Meet Martha Isabel Castrillon

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Martha Isabel Castrillon. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Martha Isabel, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?
I was really lucky, I found my purpose from a very young age when I was barely 8 years old, in a very concise way and without touching on topics such as the extrasensory, religious or transcendental, I had an experience, a precise event, which would subsequently direct all my future activities; When I was little, my parents took me to a polyphonic music concert, by the second best choir in my country Colombia, along with my twin sister. As I was sitting there, something happened, I saw and felt a sign, while the children were singing, because It was a children’s choir or what they call white voices, something that I cannot explain told me very clearly that I had to be there, without sounding crazy I don’t know how to say, yes, I saw a light and I also felt a force, for which I started to cry, my mother, surprised, asked what was happening and I responded “Something tells me that I should be there.” It is important to clarify that in my family no one was a musician. From then on it was a hard road, of rejections, denials, but at the same time a lot of love and support from those close to me. My mother, with the profound knowledge of an educator and caregiver, approached us to audition for that choir and we were rejected, for not having any type of auditory discrimination, however, and under much insistence after seeing me depressed and fragile, the choir directors agreed to accepted us in a trial period and after a month we already had the characteristics to perform vocal solos for the second voices, Altos. That was a first step, of a very very laborious and difficult path, it requires a lot of will, stubbornness, partly rebellion, love and support to move forward and fulfill the purposes, many times these are accompanied by Gifts, in this case the gift It wasn’t about singing beautifully, or knowing how to do it, it was about will and dedication.

Later and with years of training and experience, you begin to understand that this purpose aligns with another much larger one, Educate, transform lives. When you already develop structured social skills and face the world, studying a profession that requires a lot of creativity and initiative in addition to technological skills, in my case I have a degree in communication and educational computing supports the very purpose of serving others, being an issuer as an educator through the power of knowing, doing and giving.

In conclusion, understand that your life is made for the development of multiple human sciences through the development of the being. My being.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
My professions have given me a wide field of action, and at the same time have allowed me to find a way to integrate them. I currently work as a substitute teacher, also as a private teacher, I provide advice and teach classes in all the areas in which I have prepared and worked, including Music, Communication, Technologies, audiovisuals and derivatives such as visual design, voiceover, eggs,?? social media, photography, etc. I show and share my services through my website and my networks, the name I gave it is a simple and direct way to summarize my work. The name is MarticEdu, Mar from Martha, (Tic) ICT from communication and information technologies and Edu from education. I have only been in the United States for a very short time, so the way in which I have made myself visible and have exhibited my work has been different from what I was used to, the culture is different, the economy is different, the legal framework and the commercial structure is different. It has been quite an interesting challenge and full of many learnings and movements of failure or error and correction in favor of achieving goals.

It’s interesting because anyone could say, you do a lot of things, wouldn’t it be better to focus on just one? and it is curious because in my youth, more specifically when I had just finished my professional career, I tried, with a university degree, a single activity and it was not possible, and the reason was that all the entities, public and private institutions, among others , asked me to work by fusing different areas, for example, creating an OVA, a virtual learning object about the Colombian tiple, or choral music, they always asked me that the theme was music. All this made me understand that by being good in several areas, my path was to interconnect them and apply them in the most creative and objective way possible.

I must be honest, the greatest recognition that I have acquired and for which I have stood out is music, it has given me a more human and sensitive vision of the world, extremely creative and heartfelt, and it has also been the most significant path. when it comes to income. I have met incredible people and many places in my country and the world, through art and being a teacher I have transformed lives and supported significant cultural processes.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Definitely my focus since I was young was always directed towards the human sciences, more specifically Art in its various aspects, and technologies and computing. I developed social skills in adulthood, around the age of 20, due to My DTA, (Inattentive); I was fortunate to be very good with physical skills since I was involved in several Olympic sports since I was little, which benefited the development of motor skills and on the other hand, in terms of my cognitive skills, thanks to music and art I overcame great obstacles. Something that I must also highlight is the support of my mother and education, after my diagnosis with ADD, I had great training in sophrology, there I learned to enhance mental abilities, in memorization, exposition, recapture of information among others, tools that helped me understand how despite being very different from others, speaking of mental processes, I could achieve, with a little more effort, have the normal level or in my case, manage to stand out in the areas in which I invested more time, dedication and work. They are qualities that I consider important; The upbringing and childhood environments, adversities and difficult situations also influenced choosing a path full of a lot of resilience and empathy.
One of the qualities that most frames my work and makes me authentic is high sensitivity and creative development. On the other hand, in positive terms, stubbornness can be a great quality to develop skills and achieve great goals.

I would advise those who begin their path, first to be passionate about what they do, if for some reason the path they have at the moment does not fulfill them, visualize in an objective and positive way, what they can learn and what they can benefit from, for example at that stage, believe me there is always something no matter how difficult it may seem… Effort and dedication will always be required, the tendency should be to recognize yourself to understand what you are good at and how you can satisfy yourself in having a healthy, productive and focused life, working on what you want, essentially what you are passionate about.

Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?
In moments of tension, stress or even depression because they have happened, the first thing I do is listen, yes, listen to neuroplasticity audios and do meditation, do it more frequently, alternately, get busy, set mini projects, simple tasks of my love, to my taste, things that cause me satisfaction, you know, make us secrete serotonin, if possible organize an activity that is equivalent to sharing with positive people, as Facunda Cabral says, You’re not depressed, you’re distracted. And always, accompanied by good music, for me romantic and positive, generates an incredible mood lift.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Images: Martha Castrillon 5, Martha Castrillon 4 and Martha Castrillon 7: photographer Jairo Alberto Osorio the rest of the photographs taken with my own device and edited by Martha Castrillon

Suggest a Story: BoldJourney is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
Resilience
Where does your optimism come from?

Optimism is the invisible ingredient that powers so much of the incredible progress in society

Confidence
Stories of Overcoming Imposter Syndrome

Learning from one another is what BoldJourney is all about. Below, we’ve shared stories and

Resilience
The Power of Persistence: Overcoming Haters and Doubters

Having hates is an inevitable part of any bold journey – everyone who has made