned about the experiences and lives of her patients and their families and through this awareness she learned about herself.
Blanca uses her degree and her experiences as a therapist every day in her acting career. She examines each character’s life fully, conducting a “therapy assessment”, starting with their childhood, to genuinely understand the role that she is about to play. Her degree and professional experiences have helped her traverse the entertainment industry from understanding her relationships within the business to navigating audition highs and lows and understanding relationships with fellow actors.
Blanca’s thirst for achieving her ambitions keeps her motivated. She understands that nothing is linear and that she will encounter difficulty along the way. When she is struggling she remembers that growth comes from experiences, and when she is learning something new she is growing as a person.
“Do not to let anyone smash your dream. Stay focused and push forward until you get where you want to be. Stay positive by turning barriers into challenges. If you have a full time job in order to survive remember it is only temporary while you transition to your dream career. Be patient. You are never old to pursue your dreams.”
She Built It celebrates your Leap. Cheers to you Blanca Blanco!
