Meet Monika Aldarondo

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Monika Aldarondo. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Monika below.

Monika , thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?

I inherited my resilience from my family and my culture. All four of my abuelos arrived from Puerto Rico in the 1950s with nothing but their desire for a better life, their hard work, generous spirits and resilience. My abuela tells the story that she met another young woman during her journey and they made a pact that if no one showed up to pick one of them up they could go with the other person. No one was there to pick my abuela up, but she had already figured out a plan B. Each of them had stories of making it work no matter whether they found work in factories, fields, caregiving or the subway system.

My parents grew up in Brooklyn with joy, love and struggle. When my dad entered the military they needed a new kind of resilience to move every 2-5 years and make life work when what the military provided wasn’t always enough. When they encountered barriers because their lack of advanced education, they sacrificed and made sure we had opportunities that they were shut out of.

I was speaking to my tia in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Irma, before Hurricane Maria devastated the island, and I remember her saying how proud she was that Puerto Rico had sent provisions to surrounding islands that had been impacted more severely by Hurricane Irma. Even as Hurricane Maria approached, she was certain they would make it through. And indeed when I was finally able to speak to her weeks after Hurricane Maria passed, she spoke of how their neighborhood had come together to take care of each other and were continuing to make it work despite towering challenges of not having electricity and the island’s infrastructure coming to a standstill.

There is a salsa song by Sergio’s Salsa Giants that says, “If the sky falls, I will dance in the storm.” I think that pretty much sums up what I witnessed growing up in a Puerto Rican family. We make it work and we create joy no matter what. Life is both struggle and celebration.

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?

I have built Our Latina Lens, a photography community that centers Latina/e photographers. It is a community that connects, supports and celebrates photographers across specialities and experience levels. Right now there are two aspects of the work that I get super excited about.

First, I find immense joy and satisfaction in connecting Latina photographers with paid work. Since very early in my life and repeatedly in our culture, I have received the message that artists can’t make a living making art. I know that is not true, but it is a persistent message that so many artists and creatives receive. So when I see Our Latina Lens be a bridge between photographers and clients who honor their talent, time and work with well paying opportunities, it feels affirming to concretely push back on that mythology that many of us have bought into.

Showcasing the incredible talent in the Latina photographer community also conveys the value of hiring photographers who have invested in their craft. The recently launched OLL National Directory is a major achievement for Our Latina Lens in our mission to elevate the work of Latina photographers.

Second, and related, I love to find ways to hire Latina/e photographers as educators. My journey to start Our Latina Lens was sparked because I craved learning from photo educators that understood my cultural lens without having to explain or defend it. Having the opportunity to bring in Latina experts to teach monthly workshops on various topics such as Personal Projects, Mentoring and Booking Clients has been so exciting. There is so much talent, experience and wisdom in the community. I am co-planning Cuentos Reframed Summit in Chicago with a fellow photographer, Karina Mora. We will be celebrating in person in Chicago come July! A very exciting development since much of our work has been virtual. The momentum is there to elevate and support photographers at different points in their photography journey and I can’t wait to be in those rooms learning and sharing.

The OLL National Directory, our upcoming events, including Cuentos Reframed Summit, and so many resources can by found at our new website ourlatinalens.com.

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

Patience, love of community, and connection to my cultural identity. Early in my journey, I chatted with Ana Flores who founded We All Grow about my idea. Since I did not have many financial resources to start Our Latina Lens, she encouraged an outlook of slow and steady growth through building relationships. That kind of growth takes patience. No matter the “get rich quick”, million dollar weekend messaging we get online. Building trusting relationships has led to deep collaborations and a community that roots for OLL’s and my success. The photography world can be competitive but I have always thrived in environments that are mutually enriching and encouraging and that is the kind of community we are building. That genuine care and excitement for each other’s success is at the center of OLL.

Early in my educational journey, I received the message that code switching and assimilating was the way to go if I wanted to succeed, but in fact I have found the opposite is true. Being grounded in the richness of my heritage, experience and unique personal perspective is what has brought fulfillment and opportunity. When we honor who we are and where we come from in a loving and accepting way, we are more likely to be able to honor and respect others for being who they are. Those kinds of connections and collaborations are deeper and more fulfilling than if we are all code switching to a mythical mainstream watered down version of ourselves.

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?

Collaborations are a critical component to OLL’s mission, and I find they bring so much fun to the work. I love nothing more than to vibe off creative synergy while ideating and finding mutually beneficial opportunities.

As far as collaborators, we connect with fotógrafas across the country to plan meetups and events, so I would love to hear from fotógrafas that are open to co-creating. Two examples are our collaboration with Karina Mora in Chicago for a 3-day Cuentos Reframed Summit this July featuring local fotógrafas and healers. Another example is a gallery manager, Roberta Alvarado, at Viewpoint Photographic Art Center in Sacramento reaching out for us to collaborate on a photographer meetup and workshop at their gallery this September. I love these kinds of collaborations that are community focused.

To support our community members, I invite creative directors, curators, photo editors, anyone that has decision making power when it comes to hiring photographers to share with our community what they look for and how our fotógrafas can cultivate the skills and qualities needed to succeed. Our community ranges from beginners to 30+ year veterans so insight at any level can be useful. We also welcome service providers who work with photographers to collaborate and educate our members on aspects of creative business. We are in talks with a tax accountant to give workshops on how creative freelancers think about their tax liability and an account manager at a global ad agency who wants to share how they think about campaigns.

Finally, collaborations that elevate the work of the many accomplished photographers in our community. I am planning a podcast tour this fall to share about photographers and how different audiences can find and hire the best photographers for their needs, so invitations on podcasts would be great. Another way to collaborate is to reach out with opportunities to showcase and tell the stories of Latina photographers. I am happy to brainstorm photographers that are the best fit for the needs of your publication, organization or company. We look forward to being a resource for the entire community and a bridge to amazing fotógrafas through our programing and the OLL National Directory that can be found at https://ourlatinalens.com

Contact Info:

• Website: https://ourlatinalens.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/ourlatinalens
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/our-latina-lens/

Image Credits

Kita Zuleta