Isabella Gomez
⤏ IN CONVERSATION WITH ARIELA BARER
⤏ PHOTOS BY CARLY PALMOUR | STYLING BY LINDSEY HARTMAN | MAKE-UP BY KATIE MANN
⤏ PUBLISHED OCTOBER 2020
Isabella Gomez is a force of nature and a sophisticated starlet with a heart of gold. She is also one of my best friends. Chatting over Zoom, we set out to solve the mysteries of distorted online realities, maintaining a healthy relationship with Instagram, and how the internet saved her show.
ISABELLA GOMEZ: You and I handle social media very differently. But we’re both very open about how fake it can be and how bullshit-y it is.
ARIELA BARER: One thing I love about your Instagram is when you do “What I Post” vs “Behind the Scenes” stories. Because you’re the queen of thirst traps, especially a fitness thirst trap!
IG: I am! I am vocal about being a little catfish! I mean, here’s the thing: angles and posing and what you’re wearing and the time of day and how much glam you’ve done definitely affect how you look. I definitely take advantage of it, but I want to be super open about that. Especially because people will comment things like “Wow you’re so perfect!” And it’s like, no this is three hours of professionals working on me. It’s a fine line I walk because aesthetics are a part of social media and it’s fun to post thirst traps, but I also want to make sure I’m not giving anybody unrealistic expectations of what their body is supposed to look like.
AB: I admire that!
IG: I mean I definitely overshare on social media!
AB: I was talking about that the other day and blaming it on how I’m technically Gen Z and posting is how I’ve been taught to express myself! And we’re in quarantine right now. You and I specifically have been communicating exclusively through quarantine memes. How do you think it’s affecting the way you process what’s going on right now?
IG: I genuinely think memes are good for my well-being. It sounds so silly, but I’m someone who deals with stressful things through comedy and if I can have a laugh about something, it kinda demystifies it and keeps me grounded. Looking at memes helps me. It helps me! I don’t know what else to tell you.
“I genuinely think memes are good for my well-being.”
AB: I saw someone post about how they understood why people were writing children’s playground songs about the black plague because humans have always needed humor to cope. It’s like if you laugh at something, you take its power away. How have you been staying connected to your friends and your family?
IG: Being able to see people through video is so important because tone is so weird right now. And it’s weird to read tone through text.
AB: I think people are mad at me at least ten times a day.
IG: It makes sense! Our brains are not working at full capacity because we’re going through a trauma!
AB: Can we take a second to talk about how social media really did save One Day at a Time? What was that campaign like from the inside?
IG: It was the most ridiculous thing we’ve ever been a part of! I mean, shows get cancelled everyday. There’s something like 450 scripted shows airing on networks and streaming, so shows get cancelled everyday. We knew we were getting cancelled, but when the news came out, it was the most mind blowing holy-shit-we’re-still-trending-people-can’t-stop-talking-about-this-thing-they’re-really-angry-just-like-us moment!
I remember Norman [Lear] — who created the show — sent an email that said, “I have made dozens of shows and I’ve been in this industry for over 60 years and I’ve never seen this kind of response to a show being cancelled.” It was so special. It’s just the coolest thing that’s ever happened.
AB: It’s an extremely impressive campaign!
IG: And it wasn’t even led by us! The fans took it into their own hands and it was so reassuring and so comforting to see that people really cared about what we’re making.
AB: I personally peaked during that campaign and I was only in two episodes in season one!
“Do I recommend publicly dealing with your break up when you have a following? I don’t! I don’t think it’s the smartest idea.”
IG: I think I might’ve peaked too, honestly.
AB: I think the opposite of peaking is that we both went through break ups at the same exact time last year, just coincidentally. We both dumped and got dumped like a week apart. But what I thought was interesting was we both went in opposite directions on how we handled it. You took to social media and Instagram quotes very heavily, whereas I completely retreated and wiped my social media clean and left the country! So I’m wondering, what lessons did you learn from your public break up?
IG: I mean listen, do I recommend publicly dealing with your break up when you have a following? I don’t! I don’t think it’s the smartest idea. However I will say, personally, it genuinely helped a lot. It was a rough break up, but remembering that there was a world outside of what I was going through was really important to me. Remembering that there were people that gave a shit about me, regardless of whatever happened with this person, was so important. So for me, reaching out and really relying on this community that’s been built around me was crucial and I don’t know how I would’ve gotten through without it. That’s the thing, and it’s such a cliché, asshole, actor-y thing to say, but our fans are so special. Genuinely! They not only saved our show, but they’re just really aware, caring, empathetic humans. I will say, though, that I realize that the internet is forever and all of those things I did and said are still there! But I don’t have any regrets.
AB: We love Instagram quotes and memes as a coping mechanism! I hope a therapist doesn’t read this interview. Have you been going to therapy since we’ve been in lockdown?
IG: Yeah! It’s been kind of lovely, especially with the pandemic going on and the collective traumatic experience we’re all living through. It’s great to get it off your chest!
AB: I loved when you first started going to therapy and you’d come back to me and say, “Tracy said the most amazing shit today!” It was like I was getting second-hand therapy.
IG: I am definitely that person who’s like, “Well my therapist said—”
AB: And you should be! That’s the best kind of person to be. So, where do you think social media is going from here and how do you think more intimate relationships and friendships are going to evolve?
IG: I think the lock down has taught us that there is a way for us to stay connected through social media. It’s not just a highlight reel for aesthetics. I feel like right now people are using social media in a very honest way and showing their struggles, which I think is super important. And while social media can be an artform or based in aesthetics, I like this shift in seeing people present more honestly. I’d like to see that stay. I think it’s beneficial for everyone’s mental well-being to see that people get sad and people struggle.
AB: You have almost half a million followers on Instagram right now, but I remember when you hit 100k and how we thought that was life changing. What have you learned as your audience expands?
IG: The day I hit 100k followers, my agents were super excited because they said it’ll open doors for me. I’ve gone to auditions where they encourage you to disclose your Instagram following and if you don’t have X number of followers, don’t even bother coming in.
AB: Acting is very intertwined with social media, and I have conflicting feelings about this. Like, are viral TikTokers really focusing on acting as a craft? But on the other hand, social media allows you to control your narrative and be more in charge of yourself. How do you feel about this balance and where do you think you lie?
“There is a way for us to stay connected through social media. It’s not just a highlight reel for aesthetics.”
IG: There’s definitely a craft to influencing and they’re making so much money and they’re really successful in their careers, but that doesn’t necessarily translate into the entertainment industry, because it’s a completely different thing. We’re trained actors, we’ve been in classes for as long as we can remember, and I think if you’re doing TikTok or Youtube just for the purpose of getting a following so that you can be on TV and in movies, then you’re doing it the wrong way.
AB: But don’t you think it brings down barriers for people like us? It’s like saying, “Oh you don’t think a brown girl can lead a movie? Well, my thousands of followers say otherwise.”
IG: Totally! I think it’s a tool in the tool box, but it shouldn’t be your entire thing. Especially if you’re serious about being able to tell stories. But the cool thing about social media is that you don’t have to get greenlit by anybody, you and I can pick up a camera and make a short and post it tomorrow —
AB: We did!
IG: You did it in a very professional setting! I mean we could literally pick up an iPhone and edit something together and post it tomorrow and nobody has to approve anything!
AB: And we get to tell our story in a way that other people were discouraged from or censored in the past.
IG: And we get to showcase our individual talents in a way outside of the typecasts we’ve been put in. So yeah, that’s super awesome!
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⤏ ARIELA BARER (SHE/THEY) IS A SUCCESSFUL ACTOR AND STRUGGLING MARINE BIOLOGIST. THEY’VE ALWAYS DREAMT OF THE OCEAN, BUT A LACK OF FORMAL EDUCATION PUSHED THEM INTO A CAREER OF ART AND CELEBRITY. THEY HOPE TO ONE DAY SOLVE THE MYSTERY OF THE DEEP SEA, AND ALSO FIND A DRESS THAT IS THE PERFECT COMBINATION OF FEMININE, STRUCTURED, AND SUPER SLUTTY.