Meet Jaqui Almaguer

We were lucky to catch up with Jaqui Almaguer recently and have shared our conversation below.

Jaqui , 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 feel that I get my resilience from my family and their struggles. I’m a daughter of immigrants, specifically from Mexico. Hearing the stories from both sides of my family and the things they experienced as children such as poverty, limited resources and other struggles allow me to persevere. Especially when I hear stories about my maternal great great grandmother who was a survivor of sexual abuse, domestic abuse, widowed several times, survived the plague, survived a revolution, was a dula and medicine woman and indigenous. Her life story has given me strength and ability to move through anything because her blood runs through my veins.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I feel as though my main purpose in life is to create, whether it’s art, food, gardens or spaces. However my focus is my art. I’m a full time artist and my art reflects my ideas, my Mexican culture, my social and political views, my travels and love for color.

I’ve been painting for about 25 years now, self taught of course because art school was never an option. I was never really good at school even though I got good grades, it was hard for me to focus and remain engaged. I never felt like I could a keep a job or as if it felt like I could make a career out of anything.

With that being said, art was always my constant and I knew I wanted to be an artist as a child. I always had my backpack full of supplies. I finally started to take my art seriously later in my 30s and when the pandemic hit I was forced to do it full time.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Looking back I realize that I never stopped listening to my heart, it spoke only of art. I persisted in it whether if it was painting or coloring. I never gave it up. Another thing I feel that helped me was not focusing on what people like but rather what made me happy as far as my creations. I was easily influenced by the people around me and allowed that to dictate how and what I painted, of course I wasn’t successful. But when I began focusing on what I like and explored it deeper, I flourished. And lastly my key to my success has been consistency. I take breaks of course but I hustle and don’t stop. I keep going because that’s what makes me different.

Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?

I’ve learned that I get burnt out so I do my best to pace myself. There are times when I cannot because there’s a deadline or I’ve procrastinated and I need to be non stop, this definitely burns me out of course, but I make sure to rest afterwards. As I get older I’ve done my best to prioritize sleep, eating healthier and taking supplements so that my mind and body can work together to create but also organize and plan better. I also go to therapy and talk things out so that I’m not bottling anything because that also creates anxiety and depression. Learning to take care of my mind has also helped me.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @artejaqui
• Facebook: JAQUI ARTE