“Loot”’s“ ”Michaela Jaé Rodriguez Reveals the One Thing That Still Scares Her: 'I'm Not a Girl Who Fears a Lot' (Exclusive)

The Golden Globe-winning actress tells PEOPLE exclusively why she has little to fear these days

Only one thing scares Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, and unfortunately, it’s something the in-demand actress can’t really avoid these days: planes.

“Listen, I’m that girl that doesn’t fear a lot,” she tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue. “I’ve realized through growing up and going through the world as a Black trans woman who’s Latina and having to deal with the hard hits of people on the street calling me all kinds of names, the only thing I could really be afraid of is falling from the sky. Anything else, I’ve dealt with it already.”

Rodriguez, 33, has carried that hard-won fierceness into every role, including her star-making performance as Blanca on FX’s Pose. The trailblazing drama about New York City ballroom culture earned Rodriguez an Emmy nomination and allowed her to become the first out trans person to win a Golden Globe.

Related: 'Pose' Series Finale: Cast and Fans React to Beloved FX Series Ending: 'Legacy, Longevity and Life'

“I didn’t realize until after it [Pose] ended how much of a catapult it was,” she explains.

Now, she’s making her mark in comedy as no-nonsense, do-gooder Sofia on Loot, which is in its second season on Apple TV+ and stars Maya Rudolph as naive, billionaire divorcée Molly.

“I’m so in awe and thankful,” she says of working with Rudolph, 51. “Not a lot of girls get to see camaraderie like that between two women [of color], let alone a trans woman. It’s something to aspire to.”

Growing up in Newark, New Jersey, Rodriguez couldn’t have imagined seeing that onscreen.

“When I was 7 years old, I think mentally and physically I started presenting as who I was, though I didn’t have the ‘trans’ language yet,” she recalls.

Related: 'Pose' Cast and Crew Share Emotional Posts as They Wrap Filming Final Season: 'We Changed the World'

When she watched TV then, “there wasn’t a lot of representation — and if there was, trans women were probably living in stealth, just to survive and get a check.” Still, Rodriguez felt a sense of belonging watching LGBTQ+-centric shows Will & Grace and Noah’s Arc, which were “the only two shows I could find.” Thankfully, she also had the support of her large family, including her mother, Audrey, who sought out arts programs to help her daughter flourish.

“It was like seven people in our house. I had an abundance of love — and that’s a strong foundation,” says Rodriguez.

Even so, it took time to fully show the world who she always knew she was.

“The courage actually came from very deep within. I did a lot of work on myself,” she says. “The medical transition was one thing, but when you’re young, you have the mental transition. And then as I got older, I had the vocabulary and courage to express to people, this is what has always been.”

That journey lent itself to her powerful performance on Pose, which concluded in 2021 after three seasons.

Related: Billy Porter's 'Pose' Character's Fate Was Decided in Season 2, Series Co-Creator Says

For more on Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday, or subscribe here. 

“We had five trans women of color with different personalities from all different walks of life. I think that’s what made it so groundbreaking,” she says. “When it ended, I was sad but thankful because we made an impact. I had already gotten to do everything that I wanted to do in my life at a young age of 25.”

Being on an impactful show like Pose — and winning a Golden Globe in 2022 for best actress in a TV series — brought Rodriguez a new kind of visibility and fame that felt a “bit much” at first.

“But it hasn’t changed me at all. I’m the girl that I’ve always been, from Brick City until now,” she explains, adding, “I look back at myself and I say, you actually did a pretty good job [navigating fame]. You held fame on the leash. You're not letting the ‘dog’ walk ahead of you.”

Up next for the Charlotte Tilbury muse is her debut album, due out later this year. Recording music proved to be Rodriguez's "safe haven" during last year's SAG-AFTRA strike. "It does not deplete me or exhaust me. Instead, it fires me up," she says.

Related: Billy Porter Says 'Pose' Role Was a 'Proxy for My Healing' amid His Own Experience with HIV

The actress also wants to continue spreading the love she’s receiving.

“I get a lot of hugs that are deeply rooted in emotions,” she says of fan encounters. “I'm a nurturer, so I'm always reaching my arm out to hug them. … Most of the time I say, ‘You're going to be okay. It's just only just a bump in the road. But do not let anyone tell you how to run your life. You are the person who runs this sh--. And I think you should always do it with grace.”

It’s sage advice from a woman who speaks from a wealth of personal experience.

“I’m glad that young girls, trans or not, can look to me and say, ‘I want to be like her — and maybe I want to do it even better,’” she explains, adding, “And there’s me saying, ‘That's what you should do. You should [work] to do it better than me. My 'legacy' is for you to work as hard as you can so you can achieve anything you want.”

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Season 2 of Loot premieres Wednesday on Apple TV+.

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