Selena Gomez interview.

 Selena Gomez is one of the most celebrated artists actor producer entrepreneur and philanthropist of her generation she's been nominated for Grammy Emmy Golden Globe Awards and her impact on global and cultural spheres is immeasurable in addition to selling over 221 million singles worldwide Selena has starred in multiple film and TV roles with A-list directors and his produce shows like the hit Netflix series 13 Reasons Why and the acclaimed.

 docu-series living undocumented currently Selena executive producers and stars in the critically acclaimed Hulu series only murders in the building which has been a personal favorite of mine Beyond her successful career in the entertainment industry Selena launched her Mission Focus brand rare Beauty in 2020. she also founded the rare impact fund with a portion of the beauty sales going towards their goal of raising a hundred million dollars to expand Mental Health Services and education for young people around the world along with her mother she also co-founded wondermind which provides easy doable ways to put your mental health first daily I'm so excited to sit down with her today and have this discussion thank you Selena and welcome to Signal thank you so much for having me I love only orders in the building it's it's so different and funny and Cliffhanger I mean there's so many things about it like can you tell me how you got involved with that sure I actually was very lucky to be honest I was like I don't know like I feel like what if like I'm lonely because maybe they don't want to hang out with like a yeah I just started thinking like maybe this isn't in my my thing and then I and then I met John Hoffman Josh Rosenthal and Dan fogelman and I fell in love with them and they've actually told me the full story and how they wanted me to be a part of creating Mabel and who she was which as an actor is so ideal to be able to start at the beginning of something and create that and and see who she is now after you know all the seasons have gone through so this was a complete blessing you know most of the things that I go for I definitely you know have to audition so I don't take it for granted that they thought of me I'm very grateful and um and I just feel like Mabel is a part of me now did you get to shape her at all or like no it was fun I mean I I liked that she was a rebel and I like that she was a bit of a loner and now after three seasons I'm able to to look at something and say actually I feel like she wouldn't say this she wouldn't do this um I don't think she'd wear that uh she wouldn't wear this much makeup or she wouldn't do every little detail is definitely that is that matters to me yeah speaking of season three yeah I'm so happy I mean you know I'm sure over the past three seasons you've had great memories and like can you tell us something that stands out about your as you look back on oh gosh there are so many moments on set it's so hard to pick one I don't like this uh probably working with Meryl my first scene I had was Merrell by ourselves was really touching I enjoyed it it was very uh it was a surreal moment and I felt very safe and I didn't feel too nervous but it was a really fun fun experience and then as far as like the wackiness.

 I mean Marty sings all the time he's dancing he will interrupt takes to say something that's on his mind he's you know Steve's always talking about the time and the time we need the time and they're just I don't know they're just that sounds like their characters who actually is when people ask me how they are I basically say they are their characters it's hysterical it's they're just brilliant at what they do and there's not that kind of humor around anymore well just not as much no no it's great like I would not have put the three of you guys together I think that's the thing that everyone's like yeah it is weird but it works so well but now I can't imagine it any other way for sure you've accomplished so much in your career and you wear so many different hats like can you tell us a little bit about your career journey and how you got started sure um I I guess it starts with uh me idolizing the first woman in my life which would be my mom she grew up wearing many hats as well and did her hardest to provide for me but she loved theater and I eventually started to like the idea of wanting to act and perform and but I told my mom for some reason at seven I was very persistent and insisted I I'd be on TV instead of theater so I went on my first audition when I was seven and I got my first part which was Barney the purple dinosaur and I remember that was really fun um and then from there uh I guess it's it's just a series of events that I've been fortunate enough in my life to have the opportunities like you know working with Disney Channel the the platform they were able to give me is such a gift and then I grew out of that and now being 30 and figuring out you know the next phase of who I am in my life it's it's exciting and I don't take anything for granted and I just work really hard that's all I can do you know it's just I just work really hard and I care a lot yeah and I'm sure it's challenging to balance your music career with your acting and all the philanthropic work that you do can you share some of the strategies that you found helpful to like maximize your impact as an activist I think it depends on where I am health-wise I think that's what's most important and should be in my opinion uh how I'm feeling what I'm able to take on and when I know when I can't so it starts there and then having communication with my team about what I'm willing to do and how much I want to do and then I decide what's important and from there by just pick and choose but yeah I I think it's safe to say I'm a bit of a workaholic well you've accomplished a lot so that shows you know you talked about sort of the philanthropic work and the things that you're passionate about you started the rare impact fund what motivated you to start it and like how do you hope to make a difference with this initiative anything that I'm a part of whether it's a TV show that I get to produce or um a deal with a brand I always have made it a point that anything I'm part of the percentage of it goes to I guess at that point in my life any charity I would pick and then once I started working on my Cosmetics company I didn't know what was going to happen with rare to be honest we launched it in the middle of the pandemic by whether it was going to do well or not I I knew that if there's anything I could do to not only just give back but have a a mission statement that it's Beyond Beauty it's beyond physical Beauty and and you can't take care of your yourself if you're not if your mind is just in a thousand places that you may be confused about so whatever was going to happen we would have the impact on everyone just knew it was important and now you know being Igor a little over two years old career and we're doing really well our goal is to raise 100 million in 10 years and we want to provide mental access for people who may not be able to have that or have no idea where to start yeah congratulations on the success by the way it's always sold out when I try it thank you I appreciate it it's crazy I mean you've been pretty open about your struggles with mental health and the importance of self-care how have your personal experiences with mental and physical health influence the work you do and the initiatives that you're you're doing and what are you most excited about I don't know where where I adopted this attitude but it's helped me feel better in life um and the following is not a pity party this is just how I think so when I got diagnosed with lupus I was around 16 or 17. it was a very brutal process and I didn't enjoy it at all but cut to a few years later I was able to visit a child in the hospital and they would not look at me until I said I had lupus too [Music] and that's when I knew that that that happened to me because of I could do that moment so then when I was going through a heartbreak I immediately you know wrote my best music and and wanted to be there for every woman or a man or whoever you know going through that journey and then there was the kidney transplant I walked through and it all these things that may seem like they could bring someone down I try my hardest to say at least they're not alone and if I keep going hopefully that means someone else can keep going because I I don't want to always do it but I want to for them um more so than myself at times but I'm a work in progress and it's just one day at a time I mean I so admire that you are so dedicated to that cause and using your voice to really amplify that I mean you've probably saved lives like real lives I hope so you know and you've one of the things I really appreciate about what you're doing is sort of the self-acceptance and just redefining the beauty standard and in fact I think rare Beauty received praise for its inclusive range and commitment to accessibility so how do you hope to achieve this goal through your products and the marketing and overall brand messaging that you're doing when I intended on creating a Cosmetics um you know creating rare I knew that I wanted it to just have its own space I didn't want it to feel like it was on a competitive market it's it's to me it's it's more than just about who you want to look like it's about everything that you are and no one looks like you no one looks like me I everyone in this room is completely unique and wonderful in their own way and they are as cheesy as it sounds that's rare and it's very rare to find people who love themselves and can love others as well and I wanted my entire team at rare to to have that same message so you know we take care of each other as a family and we just try our hardest to we just try our hardest to break down those standards we just we love making the products we want them to be good but everything for me was just wanting to stem from me being like here's an easy way to do it I I don't know how to do all the really crazy stuff but here's simple makeup that you can apply and know that when you're buying it it's actually going to a really great cause you know even though you're talking about sort of how we should feel right we all struggle and I think you know self-doubt and sort of the self-criticism is such a big part of it you you seem to recognize that and sort of identify with it like what advice would you give to people who are struggling with that get off social media um that would be my honest advice but uh but that's a nearly impossible thing to say to a generation uh younger than me and my generation as well so my advice is everything you're looking at is 90 fake yeah and you have no idea what's behind a photo and you have no idea what's actually going on all you have is who you are take breaks and just enjoy what's actually around you because believe it or not everything in this little tiny device does not define you does not make you a human it's simply a device you can put it down and be a part of the world again try to do that and if that doesn't work I don't know I like therapy therapy works too well I think you're right it helps that we're out now right yeah pandemic is over it we get to enjoy the being with people so that's a great thing that is something that is good and I should say that there are a lot of wonderful things about social media I just said as far advice goes it's it's it's nice to take a break it's got its pros and cons yes we know that and you know it goes to sort of your other passion which is sort of advocating for the importance of prioritizing time for mental health which I think inspired you to found Wonder mine like why did you start this and what was it you know what was the mission of it and it was actually made an idea that my mom had and it is something daily that people are tangibly able to to digest at their own pace and you know there's so many different ways you can can connect people to the right sources and and you know the right resources sorry is what I meant and we just tried to make a place and a safe Community for people to talk about what they're walking through shine light on specific studies or people who are changing the mental health game so it's yeah I'm constantly doing something so that's great yeah Switching gears a little bit your song Who Says has become an Anthem for celebrating individuality and self-acceptance what inspired you to write this song and what message were you hoping to convey to your fans so it's actually a funny story I I was working with Disney at the time and um they were actually giving the song to another artist and I cried I remember I was with my mom because I loved the song so much I basically said to my label I feel like my fans are young and they need it that's all I kept saying because I was 16 at the time and I was like I would think my fans really need it like tell her my fans really need this song and so maybe it just didn't work out with the other artists but that was a gift to me that I did not know I needed and I love love that song and it has carried with me through my whole career and I fought for it so to be honest I to this day need to hear it not by me like I don't want to hear myself I'm just say the message yes it will last and last because it's the truth it's such a you know it's such a special song what advice would you give anyone that really wants to make a difference in their community I think the first thought of of someone wanting to make a difference is well what am I gonna do what is one person gonna do and I have to be honest I I ask myself the same question and I also hear people all the time just say oh we're doomed anyway so it doesn't matter and that you know that all obviously is a very frustrating answer and um probably I've even said it to be honest it's it's not an easy thing to do but I've seen the commitment that people make and I've seen the payoff and I've been around people incredibly smart people who have educated me and shown me the effects of everything from politically to environmentally to socially and it's I think that's get getting my information and just absorbing it how I do I don't know you you have the rare impact fund obviously so what's the best way for this audience to to help is it to donate is it to volunteer like can you tell us about like what you do with the community I think what I've created with the impact fund is a community so I'll say this I'll say if you are wanting to find out more on the benefits that we you know or or communities that we have built together in rare that they could be a part of that we do these rare chats where we talk to everybody and we go through you know even our team we give meditation hours for my team members and it's it's all about just collaborating and making a safe space for people so um if you did do anything out of the goodness of your heart I thank you but in general just just visiting and and seeing how awesome it it's doing is awesome so your entire career you've obviously built strong relationship with your fans in your opinion what makes a relationship in our case with our customers and in your case with your fans successful authenticity um I think people are a lot smarter than some people give credit for I I think that they want to know the truth and some of that isn't always pretty and they can be scared of that I think that's why I wanted to take control over my own narrative because if people were already guessing what's wrong with me well there's nothing wrong with me let me just tell you that I'm human and I'm actually going through something right now so it's all about understanding what makes you feel safe I think specifically with my fans I'm gonna probably cry about but they um my fans grew up with me I have a lot of amazing fans that I actually know by name um that have grown with me and their loyalty and their protectiveness is so wonderful and beautiful and at times a little complicated but it's the best relationship I could have you've accomplished so much already that it's you know one of those like questions of where do you see yourself in five to ten years like but honestly like where do you see yourself in 10 years oh my gosh why was I when I was younger why was that so easy to answer I have no idea I don't know I don't think I really want to know um I'm just trying to do the best I can and right now I am enjoying my life and I love my show and the the people in my life so I'm just enjoying that well I don't know what will happen I just hope I'm happy and healthy well I hope you continue with only murders in the building honestly I would meet you I love those guys okay so we have some rapid fire questions for you um what is the best job or role you've ever had oh hands down Rabel all my murder's in the building if you have a favorite song in your catalog what would it be would you love me um what is your favorite rare beauty product I tended moisturizer oh I told your mine's lip gloss so I love it um do you have a preference for making music or being an actress I prefer being an actress really why is that um I think I'm meant to be more of an actress I don't know it's it's something inside of me that feels like I'm a part of something bigger than myself describe your perfect day being with friends and my little sister and you know doing something with food and relaxing preferably on a beach pro probably what is your favorite music playlist right now uh disco 70s okay it's actually disco's Essentials um on Apple music God what is the best movie that you've recently watched recently air okay uh New York or L.A New York really absolutely why I can be a normal human being there I really can nobody cares and if they do they're really cool about it so the stereotypes are true it's I hate to say it kind of is but I love la I love my people here for that reason but um yeah I think I I think I prefer New York wonderful well Selena I can't thank you enough for being with us today your your story and everything you've accomplished and everything you continue to do is so inspiring and thank you thank you for just using your voice for this it's so important I appreciate it thank you for having me and thank you for all the thoughtful questions thank you again Selena and thank you all for joining us at signal we hope you had a productive day of sessions and are walking away Having learned something new remember all the content is available on demand.