Today we’d like to introduce you to Isabella Rivera.
Hi Isabella, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
My journey started in 2015 in my home island, Puerto Rico. In 2015 back in Puerto Rico I would see many stray animals and I decided I wanted to find a way to help out. I was only seven years old, so I asked my parents what I could do to help. My parents took me to an animal shelter to see the problem up close and to speak to the people who were dealing with the stray animal population. They explained to me that in order to correct the stray animal population we needed people to spay and neuter and adopt more animals from the shelters and that for some reason people wouldn’t do these things. That’s when we realized that this is an education problem; people need to know of the importance and benefits of sterilization, adoption, and taking good care of animals. I decided that if people needed to be educated and learn, then we needed to go to schools to teach them how to do much better. That’s when I created a program called Kids For Animals. In Kids for Animals, we visit schools, malls, summer camps, colleges, and universities to give a presentation about animal welfare. We stress the importance of sterilizing, vaccinations, and adopting as a way to reduce the stray animal population. The response to Kids For Animals was amazing. Thousands participated and we collected thousands of pet food that we delivered to animal shelters all around the island. To my surprise, people from other countries, like Venezuela, Argentina, and even here in Florida started to contact me saying that they also wanted to participate. So, in the next years, I have been all over taking my message of love and respect to animals.
It is estimated that over 12,000 children have participated in Kids for Animals conferences and over 8,000 pounds of pet food have been delievered to shelters in both Puerto Rico and here in Florida. I got to meet Dr. Jane Goodall, English primatologist and anthropologist. Seen as the world’s foremost expert on chimpanzees and who awarded me with her Roots and Shoots Project of the Month for my project Kids For Animals, she became the spark and my role model. I wanted to continue with my work of speaking on behalf of animals and taking it to everyone who would listen.
Then in 2020 during the pandemic, everything went online, so I continued to give my presentations online to smaller groups but to my great surprise Disney Channel reached out to me and they produced a segment about Kids for Animals which aired in Disney Channel during national Hispanic month. Thanks to them I reached thousands more.
Throughout all these years of speaking up for animals, I done many television, radio, and magazine interviews and all that camera practice made me find my love for acting.
I have been acting professionally since I was eight years old. I have participated in tv series, short films and featured films, commercials, etc.
Now as a resident of Miami-Dade, I contribute regularly with the Miami-Dade Animal Services Shelter in Doral. I am a foster parent for pets, helping them to balance the amount of animals inside the shelter. I continue to give my presentations about animal welfare at local schools and I continue to pursue my passion for acting. I take acting and voice lessons while constantly auditioning.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
In the beginning, the biggest obstacle I encountered with Kids For Animals was my age. How a seven-year-old could reach out so many. We did it by teamwork. We invited animal shelters, animal rescuers, and sanctuaries to give the presentation. We would send out my presentation which is child friendly, give them all the materials and prepare them so they could then go and visit the schools and give the presentation. As a bonus and motivation, every time they visited a school the children would hold a pet food drive, and then that speaker would go back with hundreds of pounds of pet food. But mainly people wanted to meet me, so we did a lot of traveling and bigger appearances to try to reach as many as we could. It took teamwork and also confidence that I had a message, a voice and that even one child can make a difference.
When it comes to acting, it is very competitive, I do multiple auditions every week. When you have more experience, you learn that you have to keep working in educating yourself and improving yourself so that when the audition comes you are ready for it. In the acting world, it is tempting to compare yourself to others, but in reality, it is a job that only you can perform so it should be you against you, improving and growing.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
In Kids For Animals my greatest accomplishment was that I got to be Governor of Puerto Rico for a Day. I got to shadow the Governor and went into meetings with his staff and more importantly, I was able to seat with him one on one and tell him how passionate I was about helping animals in my island. To my happy surprise he signed an executive order to allow the Humane Society of USA to enter the island for a massive sterilization program. They had been working on that for weeks and on that day, he smiled at me and said: “We have been listening.” That program was called “Spayathon” and resulted in 40,000 sterilizations in the island all free of cost. As an actor, the best thing is making new friends and contacts along the way. In every production in which I have worked, I am still friends with several of the actors but not only the actors, the people behind the scenes. The hair and makeup, PAs, tutors at the set, directors, writers, sound, light, camera people, even payroll they are still in contact with me, and they are all rooting for me and hoping to see me grow as an actress. That is more fulfilling than watching your performance on the big screen and it makes me believe in myself and continue on this path.
What matters most to you?
My passions are helping stray animals live happy healthy lives and acting. Helping stray animals is not only about the animals; it helps keep a cleaner and healthier society. When the streets are free of stray animals, we can better enjoy them, and keeping them clean means a healthy community with streets free of diseases.
Acting on stage or in front of the cameras is the place where I am physically and mentally connected to the craft. Making that character connect with the audience. And getting the right reactions from them tells you that the emotions you wanted to convey are there.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: isabella_rivera_gandulla
- Facebook: Kids For Animals -Isabella
Image Credits
Michelle Nicole Photography
Isabel Gandulla
