Today we’d like to introduce you to Vanessa Hernández Arias.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I grew up in Cali, Colombia, in a family where everything revolved around connection. We’d gather around the table, laugh, tell stories and somewhere in those moments, I fell in love with performing. By the time I was five and stepped into my first theater class, I just knew. This was it.
My parents encouraged me to get a degree, so I studied Communications and Journalism and it turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life. While still in university I started working in television, and I quickly realized I didn’t have to choose between acting and communication. I could do both.
After graduating I moved to Buenos Aires to keep training, and then came the biggest leap: New York City. I arrived without being fluent in English, juggling multiple jobs, exhausted but with something very clear in my heart. I believed things were going to happen, even when I couldn’t see it yet. That’s what faith looks like to me not waiting for proof, but taking action anyway because you trust that God has a plan and it’s going to work out for good. So I kept going.
I auditioned in a language I was still learning, balanced work and training, and slowly built a career in theater, film, and Hispanic media from TV Azteca América to People en Español, Off-Broadway productions to independent films across the U.S. and Latin America. Most recently I appeared in El Bodeguero, a Dominican-American independent film, and I’m currently preparing a new production with Repertorio Español.
And then there’s D3 Creators which came from a very real and personal place. My partners Dahiana and Niozma aren’t just colleagues, they’re my best friends. We kept meeting brilliant women who had so much to say but struggled to say it on camera, on stage, in a room. We’d been there too. So we built something to help.
What makes D3 different is what each of us brings to the table. We’re all journalists but Dahiana is also a singer, Niozma is a writer, and I come from acting. We bring all of that into every workshop. It’s never just a class. We want people to actually feel it, use it, and carry it into their daily lives. More than anything, we want them to feel seen and supported through the whole process because that’s what makes the real difference. To date we’ve helped over 200 women find their voice and show up with confidence. Watching that happen never gets old. Everything we built came from a genuine hunger to help others.
Today, my focus is clear: my career as a professional actress and building D3 Creators with my best friends. That clarity didn’t come overnight it came from learning one of the hardest but most important lessons: if you really want to make it, you have to prioritize. You have to focus on what truly matters and be okay with letting other things go. And right now, we’re also expanding D3 Creators to Pennsylvania growing, evolving, and just getting started.
I’ve rebuilt my career three times in Colombia, Argentina, and the United States and I’m deeply grateful for every step of that journey, the hard ones included. Each time, God put the right people, the right opportunities, and the right lessons in my path. Looking back, I can see how it all connected. Confidence isn’t something you’re born with. It’s something you build — with focus, with courage, and with the faith to keep moving even when you can’t see the whole path ahead.
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?
No. It hasn’t been a smooth road at all.
The obvious challenges were there the language barrier, starting over as an immigrant, building everything from zero, working long hours while still chasing a dream. There were days I was exhausted in every sense of the word. But I kept going.
What I don’t hear people talk about enough, though, is the internal struggle. And I think that’s actually one of the biggest ones. It’s when your own mind starts to work against you those thoughts that creep in and say you’re not talented enough, nothing is happening, it isn’t worth it, maybe you’re not worth it. That voice can be louder than anything happening on the outside, and if you let it, it will stop your growth completely.
But it’s not just the voice in your head. It’s also the voices around you. The people who haven’t built anything, who haven’t taken any risks and yet they have the loudest opinions about your life and your dreams. Why are you dreaming so big? You’re not capable of that. And when you start believing those words, they become just as damaging as your own doubts.
That’s why I always say: check where the words are coming from. People who have actually built something, who have taken risks and kept going they’re not the ones telling you that you can’t. So be careful who you listen to.
For me, the first thing that helped was faith choosing to believe what God says about me, even when my circumstances or the people around me were saying something different.
The second thing was being intentional about what I was feeding my mind. I think about it like food. If you feed your body junk, your health suffers. The mind works the same way. So I started filling it with good things motivational audiobooks, learning, surrounding myself with people who were actually growing and had something real to say. Having mentors. Giving myself quiet time. Working on affirmations. Renewing my mind with thoughts that actually reflect the truth about who I am.
That’s the work nobody sees. But it’s some of the most important work you’ll ever do.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m proud of many things, but if I had to choose, co-founding D3 Creators with my two best friends and watching it actually change people’s lives is at the top of the list.
What started as a conversation between three communicators with very different backgrounds became something real. And what makes D3 different isn’t just what we teach it’s how we teach it. A lot of programs focus on presentation techniques, but we believe confidence starts much deeper than that. We help participants get to the root of their fears, work through limiting beliefs, and build the mindset to communicate authentically.
Our methodology combines personal development, emotional awareness, body language, voice training, storytelling, on-camera presence, and content creation and because I come from acting, I bring that into the room too. Improvisation, physical expression, emotional connection. Communication is so much more than words. It’s how you show up.
We also understand that today, communication doesn’t just happen on a stage or in a boardroom. It happens every day on social media, in sales conversations, in client meetings. Our programs are built for that reality.
But honestly, what I’m most proud of is the moment I see someone walk in nervous and unsure and walk out knowing exactly who they are and what they have to say. That transformation never gets old.
On the acting side, being part of projects that tell Latino stories means everything to me especially stories that are real. El Bodeguero is based on a true story, and that’s the kind of work that moves me. Bringing real human experiences to the screen, stories that actually happened that’s powerful. I’m also still growing, still learning, and that excites me.
And if I’m being honest, one of the things I’m proud of is simply that I didn’t quit. The easy thing would have been to walk away. But I’ve been acting since I was five years old, chasing this dream my whole life and I refused to let the doubts, the comments, or the hard moments take me off course. That resilience is something I carry with me every single day.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
Growing up, I was the extroverted one loud, curious, always moving., I was a little rebellious too. I was constantly getting into something, always hyperactive, always looking for the next adventure.
I played basketball, soccer, volleyball if there was a tournament at school, I was in it. But while I thrived artistically, discipline was a whole other story. Let’s just say my teachers had plenty to say about that.
I also had an entrepreneurial streak from a very young age. I remember convincing my parents to let me sell candy and snacks at school just so I could have my own money. That hustle never really went away through university I was working at a restaurant bar, doing brand promotions, staying busy. I always liked being independent.
And then there was my family which is massive. We’re talking about 50 people getting together every two weeks. There was always something to celebrate, always music, always performances. My cousins sing and play instruments. We’d put on little shows, dance, make each other laugh. Looking back, that was my first stage.
I was always the funny one the class clown, the one making everyone laugh. And underneath all of that was a girl who loved theater, dreamed of traveling, and knew from the age of five that performing was going to be part of her life.
Pricing:
- Vence el miedo escénico $387
- Bootcamp nivel 1 x 2 $727
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.d3creators.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/d3creators_?igsh=dWMzaW9hY2FidWl4&utm_source=qr
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1DAv3ZnYHJ/?mibextid=wwXIfr
- Other: https://www.instagram.com/vanessahernandeztv?igsh=c3puanY5amY0dXg%3D&utm_source=qr
