I was born in Maracaibo, Venezuela, in my grandparents house, surrounded by creative people: my dad is an actor, my grandma a pianist and my aunty Lilita a comedian, who taught me to have a sense of humor in every moment of your life, even in the most difficult ones. Despite this, I remember feeling lonely as a child. I always felt like an outsider growing up.
I used to have a poetry book called Canta Pájaro Lejano from Juan Ramon Jimenez with beautiful illustrations, which I used to make songs out of.
When I saw the Simon Bolivar Orchestra in the Ateneo de Caracas I knew I wanted to be a musician. They were playing jazz mixed with Afro-Venezuelan percussion, it was beautiful, I almost felt jealous that I wasn’t playing with them, like why I didn’t I know this music before?
Once I saw a solar eclipse in Maracaibo. It became night and day in one minute and everything drastically changed in those few seconds; I realized how we depend on the universe the universe does not depend on us at all.
My aunty used to tell me I would live in London and marry Prince William haha. My dad used to listen to the Beatles and Queen. He also used to watch English comedy like: Mr Bean and Fawlty Towers. So, I guess it was my destiny to come here.
A man pointed a gun in my face as he and his friend mugged me. After that I thought “this is it, I don’t want to keep living in fear.” Two months later I was in London, trying to escape a reality that so many Venezuelans face.
My first plan was move to Buenos Aires or Barcelona but once I visited London I changed my mind, I didn’t even think about, I just jumped. I love London the music scene that is so big and enriching. I arrived in October when it gets dark early, that was super weird for me because in Venezuela the sun always goes down at the same time. My first job in London was at Pineapple Dance Studios and I loved it, I was surrounded by artistic people, and I had the opportunity to take as many dance classes as I wanted, Pineapple has a special place in my heart.
Latinxs are very resilient. Whenever things don’t go the way we want, we push through. We take chances, we jump, we are spontaneous.
My biggest break has been working with Producer Nat Powers (Snoop Dog, Run DMC's Darryl McDaniels, Death Row Records) writing and recording music for different briefs for brands and Netflix. Also BBC 6 Introducing’s host Tom Robinson, telling me “Quiero Verte” is one of his favourite song from the bunch of songs he played on his show. That was cool.
Nobody cares more than you. Someone told me this and it was good advice; sometimes we try so hard to please people when actually the only one caring about that specific thing is you. This gave me a lot of relief, like, just be you and let it go, whoever likes it good and who doesn’t like it good too. Whenever I get too much in my head I just think: “nobody cares, the universe is so big, and I am tiny” and this helps me to not take myself so seriously. I get boring when I do.
English people are hard to read sometimes, that and the lack of sun gets me down sometimes. Once Russell Brand passed by and said: ello ello y’alright? In a very cheeky way, I could not even answer, cuz I used to have a crush on him, hahahaha
My perfect Sunday in London is going to the flower market or broadway Market to have coffee and food, play board games eat eat eat and eat. To eat Somosas, to walk any of the many beautiful parks and by the canal in east. Favourite place to think is while I exercise, I try to visualize what I want. My favorite place to do anything but think is by the sea.
My favorite word is DELICIOUS
The word I dislike is… SORRY only because the English say it so much so it loses it’s meaning a bit.
