Meet Gina Duran

We recently connected with Gina Duran and have shared our conversation below.

Gina, 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?

Hmmm…Well, I think I am naturally resilient because I am stubborn. When people tell me I can’t do something, I often take it as a challenge to prove them wrong. When people hate my work, I take it as a compliment because I made them think or feel something undiscovered within themselves.
And lastly but most obvious to me is that my last name Duran, means ‘ever lasting’ because Duran’s are so stubborn…so I’ve read. I don’t know if it’s true, but all the Duran’s I know are very tenacious.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I am an author, artist, educator, and yoga instructor with a background in psychology and criminal justice, because I focus a lot of my work on the healing aspects of the arts. I have an outreach, called the IE Hope Collective, which helps homeless, LGBTQ2S+, foster, immigrant, and disabled youth. The IE Hope Collective teaches coping skills, empathy, introspection, and community building through a variety of arts, yoga, and somatic movements. I dream of turning the IE Hope Collective into a nonprofit and working with many of the people who have volunteered over the years to provide programs that I have created from my education and my experience in juvenile hall, a mental health facility, immigration camps, shelters, foster youth group homes, with IEP and special education programs in public and private schools, EOPS, NextUp, and foster programs in colleges.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

I think being confident in my abilities, trusting myself, and feeling grounded to this earth were the most important things I’ve learned for myself, my education, and my career.

I’ll start with grounded to the earth, because it took me a long time to understand that I don’t need to belong, because I’m already here. Everywhere I am, I am here. That’s all I need. It’s pretty miraculous when you think about it. To just be alive is a miracle, so I’’m already in the right place. I don’t need others to accept me for that. I spent a big portion of my life trying to earn the love and respect of others that didn’t know how to show up. And that sucked up a lot of time I could have used doing what I loved and spending time with others who do love me exactly as I am. I realized if I spent more time just being loved instead seeking the unattainable, I would be more confident.
When I’m more confident, I make more art. I don’t have to suffer to create because I don’t need to suffer. The ideas flow better when I have more confidence. When I feel more confident I have more consistency and my art is richer for it. When I’m more confident, I trust myself. And when I trust myself, I know it’s okay to feel sad, angry, lonely, happy, playful, joyful, etc…When I trust myself my work is stronger because I am stronger. And when I trust myself I am capable of writing the rawest truth and the most fantastic worlds made of my very own dreams. And once I start creating dreams the world opens up. And it is magical.

Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?

I’m always looking for people to partner with for the IE Hope Collective, art, and to come onto my radio show and podcast—The Collective. I am definitely interested in getting to know people through social media so I can see what type of art they are creating and outreach they are providing. Do you educate others? Do you write about important societal issues? Do you volunteer or run community efforts or an organization that actively makes an effort towards positive change?
If so please find me at byginaduran.org and send me an email. The website isn’t totally finished but there are links to my show, essays, poetry, art, and outreach there. You can also find me on Instagram at;@byginaduran or @thecollective_kqbh, or follow me on Facebook at Gina Duran.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://byginaduran.org
• Instagram: @byginaduran @thecollective_kqbh @iehopecollective
• Facebook: Gina Duran
• Other: Spotify: The Collective by Gina Duran
  Substack: byginaduran

Image Credits

Gina Duran