Trivia

During her senior high school year, Vanessa was nominated to attend the National Youth Leader's Conference in Washington, DC. She graduated ninth in her class, and received a scholarship from the Compton Courthouse. She was a Co-Captain on Paramount High School's drill team, the school's Pirate mascot one year, a Corsair, the ASB Commissioner of Rallies, on the Prom Court, and voted Female Student of the Year by her high school instructors.

Whenever in her hometown of Paramount, Vanessa stops to enjoy a cheeseburger special from Tam's on Alondra. She gets extra Thousand Island on her burger, and a side of it for her fries. She's taken many people to Tam's over the years, partly so she can also find an excuse to eat some of their amazing chili cheese fries with her meal.

Vanessa found out about her Walking Dead character Anna's death by Googling herself and discovered that Anna had died in a gas explosion in Alexandria. In a Google alert, Vanessa read that the show claimed that Vanessa was no longer available to work, when in actuality, Vanessa had moved home to Los Angeles during The Big Short's Oscar season in order to pursue her career further. She was always available for shooting in Georgia, yet TWD did not want to pay for the actress to fly out. This isn't the first time a TWD actor has been shunned for asking the production to pay reasonable costs. Vanessa drove back and forth from New Orleans to Senoia with the expectation of paying her own travel and accommodations. She made more per episode on Common Law (2011-2012), a Friday night show which never reached anywhere near the acclaim or profit of TWD. Vanessa encouraged actors to expect their worth, and not accept the minimum given by productions that paid exponentially higher wages to names yet handed stipends to struggling actors. "Actors are easily taken advantage of; we are unfortunately a dime a dozen. If actors stand for low wages in exchange for a part, they not only demean themselves, but they allow for the ongoing proliferation of demoralizing the craft and the value of artists. We cannot be for ourselves. We must stand together. We are one of the few members of this industry that does not operate on a tier. You can be in the business for 30 years and still get offered, and expected to accept, minimum union wages, simply because we are so desperate for roles. Never make decisions out of desperation.".

While operating her dance company in San Diego, Vanessa was offered a job as the bartender of the Horse and Cow, a submariner bar. She would later be introduced to another bartending position on San Clemente Island. She got the job, and for about a year, was flown back and forth each week. While living there, she explored the island by water and land, became a "gym rat," and beat the Chief in a racquetball match.

While taking a full load at Chapman University, Vanessa worked three jobs. She was a preschool and elementary mobile creative movement teacher, sometimes teaching 20 classes per week. She was a children's birthday character entertainer, showing up as Belle, Pink Power Ranger, Minnie Mouse and more to perform magic tricks, make balloon animals, and paint faces. Lastly, she was, for a while the only female delivery driver at Restaurants on the Run, a restaurant delivery service similar to Uber Eats, but before cell phones and navigation systems. "My first day of training, I was in my car changing out of my dance attire and into my delivery uniform when my trainer rolled up. Ha! We used walkie-talkies and the good ole Thomas Guide. 'Base to V, you have a pick up at Claim Jumper.' I once delivered a McCormick and Schmidts dinner to a sole man working in an Irvine high-rise, with black gloves on. I got the hell out of there pretty quickly.".