5 Tips For Success: Full Frontal/Samantha Bee's Ana Breton

Ana Breton is a fierce, hard working woman who found her way to a job she loves. Read on to find out what she has to say about career goals and tips for women hoping to find the same.

WOMEN IN COMEDY: Tell us a bit about your background and how you ended up where you are working today? ANA BRETON: I was born in Mexico City, and grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah. In Utah, I graduated college in journalism and film studies, and worked in the exact opposite of comedy as a crime reporter. Two years ago, I moved to New York to pursue comedy full time - specifically, I wanted to shoot and edit comedy. I took classes at the Upright Citizens Brigade, became an editing intern there and worked my way up to being the studio manager at UCBComedy. Along the way, I continued to shoot and edit for various other shows and documentaries. Three months ago the universe opened up a huge feminist-sized door-hole in which it allowed me to work for Full Frontal with Samantha Bee.

Right now, I shoot and edit videos in-house, build the show's website and manage its social media: samanthabee.com; Twitter and Instagram: @FullFrontalSamB (plugs!) I practically run to work every day because I look forward to it so much.

WOMEN IN COMEDY: When did you first decide you wanted to be involved in comedy?

ANA BRETON: My comedy journey is a big ol' circle. When I was 14 I knew I wanted to work for Saturday Night Live. I was obsessed with it. However, there isn't really a straight path to SNL. So I pursued other things: I became a crime reporter, I made documentaries, I worked on TV shows and movies in my hometown, and I did really really well at these things. I even worked on a documentary that made it to Sundance. It's kind of amazing how good you can get at other things because you're afraid to pursue the one thing you actually want! It wasn't until two years ago that I had the guts to move to New York and pursue comedy. It's kind of great actually, because all the skills I gained along the way, like filmmaking, sort of melted into what my passion ultimately became. I wanted to shoot and edit comedy, and that's what I'm doing today. If I had moved to New York at 14, I wouldn't have any of these skills. I would just be standing outside 30 Rock looking like a big old dummy with acne and a unibrow.

WOMEN IN COMEDY: If you could give one piece of advice to your younger self when you started on your career path, what would it be?

ANA BRETON: Two things that I firmly believe in are that you should never give up, and that you're never too old to do anything. The reason people "make it" in comedy is not just because they're talented and they work hard, but it's also because a lot of other people give up along the way. TV, filmmaking and comedy are incredibly unstable fields. You don't make a lot of money and you never know when your next job will come along. A full time job with benefits and a 401k is incredibly tempting to settle into, and a lot of people do (and that's totally fine). But I'm a huge fan of taking risks, and I've been lucky enough to have landed some really great gigs this way. Also, please someone explain to me what a 401k is. I'm not kidding.

WOMEN IN COMEDY: Please give us your top 5 tips for women and girls in the industry that you think will help empower and educate them on how to make a paid career for themselves in comedy?

ANA BRETON:

1. Work as much as you can for as many different people as you can. You never know who you'll meet at a job that will lead you to your next one.

2. Don't compare yourself to other people. There will be more successful people and less successful people around you, but none of them are you.

3. Learn as much as you can from people who have more experience than you. Find mentors who will help you grow (and don't be afraid to ask people to be your mentors!)

4. Make as many mistakes as you can, as early as you can. The only reason I remember most of of the things I do now is because they originally started as a very bad mistakes.

5. Never give up (and you're never too old to do anything!)