Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Alejandra Villasante. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alejandra, so great to have you with us and thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts with the community. So, let’s jump into something that stops so many people from going after their dreams – haters, nay-sayers, etc. We’d love to hear about how you dealt with that and persisted on your path.
I strongly believe that every day is a great day to learn something new.
Growing up in a small town, which also happens to be really conservative and respectful of the status quo, I had to face constant push-back due to my personality and ideas, during my first twenty years of life. Not only that, but I was also eventually forced to face the fact that I was behaving in this same manner towards others, acting much like a hater and nay-sayer.
After this tough realization, my focus toward improvement went inwards. I started a process of self-therapy, which then became externalized through actual therapy with a psychologist. This process was intended, from the very beginning, to heal the inner monologue that deteriorated my self-esteem, allowing snide comments and hate thrown at me to seep in and wound me enough for me to project this pain upon others.
It is not easy, but being able to be 100% honest with my emotions (f.i. recognizing that a mean comment has hurt me) and taking the time to process them internally has fully opened up a new door for me. This door lets me enter a space of calm, where I can receive whatever manner of comments coming from anyone, and instead of reacting, I choose whether it’s conducive for all parties to respond, and what response the situation needs for me to be at ease with myself -both in terms of respecting my own boundaries as well as attempting to help the other party with their comment, if possible.
It also helps tremendously to remind myself that whatever piece of content/opinion I may create has a very specific purpose, and a valid one at that. I used to not be able to recognize and respect my own authority, which made every decision an incredibly hard one, confusion overtook my brain constantly. However, since finally accepting myself, healing my inner monologue and recognizing my self-worth as a complete human being -interdependent in the bigger scheme of life- I no longer feel weak when doing things on purpose. This self-assuredness is also key in my persistence despite nay-sayers.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
Polyglot, neurodiverse and multi-faceted actress with a thirst for learning about everything this life has to offer. Particularly passionate about self-teaching, art, words and bringing some manner of deep wellness to everyone I meet.
As an artist, exploration across disciplines is my driving line. I started as young as 9 years old, writing poetry and improvising stories with my playmates. I then moved into visual arts, with illustration and image edition being my first real fortes (which would then turn into somewhat of a graphic design career). My first formal education in the arts came with music, I started taking singing and guitar classes, and then moved to theatre, where I finally found I could explore every art in some way. My experience in the performing arts spans over 17 years and includes classic theatrical training in Spanish and English, Improvisation, Musical Theatre, Found- and Hip Hop Theatre. During my undergraduate years at the University of Kansas -studying abroad was always my dream, I discovered ensemble work to be my favorite, both on stage and off it. My training as a dancer includes Urban styles, as well as more classical approaches including American ballet, modern dance, Jazz technique and traditional Peruvian dances, as well as Bharatanatyam. I firmly believe art is a necessity of the soul, and will forever strive to get people to a mental state of creative freedom.
I’m justice seeker at heart. I have worked with Activist organizations and institutions both in the US and Peru, providing my services as communicator, creative trailblazer and content creator, in the fields of transversal feminism and transcendence, neurodiversity, LGBTQ+, historic memory and Intl. Students advocacy. My efforts are permanently guided to show anyone who may encounter new ideas hard to process, how social awareness and justice are accessible to all and paramount to our own wellbeing.
During my health journey, I began practicing Asana yoga by myself in 2015 and found a new life-long journey that I would later incorporate into my spiritual and professional pursuits. In 2022 I completed my first 200Hs Yoga Teacher Training in Vinyasa Yoga, and I looks forward to deepen my capacities across Yogic disciplines in hopes of becoming a better instructor, wellness provider and human being.
In 2019, I became a certified medical intepreter. For over two years, I’ve been proudly providing my services to bridge communication gaps in the US area and beyond.
For now, I am in an incubation period of sorts. After a very chaotic 2024, my sight is clearer than ever and I have finally found a way to condense all my knowledge and skills toward a start-up that will aid anyone who encounters it shine with more authentic, brighter light. I am also working in partnership with some of my closest friends to bring natural, eco-friendly wellness to every Peruvian kitchen and cupboard. Be on the lookout for all the details about both of these new enterprises, I will be posting on my socials!
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
For me it would have to be Fractals, Self-teaching and emotional regulation.
My spitirual journey, which encompasses my philosophy of life as well, started one beautiful day during a math class in IB, if you can believe it. Professor Figari, whom I will always be grateful for, told us a little something about fractal mathematics. That little bit of information changed reality forever in my eyes and has helped tremendously with becoming a conscious being. As above, so below.
My entire life has been marked by self-teaching. Having access to the internet made this possible for me (this is a privilege). Many of the things I do professionally today started as an exploratory game in my teen years, allowing for my creativity (both in art and prolem-solving) to develop itself to a very high degree.
Last, but definitely not least, emotional regulation. This creative force within me was paralyzed for almost half of my life after a really tough two years of facing bullying in high school, as well as family issues which completely destroyed my identity, and my ability to make things happen, to create. However, and luckily, I never gave up on recovering myself. With a lot of exploring and trying I was able to finally find a group of therapists that I felt actually helped me heal, balance my emotions and with all of this, be able to unparalyze myself.
My best advice, in happy and dark times, is to keep going and do it on purpose, even if it seems that we are doing everything wrong. “No hay mal que por bien no venga” is a spanish saying which roughly translates to “for every curse, a blessing is hidden behind”. I have found myself completely lost within and without, reaching points of despair where I felt like nothing would be good ever again. Truly keeping this commitment to go on, no matter what, ultimately leads to great discoveries in time, and a broader perspective in life. We all have areas in life where the struggle to find answers will be longer and more difficult than for everyone else, and we will feel lost. It is OK to feel lost, it is even OK to lose self-awareness, just try to keep in mind that our mission (and our biggest revolution) is to keep going, and do it with as much consciousness as possible.
If you knew you only had a decade of life left, how would you spend that decade?
Finances is one area in life I believe many people in my generation and beyond are suffering. Late-stage capitalism is sadly bringing back feudal systems, which means most of us are living paycheck to paycheck (on a good day, that is).
The challenge though, is seeing myself at an age where, according to society, I should be able to make a full salary to live by myself. Dealing with the pressure I perceive from the outside, as well as with the pressure my own perfectionism puts on me is no easy feat. I have to constantly remind myself that I am not alone in this struggle, nor am I sitting still waiting for the blessings to rain from the sky.
Along with this, there is also the fact that I’m not able to keep an office job, meaning a 9-5 of repetitive tasks. My natural configuration is neurodivergent, which for me personally means that my mental stability depends partially on me being able to administer my own time, and change the activities I do constantly, which is why I have chosen the long, winding path of the self-employed entrepeneur. Facing the social backlash that comes with this decision is but the tip of the iceberg. I don’t even stop to think about older generations of highly privileged people’s snide opinions on my choices, I just laugh. There is so many more important and serious issues to deal with when choosing to live my professional life as a free entity, like figuring out where my next meal will be coming from and how will I help my parents when they have both retired.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chispanaciente/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alevillasante/
- Twitter: https://x.com/AleVillasante
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@bichotaconsciente
Image Credits
Both Images where more than one person appears are credited to Imaginario Colectivo (2019-2020)
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
