Ten Questions with Isabella Kate: Chatting all things Theatre and Dance, Prom Night, Gilmore Girls, Digital Media and more!

Hello Izzy! Thank you for agreeing to this interview. First off, can you tell us about you, your blog and YouTube channel? How did you get started and what are your passions?

Hi Maryam! Thank you so much for having me, I truly appreciate it so much! I’m Isabella, but everyone calls me Izzy. I’m a 15 year old lifestyle content creator\YouTuber. I absolutely love the creativity that I have by doing Instagram and Youtube and the community that it has brought me. I actually started blogging when I was 10, and did a few private YouTube videos. Me and my interests have both changed a good bit since that time. I’m now a lot more active on my YouTube channel that I started in May of 2020, and my Instagram account that I started in July 2021. I’m really passionate about YouTube and Instagram and using them to share Jesus with everyone I meet. Aside from content creation, I have a LOT of different hobbies, as one of my favorite things to do is try new things. My main hobbies are cooking/baking, playing guitar/ukulele/piano, cleaning & organizing, and shopping. I’ve become so obsessed with cooking & baking as my mom has taught me more and more, and I also taught myself three instruments over the past year. I am constantly trying to learn new things and become well-versed in different areas. Visit Isabella’s blog + Instagram page + Youtube channel here!

What is your philosophy on life and why?

I’m honestly still learning about myself and my philosophy on life, but a constant reminder I give myself is that everything happens for a reason. I may not know why this year had to be so tough or why something happens, but I have to constantly remind myself that we don’t always know what is good for us, but God does. He has my entire life planned out, and each situation and circumstance will play into that big picture.

Where do you live and what do you enjoy most about your hometown?

What does your creative process look like?

My creative process honestly differs constantly. For Instagram, I try to post 2-3x a week and usually meet that goal. I try to take pictures whenever I can, and I use the UnUm app to plan out my feed in advance so that I can be ready to post. Sometimes, it’s hard for me to get creative, but Pinterest inspires me a lot. For both Instagram and Youtube, I get a lot of inspiration from other creators. Scrolling through my feed gives me a lot of inspiration, and for Youtube I love watching my favorite bigger creators to get inspiration from them. A lot of creators batch content, and I would love to incorporate that into my creative process at some point, but honestly, for most of my photos, I just take on different days.

So, your favourite feel good show is Gilmore Girls! Fellow enthusiast here. Why do you resonate so much with it and what lessons have you learnt as you’ve watched?

You’ve been in theatre competitions, dance ensembles and sung in musical theatre which is incredible! Talk us through your performance journey over the years- how it all began, what opportunities you’ve been afforded, what a competition involves, where your strengths are and what you’re developing, how to get in the right frame of mind and ease nervous jitters!

I went to a creative arts school, so I started dance around age 7 and started theatre in 2015 at age 10. My entire family was involved in it, so I quickly became obsessed with being in different shows. Our school didn’t have many dancers, so I often got pulled into the high school dance classes and shows. I got a lot of amazing opportunities through that, and it was truly amazing. A competition involves SO MUCH MORE than what meets the eye. Months of preparation go into it, and literal blood sweat and tears. It starts at picking a song, and goes to choreographing, singing it perfectly, getting all of the costumes, scheduling rehearsals, etc. It’s a lot of fun, and the weekend is filled with running all over the place trying to get to all of your friends’ different performances. I’m actually not doing theatre or dance at the moment, but I would love to get back into dance at some point as I was really starting to improve when I had to stop. The right frame of mind for competitions and dance & theatre in general is all about a team and community. If you’re only focused on bettering yourself, you will lose. You have to put away your thoughts about competing against the people in your group or trying to be better and truly help everyone and work together. Honestly, I don’t get too nervous before I perform! I’m usually very excited instead.

 I know how important God’s presence is in your life. How has He worked through you so far and what does your faith based practice look like? Do you have a bible verse that really speaks to your heart?

He has worked through me constantly throughout my life. Through a lot of hard things this past year and a hard season, I really learned to realize that no matter where I am in life and even if I have zero friends, God is ALWAYS there. He’s the one constant in my life. I practice my faith by reading my bible, doing devotions with my friends over the bible app, listening to worship music, and praying daily. My favorite bible verse is Isaiah 43:2 – “When you go through deep waters, I will be with you.” I just think that it is SO amazing that the same God who died on the cross for our sins wants an intimate relationship with each of us, and forgives us for our sins no matter how many times we mess up. He’s always there to come back to.

Let’s take things back to Prom night for you! Finding the perfect dress, getting ready, showing up. What did the night mean to you? Talk us through the details and what it was like having your Freshman year draw to a close.

8. I honestly could not have imagined a better night. The road to prom was quite rocky as I became too focused on finding the PERFECT dress to fit my expectations. A couple weeks beforehand I was honestly very ready for it to be over, and was even nervous about it the night of. But, once I got there, I really had the time of my life. I finally found the perfect green dress, with a very simple cut and a gorgeous v neck. Getting ready was a lot of fun, and I actually vlogged it for my Youtube channel which is such a good memory to look back on. We did a little get together with a bunch of the people from my school before prom to take pictures, and then we all walked over together. The night was NONSTOP dancing, which was my favorite thing ever. They played a lot of throwback hits, so it was fun to listen to all of the 2015 songs all over again and scream them at the top of our lungs while jumping up and down. I would honestly love to know how many times I jumped up and down on Prom night, I think that would be quite entertaining. By the end of the night my feet were killing me and I was insanely sore, but it was probably the best day\night of Freshman year. It was a really good close to Freshman year, and I had about 5 days after it before school was over and I was done for the year. To anyone reading this, if you ever get an opportunity to go to prom, DO IT. TRUST ME. You will not regret it!

 What did your summer break involve and what goals have you set for the second half of the year?

9. I’m actually on summer break right now, which is a lot of fun! I started off summer break with a 2 week trip to the beach, where we stayed on an island for one week and changed islands for the next week! I’m really enjoying being able to create content for my Instagram and YouTube Channel full time. I’m one of those people who just hates school, so I absolutely love being off. My current goals for the rest of the year are to stay happy, keep building and deepening my relationship with God, and keep creating a lot of content!

You’ve mentioned pursuing digital media career wise when the time is right! What’s your vision there? Be self run or find an employer? What would this job involve?

Yes, I would love a job in digital media and social media. My current vision for that is to go to college for four years and study communications and digital media. I’ll be able to see if I like digital media and different areas that I have not yet explored. I’m not sure if I would be self run or have an employer, I would probably have an employer and do some projects of my own like freelance work on the side so that I could have several forms of income. I would absolutely love to become a social media manager for some different businesses, as I’ve actually been social media managing since age twelve and have delved even deeper into my love for it with my own Instagram page.