Meet ANDREA MARTINS

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

ANDREA, 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 was reading all the topics above, and I believe my journey has touched or somehow navigated through most, maybe even all of them. In my case, everything began in a marriage where I slowly disappeared, becoming depressed, burned out, and numb. I still don’t know how I found the courage to leave, especially carrying a huge debt that still hasn’t been paid.
But I left.

As much as I want to believe there are many women who had the same courage, I know they are out there fighting their demons, traumas, and fears. As well, there are many others who choose to stay for reasons that are not my place to judge: kids, family, finances…
I’m always on the women’s side, because it’s already a lot just to be one in this world.

Throughout this journey, I met competitive, jealous, envious, and mean women — and I also met some of the most beautiful souls: women who did the inner work, who feel good in their own skin, who aren’t threatened by another woman’s beauty and light. With them, the relationship becomes something else entirely a space of support, celebration, and sisterhood.

One of the first women who changed my life was Ju Faria, an amazing writer and journalist from Brazil. I saw her in a TED Talk and felt instantly connected. She’s a dreamer just like I am. I reached out, and she gave me the chance to pitch my TV series idea, developed with the Women’s Group in Brazil our Latin American version of Big Little Lies mixed with different point-of-view narratives from The Affair and the emotional intensity of The Bear.

But on the day of our call, my impostor syndrome won. I froze in the middle of the street, crying and unable to move. I sent her an audio message saying, “My impostor syndrome found a way of not letting me join this call. I’m in the middle of the street, I’m crying and can’t move.” She understood. And that moment marked the beginning of a beautiful relationship together or apart connected by love, creativity, and purpose.

In the middle of all the noise in my life, I made a decision: leaving behind people I loved to reconnect with myself. I moved from Brazil to California to attend UCLA’s Showrunner Bootcamp while living in Pacific Palisades with the mother of a dear friend.
After the program, I realized something: I could be a showrunner… yes. But did I want that life again? Twenty-five years working as an executive producer in advertising and entertainment had taken a toll. I promised myself peace. I wasn’t willing to trade my calm to prove something to the world or to my father anymore. And I wanted to take the risk and pay the price for that choice.

So I focused on writing. Without knowing it, I was walking straight into my next career.

With Juliana’s support, I wrote the first episode of the series. At the time, she introduced me to another incredible woman: Suzana Pires, a Brazilian actress and showrunner based in LA who runs an institute helping women rebuild their lives and careers. I reached out, she answered, and after hearing my pitch, she asked a question that shifted everything:
“Why don’t you write a book? You need your own IP.”

So I returned to the book I began to write in 2018, while I was still married. Suzana introduced me to her publisher.
Around that time, my parents helped me buy a car because my savings were gone. I learned to live with a small budget and only what was necessary.

I reminded myself daily that I had chosen calm, even when urgency, fear, and ego tried to take over. Meditation, long walks, breath work, not drinking, not going out, yoga, and good sleep became my foundation. Old people, dogs, and babies slowed down my nervous system. I disconnected from almost everyone and tried to stop feeling the need to explain myself. One day, overwhelmed and searching for clarity, I prayed: “God, where do I go next?” And through my friend’s mother came the answer:“Why don’t you go to Ojai? It’s beautiful.”

I googled it an hour and a half from LA. I called my friend in New York and said I needed two weeks to breathe and think. When I arrived in Ojai, everything shifted. Citrus in the air. A small avenue with cafés, shops, and artists everywhere. A healing energy that felt like home. I knew instantly: This is where I want to be.

On my first day at Three Birds, still my favorite café, I met Sophia, a beautiful woman from San Francisco, who introduced me to Dominga, a talented Chilean artist. She didn’t have the ADU available anymore, but she needed someone to pet sit while she traveled for the holidays. Perfect timing. Perfect alignment. I could write my book without worrying about rent.

I returned to the Palisades, said goodbye to the woman I had become attached to, and prepared to leave in December to spend two months in Ojai. Meanwhile, I was working part time for an Asian woman who wanted to open a school in another state nothing could stop her. Capricorn energy. She worked over 16 hours a day, and she felt kind of proud of herself. But being around her drained me. Two weeks before Thanksgiving, she had a stroke. I visited her in the hospital heartbroken, praying for her recovery and not knowing if she would make it back to life.

Suddenly, I had no job and no income for the months ahead.

A couple of weeks earlier, my younger sister had introduced me to someone who now offered me an executive producer position. I said no to the full-time job, but we agreed on remote, part-time work so I could keep writing.

Life rearranging itself again.

In December, I moved to Ojai with Pita, the sweetest boxer, and built a routine that brought me back home to myself. Morning walks. Writing all day. Working in the afternoons. Studying health coach nutrition at night.
Nature, silence, and the dog became my anchors.
For the first time since I arrived in California, I only had to take care of myself.

I spent Christmas and New Year’s Eve alone. I cooked, lit candles, watched Christmas movies, connected with my family from afar, and wrote every single day.
I wasn’t lonely. I was full of words, stories, and characters.
Nothing was missing. I felt whole.

By January 6th, I had written 62 pages nonstop and thought I had finished my book. The next morning, I woke up with some photos from my friend saying that a fire had started in the Palisades, but they didn’t know if the house was gone or not. Survival mode returned instantly. My sense of belonging disappeared. The neighbors, the friendships, the feeling of home, gone. The next day, I moved in to my friend’s mother. We called it the Survivor’s Home. People were coming from Los Angeles to Ojai. Days of moving between houses in alert mode, thinking: Where is my passport in case I have to leave?
In the middle of all this, I met a beautiful couple musicians in Ojai, who helped me find a home I could afford, and it was better than I expected. The fire began on Tuesday, after moving couple of houses by Sunday I had moved into a new place.
Only then slowly I’ve begin to release the fear, the loneliness at the same time the gratitude.
Every night I told myself: “You are safe here. You have a home. You don’t need to go anywhere.”
Life shifts fast and asks us to surrender.
I came back to my routine my writing, working, and studying. I took care of my spiritual self and met wonderful mentors and leaders in Ojai. I started studying Krishnamurti at his library, attended daily meditations at Krotona, and had amazing sunset meditations at Meditation Mountain. Michael Lindfield saved me through his podcast. Alison & Eiji Takahara led me on my spiritual path, in person or online through Meishu Sama teachings. The healing Reiki energy helped me to be grounded once again.
I stayed there until summer, when my contract ended. I looked for work, but nothing happened. My heart wanted to stay in Ojai, but I knew that for my career I needed to be in Los Angeles.
A friend in San Diego who had just lost her mother told me: “Come stay here until you find a job.” So I packed everything and drove to San Diego. Online, I’ve applied for jobs and followed every lead, including research for a lawyer working on cases of women abused in the 70s, inside of Universities in California, something I connected with deeply but it didn’t move forward.
Like every job I was applying during this time.Still, I kept my routine of meditation, exercise, sleep, and Reiki.
Then a friend called: “We’re traveling for a whole month in July. Do you want to stay here with Bonnie?” Bonnie is her Goldendoodle, and I had cared for her before. Around the same time, I found Trusted Sitter, a website that people use to travel and pet sit around the world. I created a profile with all the dogs I had taken care of over the last year and thought, I can house sit all summer. This way I have enough time to finish my book, and I don’t need to work just to pay rent. Welcomed into this new journey, my first sit was in Los Feliz at Abi’s house. Zelda, the older poodle who poops everywhere but has the heart of a wise grandmother, became my companion. During this time, I met Birsen & Hani, neighbors who became my safest people in LA. I also met Lauren, the photographer who captured my author portrait.
From there, I booked house after house. I traveled through different LA neighborhoods, meeting generous, kind people I would never have met otherwise. Taking care of their pets and homes taught me about trusting strangers, doing things as I’m told, without questioning or trying to make my own way into it. It also made me believe in humanity again.
Of course, I also met not-so-nice people. Toxic patterns returned to test whether I had finally learned my lessons. And I guess I had. I set boundaries. I chose myself. Because no matter what life brought my way, at first I resisted. And I learned that what I resist will persist.
I surrendered. I let go of my ego and the voice inside my head again and again.
When I started nurturing, listening, and loving myself first, letting go of what didn’t serve me, everything changed. I met wonderful people. And I finished writing my first debut novel.
I returned to my essence the one I had forgotten or disconnected from. In the end, resilience wasn’t something I found, it was something I remembered, something that was always inside me. This past year didn’t break me. It made me stronger, and it brought me back to myself.
I know a new chapter of my life is just about to begin, and I’m ready for it.

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’m a writer, storyteller, and creative producer focused on helping people reconnect with their identity through their stories, language, and art healing. After many years working as an executive producer in advertising and entertainment, my work today is grounded in stories that can transform lives. I help people and corporations tell their stories with clarity, compassion, and emotional truth leaving a legacy in the world.

Next year, I’m publishing my debut novel, The Day I Forgot About Myself. It follows Claire, a woman trapped in a toxic marriage whose life unravels after the death of her beloved aunt. In search of solace, she escapes to a writing retreat, where an unexpected encounter leads to a love affair and forces her to face the truth about her life. Through grief, generational patterns, and self-loss, Claire discovers that the greatest love story is the one we build with ourselves.

I’m also writing the second book, The Way Back to Myself, which explores Claire’s healing journey. The chapters are already outlined, and I’ve begun writing the first one.

In early 2026, I’ll introduce my new podcast, Between Story Lines. The first season brings chapters of the book into honest conversations about topics most people avoid marriage, unfaithful relationships, abuse, identity, self-worth, and the emotional truths we often keep in silence.

Besides that, with Ju Faria and the Women’s Group, we’ve developed a docufiction TV series, If This Is Not Love, exploring cycles of abuse through multiple voices and perspectives. I’m looking for women directors and screenwriters, and I’m actively pitching the work to studios and production companies in the USA to be shot and distributed in Latin America.

I’m also developing a documentary about Love. As we transition into a new era of collective consciousness, this documentary explores love not in a romantic sense, but as our main tool, a revolutionary force capable of transforming the way we relate to ourselves, others, and the world.

At Imaginary Dreams, my creative studio, I believe that language shapes our identity, so guiding others to express their stories in a healthy and loving way is at the core of my mission. When we shift the words we use, we shift the way we see ourselves.

What excites me most is witnessing people reclaim their voice, rewrite their story, and reconnect with their essence.
A new chapter is beginning for me, and for everyone who feels called to join this journey.

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?

1. Self Awareness
Understanding my patterns, especially the ones created in childhood, changed everything. When you know where your reactions, fears, and behaviors come from, you stop living on autopilot. My advice for anyone starting their journey is: learn to observe yourself without judgment. Meditation, breath work, therapy, journaling, connect to yourself and have honest conversations help you hear your inner voice again.
2. Resilience
Resilience wasn’t something I found it was something I remembered. It came from surviving difficult relationships, career changes, grief, and moments where everything fell apart. If you’re early in your journey, remember that resilience grows through practice. Be patient with yourself. Small steps, celebrate them, even the small ones, build strength.
3. Surrender
This was the hardest lesson for me. For years I tried to control outcomes, timelines, and people. Life forced me to surrender through fires, moves, job loss, heartbreak, and unexpected changes. Surrender isn’t about giving up; it’s about trusting the path, even when it looks nothing like what you imagined. My advice is: learn to pause. When things don’t make sense, don’t react, go back to yourself, breathe, listen, and allow life to guide you.

How can folks who want to work with you connect?

Yes, I’m always open to collaborating with people and organizations whose values align with storytelling, healing, and social impact. I’m especially looking to connect with:
1. Women directors, screenwriters, and producers
to collaborate on my docufiction TV series If This Is Not Love, and to develop future film and TV adaptations connected to my books.
2. Publishers, editors, literary agents, and creative partners
who believe in stories centered on identity, resilience, and emotional truth.
3. Studios & Brands and companies interested in purpose driven storytelling
Who want to fund the projects I’m already developing or as well tell their narrative with creativity, intuition and heart throughImaginary Dreams.
4. Healers, psychologists, spiritual teachers, and community leaders
who want to collaborate on conversations for my upcoming podcast, Between Story Lines, especially around topics we rarely speak about openly love, trauma, identity, and self-worth.
My work lives at the intersection of storytelling and art healing in any form.
I love partnering with people who are driven by authenticity, compassion, and a desire to make a positive impact.
If you are reading this and feel aligned with any part of my journey or work, I would love to connect.
You can reach me through:
Email: [email protected]
Instagram: @am_storyteller
Website: imaginarydreams.tv

Contact Info:

• Website: https://imaginarydreams.tv
• Instagram: am_storyteller
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/andreamartins2
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreamartinsnetto/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@AndreaMartins-dc1ju
• Other: IG. imaginarydreams.tv

Image Credits

Photograph by Lauren Kallen