Bryana Salaz almost gave up on her dream of acting and singing after being eliminated from The Voice at the age of 17 in 2016. That is until her coach Gwen Stefani sent her the most encouraging and uplifting email. “If it wasn’t for her sending me what she sent me and saying what she said I don’t know if I would have been as confident in continuing,” the now 22-year-old star, who blew the judges out of the water with her rendition of Problem by Ariana Grande shared with HOLA! USA. “It was really special she did that.” And luckily for us she didn’t stop pursuing her dream of acting and singing and is now starring in the Netflix series Team Kaylie.

©Team Kaylie

To prep for the role of Kaylie, who is a celebrity-type that gets in trouble with the law and has to do community service, she looked to Hollywood for inspiration. “As soon as I read the script, I could tell the tone they were going for and the image, so obviously studying the Kardashians," she says. “The fact that Kaylie has her own reality show, her mom runs all her businesses, and she has a bunch of sisters. I think it’s really dope to pull from a real life experience and to be able to make it relatable to kids and to take it and do something completely new and different.”

Watch the video above to get to know the girl behind the character including how Selena Quintanilla and Whitney Houston inspired her and hear what she looks forward to most over the holidays.