Yalitza Aparicio Talks About Her Greatest Fear During TIME’s 100 Gala

Now that award season is over, actress Yalitza Aparicio has time to breathe — sort of. Last night, she attended TIME 100’s Gala in Manhattan where she was honored as one of the most influential people of the year. The 25-year-old from Tlaxiaco, Oaxaca spoke about the whirlwind of fame, if she will act again, and what she’s doing right now.

The biggest obstacle she had to overcome was being a public figure. Aparicio was thrust into the spotlight, seemingly overnight, and she was not prepared for that. She said that there’s a lot of pressure that comes with being a celebrity, but it’s even more intense for a Spanish-speaking person who never thought she’d be put in that kind of position.

So what was her greatest fear? “Speaking in public, speaking in front of the camera and being fearful of not being able to express myself correctly,” she said in Spanish during the red-carpet event last night. She spoke to a TIME reporter via her translator, Roma producer Gabriela Rodriguez. She added, “It was a long process. And it took me time in the beginning when we were shooting the film. It was day by day, and [it was the] same with the red carpets. In the beginning, it was a struggle and after I got used to it, it got better,” she said.