Belen Soto

Belen Soto represents what it means to be a smart, beautiful, and talented woman in this world. Having known she wanted to be an actress at a very young age, she began her career mainly with commercials and on the radio. At the age of nine, she had her first role on a TV series, and then it was uphill from that! Soto also published two books, “You Don’t Deserve It” and “Girl Power,” which she wrote to help empower women and promote self love. With today being International Women’s Day, what better way than to share her story?! Keep reading and enjoy!

When did you know you wanted to become an actress? What was your first project?

Acting has always been my passion, I started working as an actress when I was 3 years old in my country. Mainly in tv commercials and radio. Then at 9 years old, I did my first main role in the tv series “Papi Ricky”, since then I never stopped recording different tv productions.

Looking back, what are some things you would have done differently? 

Honestly, I’m not the kind of person who regrets past actions. Many times, people ask me about the fact that I started working so young if maybe I lost or missed out on stages of my childhood and teen years, but I think that each human came to the world for a different purpose and I got this life for a reason.  I feel lucky to be able to do what I love and enjoy it.

What is your favorite part of being an actress? 

My favorite part of being an actress is being able to personify and turn into many different people. To study the personality of your role and bring it to life is a great journey. Especially being able to explore the emotions that maybe in your personal life you haven’t experienced, and as an actress, you have to embody them to create this new role, in the way you speak, think, the colors that you like and dress in, how you make decisions and the way you move. Etc it’s a great job, and very fun at the same time.

You also wrote a book “You Don’t Deserve It.” Share with us what it is about. 

Yes, at the moment I have two books, “No te lo mereces” (“You don’t deserve it”) which I published in 2019, and my second book “Mujer Power” (“Girl Power”) came out just 2 months ago and they both have become bestsellers. It’s pretty crazy. Both books talk about self love, and women empowerment. “No te lo mereces” is about my experience in an abusive relationship that I had when I was 15 years old with a man 15 years older than me, who psychologically and sexually manipulated me for more than 2 years. This situation made me fall into depression, and go through panic attacks, bulimia, abusive diets, loss of self-esteem, and self-love, two important things in a person’s life.

This book is for all women who are going through an abusive relationship and need support. It was an exorcism, but still incomplete, because the person continues being linked to the industry, silently exercising his power and retaliation. In my country, we are not yet up to what the world needs.

On the other side, “Mujer Power” is a book 100% about women empowerment, you know, the next step. I wrote this book in a more interactive way so that the reader can reflect on the different themes I talk about in the book. For example, Sexuality, relationships, entrepreneurship, nutrition, the body, sisterhood, social media, violence against women, stereotypes, and many other relevant topics that we have to bring to light and talk about. It’s hard to be a woman, we have to share all kinds of experiences. We are all pals.

Why did you write the book? What do you hope your readers feel when they read it?

Mainly, I wrote both books, because today the new generation has a very important role, especially when we refer to topics of empowerment, self love, and abusive relationships. Today we have a huge platform on social media, which can be used to share brands, if not also to educate.

I hope that the readers of my books feel like they are not alone, and we are a unit, and more than ever as women, we have to be united to create the changes that we want on a global level.

How do you practice self-love and empowerment?

Is super important to have habits of self love. In fact, it is a chapter that I wrote in “Mujer Power”. Self Love is not a trend, it is a relationship you will have with you for the rest of your life and you don’t cant break.

An important example that I always give is: The relationship with yourself should be the same one as when we are in a romantic relationship because for the person you want, you want the best, right? So, for this reason, you care, you cook, you say nice things, you spoil them, you buy things, you tell them how much you love them, etc, but all of these things, do you do for yourself? What are you doing today for yourself? What are your habits for self love?

A very good way to start is to look at yourself in the mirror and tell yourself how much you love yourself, accept and forgive yourself,  also accepting that it’s okay, not to be okay, we have to normalize that not every day is a good day, and that is also part of the process.

What is the best advice you have gotten?

Definitely, it would be to be perseverant, workaholic, super visionary, and I have a lot of conviction, I fight for what I want until I achieve it, but my mother says that my best advice is to be generous with others.

Share with us a moment in which you were faced with a challenge and how you overcame it. 

Love me, accept my body. It has been one of my great challenges, when I experienced my depression at the age of 17 I gained more than 15 kilos, where I was bullied a lot for this reason, from social networks, to close people who let me know and feel bad about the state I was My body, for this reason, starting over, trusting me, and finding my body again, was one of my great challenges, leaving stereotypes aside, the opinion of other people, what society establishes us as women about the accepted feminine body. It is a very nice process, difficult but nice.

Favorite part about fashion?

Be yourself, there are no rules in fashion, I’m a firm believer that trends don’t exist, but that the trends and fashion are you. Feeling comfortable is essential and don’t let yourself be influenced by what others say. So, my favorite part, is that fashion has no limits, you are the limit. and from the simplest to the most complex elements, each person can find their way of daily expression to live life.

Plans for 2021?

My plans for 2021, is to continue fulfilling dreams and challenges. One of my biggest challenges today is being able to internationalize my acting career and also being able to publish my latest book “Mujer Power” worldwide.

Continuing to inspire more women to love and empower us is my big plan too.

I am currently writing my third book.

@BELLOmag
Talent Belen Soto @belen_soto
Photographer Diego Patricio @diegopvtricio
Styling Thomas G. Matheson @thomasgmatheson
Interview Alexandra Bonnet @alexbonnetwrites
Clothing DIOR @dior