From Homicide Files to Hitting the Ground with Ysabella Costa

Ysabella Costa was a criminal defense investigator by morning and a stuntwoman by night, for two years, and barely stopped to feel any of it. Ventura County hired her at 23 and handed her homicides and sexual assaults. In 2019 her mom died of liver failure. California gives three days of bereavement. She took the three days, then went back to a nine-week homicide trial and the fifteen or twenty other cases behind it.Sherry and Bella talk about what happens when a job teaches you to read everybody and never teaches you how to stop. Getting to know her clients humanized them, and for a while she trusted people more, not less. It also left her scanning everyone who came close, sure they were not real and would hurt her. A month in Japan with the first person she ever really loved is where the light came on.What she built after that is small and physical. She keeps two hours before call time for journaling, a walk, and a workout, and drives home with no music. She broke an arm on a wire starting out and does not fear the work, because she trusts her body and the people around her. When Sherry asks what soft power means to her, Bella describes a punch: stay soft instead of rigid, and when you land it, that is when the power comes in. It is soft power as grace and trust. If you have ever kept your guard up so long you forgot how to lower it, this conversation goes somewhere unexpected.(then the timestamps above)MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: Bella’s essay on the career change: https://criminallychicken.substack.com/p/how-i-went-from-criminal-defense Bella’s stunt account: https://www.instagram.com/itsysabellacosta/ 9-1-1 on IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7235466/ABOUT YSABELLA COSTA: Ysabella Costa is a SAG-AFTRA stunt performer and actor working in Hollywood, with credits including 9-1-1, Criminal Minds, and Lioness. Before that she spent five years as a certified criminal defense investigator. She is also a certified yoga instructor, and writes about cases, action, and healing on Substack. https://www.instagram.com/lifeofbellacosta/ | https://www.instagram.com/itsysabellacosta/ https://www.imdb.com/name/nm14066951/#SoftPowerProject #SoftPower #Stuntwoman #WomenPodcastLeave a comment and share your thoughts: https://open.firstory.me/user/cm5etbvm00a1i01sl6k6h99de/comments Youtube Instagram Would you like to share your life stories? Please fill out this form. See you there~