We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Gaia Speaks a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Gaia, 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?
Resilience comes from doing the hard things everyday. It’s a daily mindset.
Once I decided to put my all into my passions and dreams, I feel like I have no choice but to execute all of my ideas and plans. It’s an itch that I get for every single project. Showing up everyday gets rid of the quiet anxieties and doubts that arise in me throughout the day. I don’t think about building a house, rather, I wake up and just complete the structure for the flooring.
Resilience requires to push through overthinking and being small. Once I made the decision that I didn’t want to be in the way of my own dreams, that’s when I was tested the most in how much I really wanted it. Everyday, the tests will be different, and it will feel like there’s a force so strong that wants nothing but to see you fail. Even in that moment, that’s when you grow stronger in your character to finally overcome the mental force that’s been keeping you from this next stage of your life. Breaking new levels became addictive to me, and now I challenge myself even greater to build even more resilience.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
Everything for me began with storytelling. I was in classes for journalism as early as the 6th grade, and that’s where I first started shooting and editing. We also had a news station where I would regularly host for the weekly news that broadcasted in my school. This continued in high school as well.
In high school, I was able to create a different news package every week for four years. We regularly shot stories that happened outside of the school as well, like parades and holidays. That’s where the start of my journey was for art.
Video editing is my bread and butter. Till this day, that’s what I consider my main occupation. Journalism took a step to the side whenever I went to college. I wasn’t into news and what is really consists of. Reading other people’s scripts. I really wanted freedom. Eventually, I dropped out and worked as an account executive.
It wasn’t until a few years back where I decided to drop everything, school, my job, to pursue my craft full time. After 9 long months of unemployment, I finally got my first job in my field, DraftKings. Then it was up.
I started The Vegas Creative Network in April 2023. It wasn’t supposed to even happen. I got an offer to collaborate with a bar/lounge out of the blue. I was thinking it was going to be a video package for me to shoot and edit, but the owner insisted that I did an event. Events were nowhere in my league, nor desires and overall the idea of it overwhelmed me.
I had the right people around me at the time, who pushed me to execute this vision. Through this one event, a creative brunch with bottomless mimosas and never failed to be a party, that’s where I started creating my community. That’s where I started to really dive into my life as an artist.
Since then, I have no idea how many events I’ve had at this point. Film Premieres, Award Ceremonies, Panel Discussions, Music shows, and more. The Vegas Creative Network grew so much love and support, it felt like overnight.
It’s only right to also shoot interviews for the creatives here in the city. I started in Journalism and my love for it never went away, I just transformed it into something that worked for me. Now I have a show where I go into the people of Vegas who really live here and who really make Vegas special.
With my community, I found more avenues of myself. I consider myself a painter now, host, event curator, graphic designer (I use this term lightly though), and just overall artist. I created an entire universe that serves me and my community. I’m more than blessed.
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?
In my journey, being grateful is a huge and admirable quality to have. In this day and age, I feel as though people a little more entitled to acquire certain things or situations that may take a little more time than they think. Being grateful lets you enjoy the process, and you’re not hopping from one accomplishment to another. That feeling really comes and goes. The in between stage is a slow burn, so make that trip fun while it lasts!
Another quality that is so important to have is being open to adapt. Things change so often. Energy changes every single day. Even the way the sun shines is different everyday, it’s all unpredictable. Yet, rather than be so resistant to the change, I think it’s important to “be like water.” Be light on your feet. That’s how you can regulate your emotions and not be so attached to outcomes or situations. The reality is, being a human being comes with so many responsibilities and they never seem to stop. So might as well accept it as it comes.
Lastly, this one largely relates to the relationship with self. Be kind. Don’t be so hard on yourself. That’s something that I’ve gotten to learn and love over the years. I’m doing the best I can, and with that attitude, I can also share that onto others. I learned that reactive behavior really comes from something about ourselves that we are afraid to really look into. People are just a reflection of us. So as long as you’re kind to yourself, the world will also be much kinder. I’m writing this, as a letter to myself.
Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?
Growing up, it was just my mother and I. I’m really grateful for the childhood I had, considering all of the things we went through. I think the most impactful thing my mom has ever done for me is really just stay by my side. There were so many changes that I went through personally that may have been really rough for her to process. Yet, my mom really hasn’t ever given up on me, and to this day still holds on to me. I will forever consider her the most important part of my life.
Contact Info:
- Website: gaiaspeaks.net
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thevegascreativenetwork/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheVegasCreativeNetwork
Image Credits
Two of the photographers were Vehgus and AX visual media.
