“Luna is who I wanted to be when I was in high school,” says Gossip Girl actress Zíon Moreno about her sassy, over-the-top character Luna La. “She’s how I wanted to be seen, how I wanted to come back at my bullies in high school. I love her, she represents so much.”

Growing up in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Moreno always had her sights set on the Big Apple. Watching iconic series like Sex and the City and, of course, the OG Gossip Girl, Moreno was captivated by the bustling energy of the metropolis. Yearning to escape the Southwest, Moreno made a whirlwind decision to move to New York City in 2015. “When I got off the subway into Manhattan, I saw with my own eyes what it was like to be here,” the actress tells V. “It was so gratifying to finally be able to see it with my own eyes after yearning for it for so long.”