Today we’d like to introduce you to Lana Montalban.
Hi Lana, 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 backstories with our readers.
I’m a journalist who left my native country of Argentina in 2002 trying to get away from the political upheaval, same as many of my countrymen. I came with my family with no job offer, so I started working all kinds of odd jobs, including modeling and producing. By nature, I like networking, so after a little while I had a large network of contacts in many different fields of media. It was while I was working as a TV and commercial producer that I noticed that I was informally acting as an agent since directors, production companies, and the like would ask me for contacts. So, I decided it to make it a business and in 2011, I created a talent agency: Best Florida Talents, LLC. Ever since then, I have been representing actors, models, dancers, celebrities, and voice-over talent in local and nationwide commercials.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
After all those years learning and growing the business, the Pandemic hit. Suddenly, “a group of people gathering to film a commercial” became a potentially deadly situation. Everything came to a sudden stop. And then, as with many other businesses, new formats were created out of necessity. New ways to communicate, to find talent, to book talent. And my business became mostly obsolete. The way a travel agency was absolutely necessary a couple of decades ago and now it is not. You can use a travel agent if you want to, but you can pretty much find ways to do it yourself. So, even though I continued working with my agency until today, I started thinking about new ways to reinvent myself and decided to do something that was always on my bucket list: to be a children’s author. As I am a very methodical person and I strive for perfection, even though I know it is quite impossible to reach it -, I joined critique groups, kid literature (called “kidlit” in the industry) organizations and participated in all the seminars, webinars, and courses I could get my hands on. My goal was to learn as much as I could about kidlit.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Back in February 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine, the land of my ancestors, I felt I needed to do something. I wanted to find a way to share what was happening and support the children there, so I wrote a children’s book that hopefully will be out soon. I say hopefully because the illustrator is in Kiev and with the bombings, they don’t always have electricity. She’s living the war every day and has spent weeks at a time in shelters, so it’s not an easy situation. However, we are hopeful that it will be completed soon and have been lucky to have the book sponsored by the Ukrainian embassy.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
The book tells the journey a little girl goes through when her country is invaded, her father goes away to fight, and life transforms itself. All proceeds of this book will be donated to organizations helping Ukrainian refugee children, orphans, and injured children still living there. The book is written in English and Spanish and will be available in 34 other languages via a link with proof of purchase. People can sign up to be notified when the book is ready at www.lanamontalbanauthor.com.
Pricing:
- The book will soon be available via Amazon, Kindle, Barnes and Noble, and other means for $15.00 plus S&H
Contact Info:
- Website: www.lanamontalbanauthor.com
- Instagram: @LanaMontalban
- Twitter: @lanamontalban
Image Credits
Anita Andrade
