Meet Yeshi Regalado

 

We were lucky to catch up with Yeshi Regalado recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Yeshi , appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?

I get my resilience from my mother. She is the strongest woman I know. From a very early age, I was about 7-8 years old. I learned my mother was diagnosed with kidney failure. At 14 years old, I learned that my mother was diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer. At 17 years old, I learned that my mother was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast & lung cancer and only had a few months to live. Since the beginning of my life I learned just how sick my mother was and how determined she was to not let any of these ailments affect her daily life. She kept going to work, with no car, in the city, walking and taking the train every day to work in downtown Chicago during all four tumultuous seasons. It was my first experience seeing what a woman on a mission looks like. She defines unbreakable, unmoveable, and unwavering strength to me. I remember at the end of her life when her doctor told her she had 4 months to live, that the cancer had spread to her lungs, so she would have to carry an oxygen tank in order to breathe properly, I remember her asking if she could still go to work. Although it wasn’t advised, going to work is exactly what she did until she simply couldn’t anymore. My mother died in my arms September 2016. I was 21.

Very early on I knew my mother sacrificed her life and her health just so I could be here. She would remind me constantly as I grew up that she won’t be here as long as most moms are. That she wanted to have a baby so bad it took 10 years just to conceive me despite the warnings doctors gave her of how her body would continue to fail upon giving birth to me. I have seen her suffer and push forward every single day of our waking lives. This made me feel all sorts of emotions throughout my life. Anger, resentment, sadness, frustration, and overall more anger. After a while I unintentionally used this as inspiration. As pure fuel to sustain any desire I had left to keep on living. She was a constant reminder of how lucky and blessed I am to be this healthy, this capable, to truly do anything I’ve ever wanted to do. If my mom could go to work, on the train, up the stairs, during Chicago in February, with an oxygen tank, then I’m pretty sure I can do anything I can set my mind to. I have to, it’s in my blood. In a way it sort of feels like the way she survives is how I live. Which to me means, staying strong, staying determined, and focused. The day I lose that, I lose her. That’s how I get my resilience.

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 am the lead singer and rhythm guitarist of my own band La Rosa Noir. I also do all the managing, booking, organizing, and social media marketing for the band as well. We’ve been doing this for about 6 years now. It’s been a journey and I’m grateful for it all.

I’ve always been really passionate about creating music and being creative. Making space for myself and letting my voice be heard. It was always really important to me to let my presence be known in hopes of letting others like me know that they aren’t alone. I didn’t really grow up with latin american frontwomen in music so I never got to see what that looks like. Growing up with Madonna, Joan Jett, Avril Lavigne lit a fire in my heart and constant inspiration in my spirit. I knew I wanted to be them at a very young age. A badass female musician inspiring young firey passionate girls all over. Being able to do that in real life with my own band is not only crazy but really magical.

To be able to create spaces using La Rosa Noir as a vehicle for not only myself but for others to let go and enjoy themselves is the biggest gift. I was an only child growing up with two deaf, disabled, immigrant, latin american parents. I was aware very early on that I was indeed different from most people. My entire life I’ve wanted a sense of community. Where I’m understood, supported, inspired, and cared for. Being able to perform in this band and for our community is everything I could have dreamed of. After a life time of feeling alone and so different from others to now feeling so supported is easily one of the best feelings in the world. Of course, being human.. there are some days I still feel lonely, but I think what helps is knowing that I’m not alone and truly never will be.

We have a couple cool shows coming up for the remainder of this year. 10/21 We’ll be on WGN Midday News (so crazy!!). 10/25 we open up for our friends Scarlett Demore at Lincoln Hall. 10/30 we perform at a Dia De Los Muertos event at UIC. 11/15 we open up for an iconic marimba cumbia band Son Rompe Pera at Reggies. We’re really excited to play these next few shows and continue to show people what we got. I love playing music and to be able to keep doing it is a blessing.

We do plan on releasing some new songs hopefully by early next year so keep an eye out for that 🙂 In the meantime we do have our first album “Arellano” out on all streaming platforms.

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?

Three best qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in my journey…

Perseverance
Belief
Passion

I feel like all three are synonymous with each other. You can’t be one without the other. They’re interchangeable. I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for my unwavering passion, perseverance, and overall belief in myself.

As corny as it sounds, its true. I would advise others to keep believing in yourself, in your dreams, and in your passions. They make up a really incredible part of who you are and without them you’re someone else. Perhaps someone else that isn’t truly who you are or who you’d want to be.

Looking back over the past 12 months or so, what do you think has been your biggest area of improvement or growth?

I think my biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months in La Rosa Noir is learning to follow my gut feeling. There have been a few instances where I was hesitant on doing something because I was so concerned with how my decision would affect someone else. In the end I realized I have to do what’s not only best for me but for the things that I care about.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Jose Calvo
Zelztin Vazquez
ND1B

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