Today we’d like to introduce you to Irma LaDulce.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
My journey with ASMR started during a time in my life when I was suffering from panic attacks. I have PTSD stemming from childhood trauma; anxiety and depression have always been a periodic reoccurring issues for me. My boyfriend introduced ASMR to me and its remedial benefits several years ago. I wasn’t instantly hooked at first. I didn’t understand what I was watching, I found it infantilizing at first and quite patronizing. “I didn’t need anyone to calm me down”, I thought. But my strong negative reaction to it was an indicator of something within myself that was rejecting help from another person. Why was I denying myself this care and warmth? I became secretive about watching ASMR. I didn’t know how much I needed it until I learned to let go and allow myself to reap the benefits and of course, the brain tingles. Little did I know, I would be creating ASMR to help other people and loving every minute of it. My passion has always been acting. I studied at Terry Schreiber’s acting conservatory program in New York City and graduated in 2020.
After such an intensive program, my creative juices were exploding. Of course, with all of the theaters closed and the industry at a complete halt, I needed to find an outlet for all of the art that was inside of me. I wanted to create something that would reach people so I knew I would be using YouTube. I just didn’t know what to create. I have a notebook filled with different video and channel ideas. All I knew was I wanted a way to use my theater training to give back somehow. One day while brainstorming with my boyfriend, he suggested I create ASMR videos. It instantly clicked for me. It came full circle and it made perfect sense. I started creating ASMR role plays to help people sleep and feel relaxed. So far, I’ve played a doctor, a nurse, a Spanish teacher, a barber, a hairdresser, a belly dancer, a pirate (haha) and more. I started my YouTube channel four months ago and it has been growing steadily ever since. I am so honored to have helped many people relieve stress, anxiety and feel loved.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Oh God creating ASMR which is the quietest thing you can ever do in a city like New York is insane! My biggest challenges was noise. Living next to a very loud train station really tested me. Like: “how bad do you really want this”? When I first started filming, I would cut the take every time a train passed, but that’s literally every five minutes! It made my videos really choppy. I even considered moving. I had to find a way to remedy this. I learned about soundproofing and actually sealed both my bedroom windows with sound blocking pads and curtains. It’s reduced the noise quite a bit but then there are neighbors. And neighbors want to blast music on their nightclub grade sound systems. Working around everyone’s noise has been difficult. Sometimes, I film at 4am because it’s the quietest time to do so. Filming every day at 4am isn’t possible. Which brings me to my second challenge: I have two children that I am home schooling. It’s challenging however I’ve worked out a nice balance of writing episodes, rehearsing, filming and editing while taking care of my parental duties. It ain’t easy, believe me, but it’s worth it.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
To help you understand a little more about what I do, I’ll have to explain what ASMR actually is. The acronym which was actually just added into the Merriam-Webster Dictionary this year (2021), stands for: Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response. In 2010, the term was coined by Jennifer Allen, a healthcare manager who was an active member in the early forums. She founded an ASMR Facebook group & an ASMR research website. “In short, ASMR is a hardwired positive evolutionary response to being taken care of and feeling loved.” [Source: Brain Tingles, Craig Richard, PhD] ASMR can be triggered in a person in various ways: whispering, soft-spoken words, hair play, gentle scratching or tapping sounds, gentle hand movements, being taken care of, etc. There are literally hundreds of different triggers that could set off this trance-like buzzing in the back of someone’s head. The best way to experience ASMR if you never have before is to wear headphones, relax, and watch with an open mind. What I specialize in are personal attention role plays. What that means is I am focusing on you, the viewer, and providing some sort of relaxing sensorial experience. Either I play a doctor and gently exam your eyes and ears, or I am your barber and I gently cut your hair.
The goal is to allow you to completely let go and receive the care you are being given. It’s sort of hypnotic if you think about it. It doesn’t work for everyone, some people are known as tingle-immune (they cannot experience ASMR). What sets me apart from other artists is my acting training. I am an expert at truly becoming the character I am playing, this gives me the sort of confidence you need to inspire someone to trust you and allow you to take care of them. I use Meisner technique to connect with the camera in a way that emits love and affection. Being a mother also brings a natural nurturance to my role plays. I wrote in my YouTube bio that love is always the secret ingredient, I believe that sets me apart from other artists. I am most proud of the community of people that have formed on my YouTube channel. In as little as six months, my channel has grown to 14,300 subscribers. I am so proud of that because that’s 14k people that could be doing something else instead of watching my videos. Only a small percentage are from the United States, many are from the U.K, France, Germany, Brazil, South African, Mexico and all over the globe. Hearing from people around the world tell me that my videos have helped them relax during quarantine is worth everything.
So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
What matters most to me is people enjoying my work. What good is any art if it’s locked up in a vault, in the Titanic, at the bottom of the ocean? Without people consuming art, it feels meaningless. Artists need people. People need art. That exchange is a human need at the fundamental level. Helping people, inspiring people, calming people, it all matters to me.
Contact Info:
- Email: contactirmaasmr@gmail.com
- Website: https://ko-fi.com/irmaladulceasmr
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/irma_la_dulce_asmr/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Irma-La-Dulce-ASMR-101864598566059/?view_public_for=101864598566059
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/IrmaLaDulceASMR
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoEHhB74NDj2vegbNAqqw4w
