We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Alex Catano. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Alex below.
Alex, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?
Hi I’m Alejandro Catano, Alexx for short. A long time finding my purpose was difficult because growing up I had friends, however I was always the quiet one in the group, never really felt I quite fit in. Luckily good friends in my life were I felt supported, however that was High School, people moving on and people come and go in your life, which led me into depression going to college thinking making the most of life and not knowing how long until the people here move on, but that was not the case now because now growing up and not always think about the then, I live in present times and have good memories of the good times. When I found my biggest purpose was when I created Catanation Studios, a podcast highlighting different people in my community in San Diego, I am beyond honored to be taking this role in being able to share the different stories that have come from San Diego. As of today, it has been three years of Catanation Studios and I don’t plan on stopping because even though I am sharing people’s stories in my podcast, I am also sharing mine, and if you hear the show, it’s like listening to me growing up throughout the past three years and learning lessons along the way, thank to all the incredible people who’ve been in my show, and even my life. To find your purpose, it would take a lot of work and knowing if this is what you want to do for a long period of time, but also being able to focus on my own personal mental health and being able to say I am doing this for myself.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
Being a podcast host took a while, creating content started as an idea for me to talk about movies alongside other friends. However during the pandemic, I was working at Cafeina Cafe in San Diego, I really enjoyed hearing my customers share the stories about what they do. From non-profits, artists, authors, small business owners, and even other podcasters have been in that coffee shop, and yet nobody was highlighting them during 2020. Given my experience at San Diego City College and Jazz 88.3, I was ready to bet on myself and see if people were interested in sharing their stories to the show. Of course, when you are doing something new for the first time, you get the answer no right away. I wanted to just go back into my Jazz 88.3 days and just talk movies, but again this was early 2021 where movies were an aftermath to think about given we were still in pandemic minds, and not really a lot of movies were coming out. However I did finally get a chance to interview friends and small business of the community. Over time I gain a reputation on being a voice for City Heights, which then led to more and more people opening the doors for me. With those doors opening, you also have to see the big picture and also be able to learn more about people’s art or small business, and do more work. Over time I ended up going to art events in Barrio Logan, or joining non-profits among other organizations to learn about what people do. This really helped me learn more about who people are in San Diego. It helps me be out in the open and support different people as well as have those individuals support me. It really is a win-win for everyone involved.
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?
Skills in this journey has been communications. This is something was despite it being a skill, it’s one skill I’m still working on. I like to keep things moving and sometimes I get too anxious to wait, and because of it I can be a bit of an over-thinker, thankfully I have just learn slowly to take things on step at a time and make sure myself and people working with me are on the same page, but the biggest thing is being nice and not let personal issues outside of your work take over the feelings into what you put out in the world. Another really good skill I have for people is anticipation, for me one of my biggest if not my biggest accomplishments was creating a pop-up event which featured previous guests to celebrate 100 episodes of Catanation Studios. I kept starting a trend with the hashtag #RoadTo100 and kept people invested despite not knowing what it was right away. Once we got closer to the date, that being November 11, 2023, I was able to share to people my big plan into creating a live podcast as well as a celebration for the work I put out for the past few years. It was something beautiful to witness having my friends and family joining and sharing this experience with me, but after that event I basically learned more than anything is to have respect for myself. This leads into my final skill that I feel I gained throughout my journey as a podcaster, and that is having respect for everyone and everything around me. I was able to appreciate even worst that my life has thrown at me, because of it, I was able to see and appreciate certain aspects in my life that was bad, and because of it, I was able to even see the good in those things, because that is how this world is, learning from every aspects of life. I am not a perfect human being, but I learn from my mistakes and I learn from what I can do to further improve from those mistakes. If there can ever be a lesson I can share with everyone reading this is to stop beating yourself up for your past and continue into your journey learning from where you started, and look at the person you are today. Humbleness is a huge key into who you are to people, and that is why I can Love myself for who I am.
If you knew you only had a decade of life left, how would you spend that decade?
A challenge I have always face has been depression and anxiety. I always feel urged to be this perfect figure to people and be a giver to friends and family that I forget to be loved for myself. Given mistakes or bridges I’ve burned in the past has haunted me so much that at some points I felt uninvited from being in public events, so much so that I would leave crying. There are days I have felt defeated and wanted to quit being a creator and even a podcaster. All I saw is the what ifs in my life the things I’ve done wrong in the past that I just wanted to disappear from the bigger picture. I was angry at myself for so long that friends and family recommended therapy. I did it and I have not looked back. Being anxious in this world is still a thing, but I can ignore it for the most part, because deep down it is not who I am, it is labels I put in my head for so long that I should stop. At the end of the day, my goal is to be involved in San Diego, no matter where, and create opportunities for other people. The beauty of my work into highlighting the different set of individuals is knowing where they are now and where life takes them. What makes people who they are is the journey. One of my favorite movie series is Star Wars, and in that series Luke Skywalker is my favorite character, not because of how cool of a Jedi he is, but what led him to become that awesome Jedi he is throughout the original Star Wars trilogy. That is kind of how I see my story, I never thought I was the best podcaster in San Diego, I simply want to create and explore different journeys. I shouldn’t be scared to face life anymore, it’s a struggle, but it’s a journey nonetheless.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://wearecatanation.buzzsprout.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wearecatanation/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@catanationstudios5141
Image Credits
Adilene Amaro took pictures for my 100 Podcast celebration as Rudy Vargas took my headshot.
