From Shop Cats to Lil Sábado, Michelladonna Dreams of Innovation, Not Imitation
Credit: Alex K. Brown. Art by Stephany Torres for Remezcla.
Michelladonna has long had their unwavering eyes set on moving “pa’lante” – a mantra they have tattooed on their arm.
Currently known as the spunky ‘bodega cat lady’ host of the Webby award-winning series Shop Cats, while they are content riding the wave of the show’s success, the 27-year-old is ready to be acknowledged as more than just New York’s finest cat correspondent.
An actor, comedian, director, podcast hostess, and community organizer “at the core of [their] core,” Michelladonna has always been a business-savvy multi-hyphenate talent.
Born and raised “under Colombian territory” in Ridgewood, Queens, New York, Michelladonna spent most of their childhood doing any extracurriculars that piqued their interest, mainly at the request of their mother, Ms. Nelly. Developing a deep admiration for entertainment, by the time college came they were dead set on moving to Hollywood, however Ms. Nelly begged them to reconsider getting their degree in a more secure career.
Understanding of their mother’s overprotective plea, Michelladonna resignedly attended Cornell University majoring in Applied Economics and Management, mentally preparing for a future in corporate finance.
Then, just as they were about to graduate, the pandemic hit and they were forced to leave campus. Overwhelmed by being back home and seeing the mass fatalities, Michelladonna was preemptively forced to re-examine the life they truly wanted to lead.
“If I was on my death bed tomorrow, would I be happy that I went to work in a cubicle, in an office, and [that] I did the thing I thought I needed to do to survive? Or would I be happy that I at least gave myself a chance to do something I know I want to do for my whole life. Since I was a child, I knew I wanted to be an actor, [so] I was like fuck it,” they told Remezcla.
After obtaining their degree, they told their mother that they were willfully diving into the entertainment industry. Ms. Nelly simply responded saying “Good luck;” a statement Michelladonna still views as their biggest blessing to this day.
In 2021, despite previously never having felt like the “specific demographic” for stand-up comedy, Michelladonna decided to try their luck at the medium anyway and quickly grew conscious of the lack of diverse camaraderie and mainstream divulging material they didn’t want to emulate as a queer, Latine femme.
Whilst navigating the comedy scene, Michelladonna briefly moved to L.A. in pursuit of other big breaks which unfortunately didn’t pan out. Miraculously, upon returning to New York, the gift of Shop Cats landed on their doorstep.
To this day, Michelladonna doesn’t know who or what put Drew Rosenthal– the Head of Production at Mad Realities —on their radar; but for the native New Yorker who grew up frequenting bodegas and had their own adoration of cats, the opportunity was a godsent (even at the risk of aggravating their slight cat allergy which they didn’t disclose until after landing the gig).
“I’m an entertainer at the end of the day. I feel like I’m old school, like I will do whatever it takes to get the shot, you know what I’m saying? So I don’t care if it means popping a Benadryl,” they said.
Nevertheless, Michelladonna knew that while production saw the felines as the main attraction, it was the predominantly immigrant shop workers and owners– aka the “Papi’s and Habibi’s” as they fondly call them —who were the heart of the show; that’s who they wanted to spotlight.
“When they pitched [Shop Cats] to me it was like, ‘Let’s talk about the cats!’ And I was like, ‘Okay, and also the people who are working there’ [because] if you actually sit down and try to shoot the shit [with them] these people are so funny and silly and goofy,” they said.
“There have been so many different bodegas in my life that I go in [and] they’re like, ‘Yo, how you doing?’ and it’s like, [that’s] community. If you feel unsafe, you go into a bodega. If you need water, you go into a bodega. I feel like it’s a safe haven, you know, and I think it’s so important to highlight the people that are working it because a lot of them are immigrants, and a lot of them are working so many hours, and I don’t think people try to have conversations with them.”
Traversing through the five boroughs donning their quintessential jorts and sleek cat eyeliner combo, to hear Michelladonna’s thick New York accent memorably ask if a cat is “a hunter or a gatherer” has become an episodic staple. Quickly becoming a viral internet sensation, Shop Cats has since garnered 17.4 million likes on Tiktok, a little over one million followers across Instagram and TikTok, and even took home a Webby Award this year for Best Social in the “Animals” category.
Giving a cheeky acceptance speech saying, “Meow meow meow. Thanks y’all,” it was actually the keffiyeh adorned on Michelladonna’s shoulders that captivated many. As we continue to witness the ongoing genocide in Palestine, to adorn a keffiyeh symbolizes one’s solidarity with the Palestinian people. However, while their inclusion of the garment was a coincidental last-minute addition, it was the discreet “thank you’s” from those in attendance that confused Michelladonna the most.
“So many people came up to me during that ceremony [saying] ‘Thank you for wearing that, thank you for wearing– like, Yo, I don’t own it. I’m not the only person that could wear this, you know? So it was very interesting to be like, you could do this too. But hey, you know, [the] world is what it is,” they said sighing.
Standing on business and using their growing platform for advocacy is not unfamiliar to Michelladonna. In 2021, shortly after starting their stand-up career, they curated I’m Finna Talk which they regard as the communal oasis for like-minded QTBIPOC creatives they’ve always dreamed of joining after coming out in a post-quarantine era.
Now four years since its inception, the collective has grown significantly. Focused on providing “goodie bags” of creative resources and community outreach, whether it’s free workshops or giving out gender affirming items like binders with the help of sponsors (which they otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford for themselves since coming out as non-binary), Michelladonna understands the power queer spaces hold not only amidst the current administration’s accelerated attacks against marginalized communities, but globally.
“I want to fight,” they said defiantly. “I feel like in recent months, I’ve gotten on that mic and preached [that] we have to hold each other in this space, take a shot, dance your fucking heart out, make a plan, whatever it is. But this right here, this right here is us, right here is resistance, right here is joy and what they’re trying to do is scare us.”
Accessibility and community-mindedness is further embedded in Michelladonna’s work, like in their inclusion of Spanish-language subtitles on Shop Cats, which they initially transcribed to accommodate their growing bilingual audience and, more specifically, their mother Ms. Nelly who was eager to share each new episode with friends.
Their first variety show Lil Sábado, inspired by the campy Latine shows and legends they grew up admiring, is another testament to their creative intentionality. “[Lil Sábado] is something that for the first time in a long time, it was just pure fun and everyone [in the audience] was on that ride with me. I had never felt that at a comedy show,” they said.
Brimming with bilingual humor and cultural resonance, while also doubling as a fundraising platform for immigrant rights, Lil Sábado featured segments like an interactive Sábado Gigante-style singing competition where the audience shouted “FUERA!” to Michelladonna embodying Walter Mercado and reading shady horoscopes.
With a second show already underway this November, Lil Sábado was not just the pinnacle of their comedic finesse, it was a full-circle moment that redefined what they‘ve always wanted to see as a first-gen Latine in comedy.
With no intention of slowing down, Michelladonna is likely churning out new ideas that they hope will “play around with people’s expectations.” Whether it’s through their upcoming short film reimagining the dynamics of Salsa legends or acting out the “28 million characters” ruminating inside their head, they admittedly love to gag and be gagged.
“I’m not satisfied with just people knowing me for one thing,” they said. “I want them to see inside my brain. I want them to see the movie that I have. I want them to see the pilots that I have. I want them to see the feature film that I want to write. I want them to see this whole world that I have in my head and that’s what I want to do. I want to do art, I don’t want to just be known.”