How A Resilient Actress and Children’s Book Author Inspires Kids to Dream Big

As a child, Carmen Gloria Perez dreamed of traveling, pursuing art, and living a better life. Now, she’s using her art to inspire children to dream big

Tarjei Krogh for American Essence

Carmen Gloria Perez always dreamed about traveling the world. Then, when she was just 10 years old, her parents split up, and her mother took her from New York to Puerto Rico in hopes of starting fresh. Life was difficult, and her family had to rely on government assistance to get by. “When I was that young, I remember thinking I didn’t want to live my life that way forever. I wanted more,” said Perez.

But she didn’t know how to get there. Nobody in her family had gone to college or even traveled outside of the United States. Perez wanted to be the first to change that. She daydreamed endlessly about a better life. Her mind was filled with visions of going to college, landing a good job, and flying across different continents.

Perez has always had a particular fondness for the arts, but attending school in Puerto Rico, she did not have access to arts programs. “We had no arts, no music, and there was no theater,” Perez said. Her father was a bass player, but she was separated from him after she and her mother left the United States when she was 10, and that was the extent of her exposure to performing arts.

At one point, Perez said she wanted to take singing lessons after coming across some brochures. She told her mother about her plan and even offered to work a part-time job at a nearby grocery store to pay for the classes, but her mother wasn’t on board. They didn’t have access to proper transportation as they lived far away and the buses stopped running at 6 p.m.—when the classes began. It seemed that life had other plans for Perez, and she was led to putting her creative dreams on hold for the time being.

Grasping New Opportunities

At 17 years old, Perez found a job near an Army recruitment office. She walked by it nearly every day on her way to work. “I remember thinking, well, that could be an interesting way to go to college and travel the world,” Perez said. The prospect of serving her country was also an added bonus. It took many more months before she decided to walk into the army recruitment office and take the pretest, on which Perez scored very highly. That night, she finally told her mother, who was surprised but supportive.

While serving in the Army, Perez got to achieve her dream of traveling the world. Her first duty station was in Germany, then South Korea. Once she returned to the United States, she was stationed in Alabama, and then Washington, D.C., where she decided to spend a few years after completing her service. Trained as a finance officer in the army, Perez went on to work closely with the U.S. Treasury while studying for her college degree in Government and International Politics, in the hopes of working for the U.S. Department of State. Her career seemed to be planned out for her.

However, everything changed again when Perez came across a newspaper ad for a weekend acting workshop. This time, she could take the class. She ended up enjoying the workshop so much that she chose to move to Hollywood and pursue acting at a professional level.

Perez considers her time spent in the army as pivotal in helping her become the person she is today. “The army was very good for me,” she said. Her choice to enlist in the military allowed her to transform her life and achieve her dreams of traveling the world and obtaining a college degree. Without this early career path, Perez may never have discovered her passions or had the opportunity to explore different career opportunities.

Tarjei Krogh for American Essence

Following Her Artistic Dreams

While pursuing a career in the acting industry, Perez said she got to learn a great deal about how to become a better listener. “Acting is all about listening and reacting to what the other person is telling you or the situation,” she said.

“I think us as human beings, we are so multifaceted,” she said. Perez views acting as a way to express all the sides that make up a person. Perez herself experienced a lot of pain after her parents got divorced, and she would often be forced to cover it up with a smiling face. She also struggled with a lack of confidence. “I often had to cover up the pain by acting more confident and happier than I really was,” she said. Through acting, she got to tap into difficult sides of herself and face some of her problems. “Sometimes, I think it’s therapeutic,” she said.

Painting became another way for her to learn to love herself and inspire self-love in others. It began with a spontaneous walk into an art store and has led to a full-blown career. That first day she bought her supplies, “I didn’t realize it was like three in the morning and I couldn’t stop,” she said. The next day, Perez completed her very first canvas painting. By the end of two months, she had made a total of 30 complete paintings.

Inspiring Children Through Storytelling

As a child, Perez enjoyed reading science fiction books and often fantasized about where she came from. Planets and stars were a source of fascination for her. “I remember watching Star Wars,” she told me. “I always remember thinking how that type of storytelling is amazing, and how I wanted to tell stories like that, too, one day.”

As an adult, Perez still believes it is good to be curious and question things as it helps open up new doors and possibilities. “I think that’s why I’ve ended up doing all these things because I’ve remained curious.” Her love for storytelling led her to become a children’s book author and illustrator. After moving to Norway in 2017 in search of acting work, Perez decided to fill in the time between auditions with a new creative project. By combining her love of storytelling, art, and space exploration, Perez launched her Kid Astronomy series in the hopes of inspiring kids and fostering their curiosity in STEAM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics).

Part of Perez’s mission in starting the astronomy book series was to offer children a good introductory foundation in the field of science and technology—something she never got to experience herself. In her latest essay, titled “Inspiring the Artemis Generation,” Perez outlines the importance of STEAM subjects in an ever-changing world “where the possibilities of what we create and where we go are infinite—just like our universe.”

To encourage more children, Perez regularly offers all three copies of her Kid Astronomy series as free digital downloads on Amazon in the hopes of widening children’s access to educational books, no matter their background or circumstance. The books have been downloaded by thousands of people, which brings Perez great joy. “I love it. That is my mission in life. I would love to help in any way I can, and if it is through my books, then it makes me really happy. I think that’s why I’m here,” she said. Perez has also created a read-aloud video on YouTube so kids can easily follow along with her. According to her website, the very first book in her series, “Thank You, Mercury!” was featured by Book Authority as one of the “Best Space Books of 2019” and was also included at the Space Science Institute as part of their Summer of Space program.

For Perez, all art forms are equally important, whether expressed through painting, acting, creating music, or writing. “The world is a better place when we can first learn to love ourselves, so we can then love others better and hurt them less. Art can help us get there,” she said. Her hope is to be able to portray these themes in her future stories and artwork.

This article was originally published in American Essence magazine.