An Inspired Chat with Alexandria Florent of Leimert Park

We recently had the chance to connect with Alexandria Florent and have shared our conversation below.

Alexandria, a huge thanks to you for investing the time to share your wisdom with those who are seeking it. We think it’s so important for us to share stories with our neighbors, friends and community because knowledge multiples when we share with each other. Let’s jump in: When have you felt most loved—and did you believe you deserved it?
Honestly, right now is the most I’ve ever felt loved and that’s BECAUSE I believe I deserve it. My upbringing never taught me much about maintaining healthy relationships, so for a very long time, I adopted the belief that maybe I was meant to be alone or that I didn’t care when a friendship or relationship fell through. We attract what we believe to be true about ourselves. So, even though I’ve always deserved love (we all do) I never truly felt loved because I was constantly looking for it outside of myself. It wasn’t until I started healing those childhood wounds and existing from a place of love that my perspective shifted. Vibrating at a frequency of love has allowed me to see the love that has always been around me and to call in more. Now I feel overwhelmed with love in a beautiful way.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m Flo, but everyone I grew up with knows me as Alex (short for Alexandria). Flo is a nickname that was given to me in high school that stuck with me through college and into adulthood.

I’d definitely consider myself a modern day renaissance woman. I’m a visual artist practicing many different mediums, business owner, sound healer, certified crystal chakra healer, certified reiki practitioner, tarot reader and spiritualist. I’m also a retired D1 athlete and track and field runner of 17 years. I’m constantly finding myself trying, loving, and becoming obsessed with new things; so, it can be hard for me to talk about everything I do/have done concisely.

I’ve been a visual artist for as long as I can remember. Some of my favorite mediums are charcoal, clay, resin, Copic markers and oil paint. Portraits and realism have always been my favorite subject matter, but recently I’ve been exploring abstract art!

I’m also a tattoo artist and founded my own tattoo studio, Flo Tats, in 2022. Flo Tats is one of the first black, queer, woman owned tattoo studios in Los Angeles and one of very few in the world. I opened my own studio so people like me could feel represented and so our community has a safe place to get quality body art. We’re an all women and queer shop and every artist is skilled in tattooing on any skin tone with or without color. That’s rare in tattoo shops.

I’ve been a spiritualist in some way all my life. I used to collect rocks when I was younger because they fascinated me and because I thought they were pretty. I started practicing tarot and sound healing in 2022 and became a certified crystal chakra healer and reiki practitioner in 2023. Spirituality is woven into everything I practice. I believe we experience what we are and in order to live a truly abundant life we must create an abundant world within. Through knowing and healing ourselves, we show others how to know and heal themselves.

Okay, so here’s a deep one: Who saw you clearly before you could see yourself?
My best friend Cherish. We’ve been best friends for 22 years since I was 6 and she was 5. I have 2 sisters, but growing up I was always somewhat closed off to them in ways growing up in a chaotic household and being 5 1/2 years apart from both of them. Cherish has always been like a sister to me. People would often ask us if we were and we’d lie and say yes. That lie became truth over time. She’s always seen me for exactly as I am, even before I knew exactly who that was/is. She’s always reflected back to me the most beautiful parts of myself. I’ve always seen her filled with an enormous amount of kindness, sweetness, joy, faith, wonder and love. All things she’s made sure I knew I had within me. I get emotional even writing this. She’s one of my most cherished relationships. She truly embodies her name.

If you could say one kind thing to your younger self, what would it be?
Be exactly who you are and be proud of it. You don’t need to try and “fit in.” You’re making your own space to fit into. There’s no one on this earth who can do what you do like you. Everything you do is special just because you did it. There’s nothing you need to change about yourself. Every part of you is beautiful just because it is. There’s no rush to get anywhere or be anyone. Enjoy this moment. Enjoy this version of yourself exactly as she is. She’s perfect. You’re perfect.

I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. Is the public version of you the real you?
Absolutely. I spent a lot of time trying to “figure out” who I am or who I wanted to be until one day I realized I already am. “The real me” is just whoever I am in that moment. There’s no editing involved. I just am. I’m subject to change on any given day because I’m human and I can, but who you see is who you get. Of course, there are parts of me you may not know until our relationship grows, but even on the surface it’s still me. Like an iceberg is still an iceberg at the tip or way under the water. I believe people should be exactly who they are, unapologetically. Authenticity is the only way to cultivate true connection. Anything else just leads to loneliness.

Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. What do you understand deeply that most people don’t?
Everything really is always working out for us in the best way possible!!! That, and abundance is absolutely our birthright. Look around us. Not at the things we (humans) created, but at the things that were already here before us. The mountains, the sand, the sun, the sky, the rain, the ocean, the trees. It’s all so ancient and resilient. It’s all lived through so much destruction on this planet, yet it all still grows and flows so beautifully and abundantly. There’s so much chaos happening in the world right now at the hand of human beings, but it’s certainly no more chaotic than 2.1 billion years ago when everything on Earth was frozen or 252 million years ago during Earth’s first mass extinction. I know this sounds dramatic, and it is, but with how dramatic life feels at the moment, I think it’s fitting. Even after so much destruction, nature has always prevailed. Life has always returned and abundantly so. People forget that we are a part of nature. So, no matter how it seems, things are always working out in our favor. I know this because I’ve lived it. Through all of the trauma I’ve experience in my own life, I see exactly how it’s been for my/our benefit. And I know that given enough time, everything eventually makes sense. Nature seeks balance. I am nature, so are you, so are we.

Contact Info:

• Website: Afloarts.com ; Flotatsla.com
• Instagram: @a.flo, @afloart, @flo.tats, @flotatsla
• Youtube: SoinFlo

Image Credits
None