Introducing February Starring Melissa Barrera

Produced in Collaboration with CLINIQUE

Melissa was photographed by Raul Romo on location at the Palisociety Westwood Village, Los Angeles. She was styled by Penny Lovell at The Only Agency; makeup by Lilly Keys at A-Frame Agency; hair by Clayton Hawkins at A-Frame Agency; interview by Alison Engstrom.

Get the Look with CLINIQUE

Melissa is wearing High Impact™ Mascara in Black; Clinique Pop™ Reds in Roses Are Red lipstick; Superfine Liner For Brows in Deep Brown; Instant Lift for Browns in Deep Brown; Pop™ Lip Colour + Primer in Passion Pop, all by CLINIQUE.

When I was little, I wanted to be a pop star. Anything art-related or stage-related was through singing—I started singing in the church choir and at events like my sisters’ first communions. When I was growing up, there was this reality TV competition, it was like an American Idol but for kids. My biggest dream was to be on it. I have always manifested my dreams, my life, and everything I am involved with. I have always known I was going to get there. I put it out into the universe years before and then it happens. You don’t realize until you are there that you think, I used to pray for this. I wanted to be on that show, as a singer, because all of the contestants would end up appearing in telenovelas on the same network. I’d come home after school and as I would eat I would be watching these soaps at 4 pm. My train of thought was, I want to be on the show and be a singer, so then I can be on these soaps. They were so popular, they’d do tours all around Mexico in large arenas—it was a big deal. 

So I graduated from high school and I went to Tisch at NYU and during one summer, when I was back in Mexico, there were auditions for this reality TV singing competition, but this time for adults. It was also very big; I auditioned and I got in. I did it not thinking I was going to get in or even wanting to get. I just wanted to keep the audition bug going because I had been auditioning constantly in New York for Off-Broadway shows, Broadway shows, and tours. I kept going in when they had non-equity open calls to see if anything stuck, to see if I could get cast and start working. I wanted to keep the auditions going, keep getting used to the room, and dominating the nerves. After I got that show, I started doing telenovelas, so I got exactly what I wanted when I was a little kid. I didn’t even realize it until a week ago during an interview I had.

Melissa is wearing a hat by Lola Hats at Avionclothiershop.com; trench coat by Adriana Inglesias; shoes by Maya Lakis; earrings by Fallon Jewelry; necklace by Misho; rings by Dean Davidson and Delfina Delettrez.

I get a rush of emotions that last for a second each—I never fully sit in one emotion. A part of me is super nervous; a part of me is super confident; a part of me is wanting to play it cool; another part of me is fangirling and freaking out. I go through all of the emotions. What I am trying to work on is living in the moment. I am a very impatient person and I am a very ambitious person. I think the ambitious side of me is good because it has led me down the path I am currently on. It has helped me achieve the things I have so far, so, I am very grateful for it. But it also comes hand-in-hand with an impatience and an immediate need for satisfaction or for a constant need to be moving. Sometimes that makes me not sit in my accomplishments, be happy for myself, and just enjoy it for a second. As soon as I get something that I have wanted, I am like okay, cool that doesn’t count so what’s next (laughs)? 

Melissa is wearing a bow belt, as a neck tie, and dress by Alexia Maria

It’s hard. I feel like when you have a personality like you and me, we are constantly wanting to climb the ladder and thinking, okay, what’s next, what’s my next challenge? It’s so hard to learn to relax, be still for a second, and celebrate. I never celebrate anything! If a friend or family member didn’t say, we are going out to celebrate, I would never celebrate a single thing. 

Melissa is wearing a coat dress by Moschino; bag by Rodo; shoes by Maya Lakis; rings and earrings Misho

I don’t know that I fully realize that even in my 31 years of living on this planet. I have gotten glimpses of, oh this is my strength, this thing that I do, or, my energy is something that people like and I am aware of that but it’s hard. We are constantly bombarded by social media and the internet. We are conditioned to think that certain things are ‘the good things’ and other things aren’t as attractive. It’s hard to be completely confident in who you are. It’s something that I still struggle with but I am finding myself cherishing The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, do you know that book? It’s really good and I feel like I’m coming into that era in my life and it’s nice. I feel less anxious and I am more okay with doing things that make me feel good and comfortable, as opposed to doing things that I feel like I have to do. There is this fear in the industry where you have to be present in places or people will forget you. Like if I don’t go to this event, that party, or I am not friends with these people, I am not going to work or something. It’s horrible and it’s a total lie. When we are younger we are more vulnerable and gullible and we believe all of these things. We end up in places, situations, or in relationships that we don’t like. I find as I have gotten older, I have gotten wiser, thank God (laughs), I am more myself and I don’t need to meet this person or that person. It’s not real. 

Get the Look with clinique

Melissa is wearing Pop™ Reds in Roses Are Red lipstick; Pretty Easy™ Liquid Eyelining Pen in Black; Chubby Stick™ Sculpting Highlight in Hefty Highlight; True Bronze™ Pressed Powder Bronzer in Sunkissed; Cheek Pop™ Pearl in Topaz Pop, all by CLINIQUE.

I love LA and I have a lot of friends there. It’s nice to go for work, be busy, and then go home and have a different energy. I never felt the energy of LA was compatible with mine. When I had time off in LA, I wouldn’t leave my apartment; I would just stay home and I didn’t want to go anywhere. I was like, this is not the place. 

I don’t know if I am either, I am Texas now (laughs).

Melissa is wearing a two-piece gown by Alexia Maria; shoes by Larroude; vintage pearl bracelet, stylists own; earrings by Cuyana; rings by Dean Davidson

My mom made my sisters and I feel very powerful and capable of doing whatever we wanted growing up. When you are a kid, you have this magic; kids have this superpower, there are no limits. We can do anything and we dream big. As we grow older, the world slaps you and tells you: come on, be realistic; this is the real world, you have to have your feet on the ground. That makes a lot of people stop dreaming, it stops them from thinking they can do things. I grew up thinking I was all-powerful and all-mighty and my mom fed into that narrative. She said, yeah, yeah, whatever limits you put for yourself are the limits you are going to have. If you want to achieve anything you can do it.

When I was younger, since I grew up so close to the border, I would watch US television. Even though there were no Mexicans on TV, I didn’t think twice about that. I thought, there are no Mexicans, that means that I am missing, there is a space for me, that was my mentality. I thought, there is no one like me, so they need someone like me. As I got older and I was in Mexico City working, shooting telenovelas, and dreaming about coming back to the US, I had a very clear role model in Salma Hayeck. She started doing telenovelas and she made the jump. She is a megastar and if she did it, I can do it. To me, it was a clear path since she had already done it and that’s what I hope young Latinos and Latinas see with me. They’ll think, she did it, so I can do it, that to me is my biggest motivator. It’s about being out there so that people can see a face and a background like theirs who didn’t grow up in this country. I am someone who still goes back home to Mexico–my entire family is there–and I am working and living my dream. I did it and I am a regular person. I didn’t have older sisters or parents who were in the industry. I am the first person in my family to do it. I feel like that’s the case for a lot of people who are dreaming about this, they think, I don’t have anyone, it doesn’t matter. 

Get the Look with Clinique

Melissa is wearing Even Better Clinical™ Serum Foundation Broad Spectrum SPF 25 in Stone; Even Better™ All-Over Concealer + Eraser in Stone; Pop™ Reds in Roses Are Red lipstick,all by CLINIQUE.

My number one is 100-Hour Moisture Surge, I use it every day–it’s so delicious. It feels like my skin is thirsty before but after I apply it, it has been quenched. The Smart Night™ Custom-Repair Moisturizer is another go-to, retinol can be super aggressive, but this has the perfect amount of strength—it’s nice and moisturizing, as well. I always have the Almost Lipstick Black Honey in my purse all of the time. 

I am so grateful that people showed up to the theaters. Sam Carpenter–a nod to John Carpenter, the director of the first Halloween–is a Woodsboro local, who grew up there but she left. In this movie, she comes back because her sister is attacked by Ghostface and she wants to protect her family but you don’t know why she left. You know something is going on there since she is medicated; there is some sort of trauma and pain there related to Woodsboro. She has this deep dark secret that she is actually related to one of the original killers–she is the illegitimate daughter of Billy Loomis. She has been haunted by that fact her entire life and she feels like she might turn into a serial killer herself. She is afraid of herself. What attracted me to the character is that she is a troubled new heroine of the movie that gets stuck in the middle of all the new killings. Everything is happening because of her. She is already ridden with guilt because of where she comes from and then all of this starts to happen and it’s very traumatizing for her. She comes back and seeks help from Dewey to figure out who is doing this and to stop it so she can make sure her sister is safe. 

GET THE LOOK with clinique

Melissa is wearing Chubby Stick™ Sculpting Highlight in Hefty Highlight; Clinique Pop™ Reds in Roses Are Red;
Chubby Stick™ Shadow Tint For Eyes in Ample Amber; High Impact™ Mascara in Black all by CLINIQUE.

I am like a dam with a hole in it (laughs) and I have to keep my finger in the hole. If I remove my finger even just a little bit to let some water through, I know it will all come crumbling down. So I didn’t tell anyone anything. I didn’t tell my husband, my mom, or my sisters–I would rather them be surprised. 

All I want to do is to create more stories for my community so there is more out there–that’s the problem. We get so few opportunities, you can count them. Because of that, they get hammered with criticism because they are bearing the weight of an entire community and have the responsibility to represent us all. It’s unfair that we have such few things and then they get destroyed because they don’t meet the expectations of every group in our community, which is very complex and diverse in itself. I just want there to be more. I want to help to tell stories that are different and that are not about immigration, narcos, or the story of the maid or the gardener who are struggling. There is so much more, we are so much more. We have the ability; we live in all levels of society and we have all different types of jobs. My goal is to tell different types of stories so I can broaden the spectrum. 

It’s so important and so cool. I loved watching, for example, Unorthodox. I didn’t know anyone who had that experience and I find it so fascinating to see how different our lives are and then how similar they are in so many ways. The appeal is that—it's a window into different cultures that you don’t know and you end up realizing it is so similar to your life. That is a beautiful thing about television and movies, you have that connection. I also find it very valuable for a movie like Scream, where you have two Latinas, Jenna (Ortega) and I, who are at the forefront of this movie, and not once do we mention we are Latina. It’s such a relief; it feels so good to not have to justify your existence all of the time, so I am grateful for projects like that. They just cast people who are right for the role and they don’t have to speak in Spanglish, say anything about their abuela, or mention something about their family in Mexico. It’s a beautiful thing to be able to be. In life, I go about having conversations with people and the first thing is not, I am from Mexico and my first language is Spanish. It’s not how we do it. It’s not real. It’s also refreshing to see the industry taking steps in that way and just allowing people to be.

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‘Scream’ is now in theaters everywhere

A very special thank you to the Palisociety, Clinique, ImPrint PR and A-Frame Agency teams.