I first met Anna when she was sixteen and I did her head shots for her theater auditions. Since then, we have developed a special friendship and partnership that is kind of hard to describe. I got together with her for breakfast recently before she headed off for a six month assignment.

JJ - So there’s something I’ve been wanting to ask you. You posted a picture from our first shoot together on Instagram a couple weeks ago and commented that that was the first time you ever felt beautiful. What did you mean by that or what was it that brought you to that?

Anna -  Well, having my hair and make up done helped but honestly it was you as a photographer. Your way of making people feel like they belong and that’s what they’re supposed to be doing and be comfortable with it. Because I was so comfortable, for the first time in  my life  I was just able to let go and not worry about anything or anyone. I knew I could just trust what you were doing and be myself. Part of that comes from, I guess I am comfortable in front of the camera to begin with, but all of it combined it was like meditation in a way. I could just get away from the world and feel glamorous and beautiful and I did. It was an awesome feeling of freedom I had never felt before.

JJ - I’ve always known you as a very mature and confident person but you’ve grown so much to me over the last few years as a person and a performer. Where do you get your inner confidence?

Anna - Oh my goodness. This took a long time for me to really grasp, but it started with you actually and then our trip to SPA. How do I put this in words? The first time I took a picture with you and then started modeling, I sort of realized that I do have an outer beauty, and looking at your pictures of other people made me realize that everybody has that and everybody is capable of that. So really just connecting the dots from that and what I was feeling on the inside and realizing that it does not matter what other people think about how you look and you just have to worry about yourself. I remember I started having pictures made and people would still make fun of me, they would still be like, “oh, why did you do your hair like that?”. We used to have this thing called Formspring which was supposed to be anonymous

JJ - Oh man, I remember Formspring

Anna - Yeah, and people would be like, “ You look like Farrah Fawcett. Like, what are you doing?” 

JJ - OMG hahahaha

Anna - Yes! And it is just so ridiculous to me that people would still try to find something to make fun of you about. And that’s when it really hit me that it’s not you. It’s never you. It’s just other people and then from that I realized that everybody is insecure  and everybody feels the same way, so if you can be genuine and kind to everybody you can just nip that in the bud - the bitterness and jealously and insecurities and you try to reach out to people and just be kind to everyone. That’s where I draw my confidence from now. From interacting with people knowing we are all the same. You can connect with everyone on a much deeper level  than just how you look. That gives me confidence.

JJ -  Was there a single, defining moment in your life that has led you or driven you to be who you are and where you are in your life today?

Anna -  Aside from modeling at SPA, getting into the musical theater program at WestConn. I had a really hard time in high school. Just getting there and showing up because I was so insecure and felt utterly detached from that world. When I auditioned for WestConn, everybody was so positive and immediately supportive and I got in even though I didn’t think I would. In the past four years, I mean, I can’t even describe the support and the love at time the tough love that they showed me. It’s really made me who I am now, that change in me that you’ve referred to. They gave me room to grow and so many opportunities. I realized that hard work pays off and that it’s ALL about your attitude and how you work and communicate with people. I was given the opportunity to prove that I can do it and that was exactly what I needed.

JJ - Now that you’ve grown beyond all that stuff from the past, what motivates you now to be
who are today?

Anna -  I’ve always been a very career focused person and I’ve known since the first grade that I wanted to be an actress and that motivates me to stay on top of things and, you know, I took a semester off and worked in retail and I realized that what I truly want to be doing the rest of my life is performing no matter what the venue. My career motivates me to keep moving forward and with that comes the aspect of always bettering yourself and practicing and taking your vocal lessons and continuing with dance and that constantly moving forward motion perpetuates the motivation. I’ve never thought, “ Oh I want be famous doing this” but the feeling of performing and the feeling of reward from performing keeps me going.

JJ - What are your personal goals now?

Anna - I want to be doing some sort of substantial theater or film work like an HBO show where they have characters that are really deep and have crazy story lines. They’re not only entertaining but you can really connect to them and they shed light on different subjects like Shameless and even Game of Thrones. You know? The characters are so well developed and believable. I need to do something with a little bit of bite to it and a bit of edge. Wether that comes from tv or film or regional theater like at Hartford Stage or Long Wharf Theater. They produce amazing shows there and I want to be able to connect to people. I want to use empathy as a point of directing change for people. That’s my ultimate goal. I want to be able sustain myself as a working actress and be able to affect people.

JJ - What are you doing or what’s your plan to make that happen?

Anna - Well after this stint in New Hampshire,  I’ve connected with a few agents in NYC through my senior showcase so I’ll do the NY scene for a while. I’ll do theater stuff there and collaborate with a bunch of my friends who are doing new theater stuff and putting on their own shows which I think is amazing. Eventually, I’ll go to grad school because having an MFA is crucial if you want to be doing ground breaking work. You need that extra training so definitely grad school and theater work on the side.

JJ - When you dream, what do you dream about?

Anna - Wow, that’s a great question. I’ve never been asked that before. Last night I had a dream about New Hampshire because that’s where I’m going today. But I have these dreams where I’m about to go on stage and we never rehearsed and the director is like, “you gotta do this whole show” and I’m like OMG we never rehearsed this and I’m thrown on stage and have to just go with it. I still have those flying dreams, you know? Where you can fly?

JJ - Oh yeah everyone has those to some degree but I don’t know why

Anna - Yeah right? They’re so cool. And I have these dreams where I went shopping and bought all these cool clothes and then I wake up and look in my closet and I’m like “Crap, well that didn’t happen”. That’s so unfortunate haha because I bought some killer stuff in the dream hahaha.

JJ - You’ve become quite the singer/songwriter now too. What’s your personal style? Can you define it?

Anna - Well my friends have described me a Soul-Country-Folk haha. A little bit of Joanie Mitchell in there that I try to make a little soulful. Joanie is the best.

JJ - OK, Singer/Songwriter, Actress, Model - in what order do you put yourself?

Anna -  Oh man, OK, Actress……. Actress…. hmmm OK, Actress, Model, Singer/Songwriter

JJ - I know you’re working on an album now so what are you going to put on it?

Anna - I have songs that I’ve worked on since my freshman year of college so I’m going to start there. Once I got into college, I found my writing style and developed it more . I want it to be a little country but not too country and folky and Indie. Definitely an Indie vibe. The first song that I wrote will be on there and there’s a few that I’ve been working on with my phone actually using Garage Band. My dad says I should put out an entire album of just work I've done on my phone. I love using garage band because you can mix in violins and I’ve learned to make it sound so badass hahaha. I upload my guitar work and mix it all together. I add a lot of layers and blend it all. It’s way cool.

JJ - Can I shoot your first album cover?

Anna - YES!!!! Of course you goober!