Meet Alicia Borja

We were lucky to catch up with Alicia Borja recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alicia, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.

I’m actually on a new phase of finding purpose in life. For many years, the military and their mission was my purpose as an active duty member of the United States Air Force. I became a reservist in 2021 and it took me two years to really reshape and redirect my attention. I had to first think back to what brought me joy prior to joining the military. I remembered loving the arts, creating, writing, and acting. So, I decided to pursue all of those things. From 2021 – 2024, I focused my efforts on learning what it took to grow in those fields. I became intentional with my efforts and followed what felt right and built trust in my instincts. Now, I make sure all that I do is within the same vein of my goals as a creative.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

For fourteen years my focus was law enforcement within the military. I even became a federal agent at one point. However, when I left active duty to become a reservist in 2021, I switched gears and decided to pursue the life of a creative. I did not know what that was exactly at the time, but I would say I have a clearer objective now.

In 2024, I founded the Desert Waves Film Festival with a team of other passionate and creative filmmakers in Las Vegas, NV. Our mission is to educate and elevate the local indie film community via workshops, mixers, and other informative events. We focus on highlighting local filmmakers along with submissions from filmmakers all over the world. Another fun thing we do is have a filmmaker challenge wherein teams have to create a film in two days. They all compete for awards and special recognition. This year we plan on going even bigger with our awards ceremony.

It was very exciting to see the community come out and support local filmmakers. We even had people fly in from other states to watch their films. There was also an honored guest, who was a WWII veteran whose documentary was screened at the film festival.

We are opened for our second season of submissions. The festival for submissions can be found on www.filmfreeway.com/desertwavesfilmfestival. Our Instagram @desertwaves_filmfestival is where we post all our upcoming events.

Outside of the film festival, I also create my own productions. My last project as a filmmaker, titled AIRMEN, is about a recent high school graduate who joined the Air Force (AF) as a means to go to college, but 9/11 happened during her basic training and instead of being in a classroom she was in a war. The storyline was based off of my own personal experience of joining the AF after 9/11 happened. I wrote, directed, and acted in the short film which can be viewed on my website, www.thegranfinali.com. It has won awards such as Best War Film, Best Original Concept, and Best First Time Director.

I’m directing more projects in collaboration with other local artists and have written more things that I plan on producing later in 2025.

As an actress, the largest project I have been involved with is coming out at the end of February 2025. It’s called My Dead Friend Zoe. It is wrapping up it’s festival run and won the Audience Award at South by Southwest Film Festival in 2024. I’m in several other projects that can be found listed on IMDb.

One of my own ongoing personal projects is my podcast called The Unclassified Podcast where we “Declassify life outside the 9-5.” I hit my three year anniversary in February 2025. I’m doing a variety show in February 2025 along with a live episode in front of an audience to celebrate.

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

I would say my resiliency, creativity, and ability to do things while scared are qualities that have impacted my journey the most. For one, resiliency has helped me get through the darkest points in life. Anyone who strives to do something great will hit adversity. A quiet life is a safe life. If you are taking risks and doing things you’ve never done before you need to have the ability to lick your wounds, reassess, and reattack.

Having creativity has allowed me a flexibility in thinking that allows me to pivot when I reach an obstacle. A lot of people hit a bump in the road and stop. One thing I learned is to find a way. It is most likely will not be the most straightforward path, but one that gets you to the goal is still the right path.

Now, doing things while scared that is something I am still working on. I’ve gotten better at recognizing when I’m doing something out or not doing something out of fear. Once you can recognize it you can work on how to get past it. You find what works for you. Sometimes you run screaming, but as long as you run toward your goal it’ll get you further than you were when frozen in fear.

As far as advice, I’d have to say always ask for help. Ask all of the stupid questions. Get over feeling embarrassed by not knowing something. Always put yourself in the mindset of learning. If you don’t know something, find someone who does know and who is willing to pass on knowledge to you. If they do, you better apply that information. Otherwise you wasted their time and yours.

This advice applies to building resiliency too. Therapy, counseling, self-help books, all of that is learning how to manage yourself better. Build your emotional and intellectual intelligence. That’s your EQ and your IQ. Your mind may not be a muscle but by making your EQ and your IQ stronger, you will navigate life more easily.

Improving creativity comes with allowing yourself to make mistakes, get messy, and try new things. Losing the need to always be perfect gives you so much freedom. Learn all the ways to do something wrong and you’ll only be left with how to do it right. You can start small with trying a new color in your wardrobe, a new route to work, drawing something so ugly it makes you laugh, but you drew it and that matters. Doing it is all it takes to get started with creativity.

Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?

I used to be able to juggle what felt like 100 things at once while I served in the military. What I did not realize is how burnt out I became. It wasn’t until I left and got to choose the life I wanted did I realize how I was always over committing myself. I used to joke about my time management by saying, “I manage my time by having no time left to manage.” Yeah, needless to say I had a lot of anxiety, depression, and could not sit still for more than a few minutes.

I learned what peace felt like in my body through therapy and clearing my metaphorical plate of responsibilities and obligations. I listened, many times, to a book called Extreme Ownership, by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin. It really taught me how to own my own choices and take accountability for what I allow into my life.

By learning how to take charge of my life and choices I was able to reduce my stress. Now, if I am feeling stressed I meditate, I journal, I talk to friends, I talk to a therapist, I go hiking, and do things that bring me joy. I also find listing to myself what I am grateful for helps bring me back into a positive mindset and I also remind myself that what I’m currently experiencing is not a life or death situation. I’ve been in those, three warzones to be exact, and if I’m not actively dying or fighting for my life, then why am I letting it bother me? May sound a bit extreme, but it does add some perspective.

Reducing things down to the basic blocks of life helps to remove the feeling of something being bigger than it is. Asking yourself “Why?” until you get to the very root of an issue helps you understand whether or not you are just in a momentary place of fear.

Also, build some trust in your abilities. If you know you can handle stuff, a lot of things will no longer overwhelm you. I’m working on that one too.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thegranfinali.com
• Instagram: @thegranfinali
• Facebook: Ali Thegranfinali
• Youtube: @thegranfinali
• Other: Spotify; The Unclassified Podcast

  www.filmfreeway.com/desertwavesfilmfestival

  IG: @desertwaves_filmfestival