Auli Cravalho is only 24 years old, but her career has already spanned 10 years and she has changed professions many times.
Cravalho made her Hollywood debut with a voice role in the 2016 classic “Moana,” and went on to make a name for herself in films such as 2024’s “Mean Girls,” TV roles, and as Sally Bowles in Broadway’s “Cabaret.”
But she didn’t always get the roles she most wanted.
“For me, the best way to get through it is, number one, time, and number two, realizing that the young woman who got the role is just like me, very different from me, but just like me,” Cravalho said on CNBC Make It at ZCON, a Gen Z-focused conference hosted by United Talent Agency.
“How can you be mad at a girl who has been holding you back and working hard to get where you’re supposed to be?” she added. “And if it’s not for me, then that’s fine and I have to let it go.”
Behind the scenes, Cravalho has started working in producing, serving as an executive producer on the upcoming live-action remake of “Moana.”
The expansion of her work is intentional.
“For many of us[in Hollywood]work is seasonal,” she said. “When it rains, it pours, and then there’s a drought. And when you’re in a drought, turn around.”
Changing your career focus takes time, she adds, and requires you to be willing to make mistakes and commit to learning from them.
The pivot “allowed me to walk into a room and say, ‘I don’t know what I don’t know.’ Shut your mouth and just watch, listen, and let me learn,” she said.
It has allowed her to build a career around her interests and passions, and find ways to combat the feeling of “inheriting a world on fire,” particularly in her work around climate change and ocean conservation.
In 2025, Cravalho Associates produced Reef, a documentary about one of the world’s largest coral reef restoration programs.
Mr Cravalho stressed the importance of finding mentors who support career changes and called on leaders to provide support to young people who are at risk. “I’m willing to bow down if someone can help me get back on my feet,” she said.
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