After watching CW’s show, “Jane The Virgin”, I became very interested in Gina Rodriguez, who plays the main character, Jane. Her positive attitude and fierceness really showed in the character. Those qualities, among others, inspire me to better myself. After binge watching Gina Rodriguez interviews, I realized that she is my spirit animal, my role model. Here are some reasons why she is GOALS!

1. Gina is FIERCE!

She does not only act, she can also kick ass if she needs to! It’s amazing! Her father was a referee for boxing and so at age three, she learned how to box and is very passionate about it to this day. She is strong both physically and mentally. Boxing has helped her realize her inner strength and outer strength as well. During an interview with People en Español (in Spanish), she received criticism for not being a fluent Spanish speaker. Her response was, “I’m a human being who also f---s up and trips all over the place, but I’m trying. And I am going to fail, and I am going to annoy some people by speaking up, and that just is what it is.”

2. She Always Looks at the BRIGHT SIDE!

Watching Gina Rodriguez’s Instagram stories give me life. They are little reminders to think positive when things aren’t going my way. They normally consist of her telling you to “just do it!” Whatever that may be, she always has motivational nuggets of wisdom to share: just workout, just tell that person who hurt you that they HURT you, just try your best in everything you do.

3. She stays WOKE!

Gina Rodriguez is very aware of what is going on in our society; how there is a lot of discrimination in this world. Since she is Latina, she has come to face with that problem in the entertainment industry, time and time again. The amazing thing about her is that she always brings it up into each interview she has. She recalls her childhood and how whenever she watched different shows, she noticed there weren’t people like her on screen. She did not have role models that were similar to her now. In a lot of her interviews, she talks about when looking for different acting roles she is always being steered into playing stereotypical ones. For example, she landed a role in “Devious Maids”—she turned it down. She knew that she was destined for more than just playing a maid. Since she has become so successful, she uses her voice and her gift to help her community.

She truly is my role model because of these reasons among many more. Watching her interviews motivated me to go after my own dreams, because if she can do it, so can I.