Check Out Atalana L’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Atalana L.

Hi Atalana, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
My name is Atalana, my friends and family call me “Ata.” I’m a genderfluid, Samoan lesbian and I love fashion, art (specifically tiny things, dolly/ doll items & fairy things) and making videos. My parents raised me with intent for me to be a professional athlete. Which meant I was always training for my sport because they wanted me to be the best. This meant having my school sport, club sport, and my daily training. Which included weightlifting, drills, cardio anything you could think of. This was a part of my “chores”. My dad would always tell me if you’re resting there’s always someone out there working. This really motivated me to always wanna do more and gave me a really good sense of discipline and consistency from a young age. Although, spending so much time focused on one goal lead to me having no time to have friends. My first introduction to community was social media, by re-posting yuri art and anime I loved in seventh grade. I started finding people online who loved similar things to me like Nana, or magical girl animes and I quickly realized how impactful having a community was. I finally felt accepted and understood and realized I loved making others feel protected, seen, heard, and understood. This lead to me starting my own page on TikTok and sharing a lot of posts being vulnerable about certain traumas I had been through. I started by being very vocal about our society’s rape culture, by speaking out about my experiences and encouraging others to do the same. I was tired of seeing victims constantly shamed, invalidated, and silenced. I decided I would always be vocal about calling out rapists, abusers, and anything for anyone who felt like their voice was not gonna be heard, & any issue I wanted to bring attention to. I also started to use my social media as a way to show my love for dolly tiny things, like monster high, bratz, dollhouses, fairy gardens and I started to realize those things also brought me the most joy and helped me to start loving life again. I had always collected dolls, Japanese re-ments, and just any cute or unique trinket. I even became a slight hoarder because every time I needed a lil extra joy I would just go buy a trinket and genuinely all my troubles would go away. These days I use my social media to share any and every bit of thing that brings me joy. Like my love for gyaru, my love for my friends, my Samoan culture, fashion, my love for dolly tiny things and anything I come across that I love. I really hope to spread that same love I was able to receive, because I know how life changing that can be for someone to finally feel understood and welcome.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Not for a single second was it easy. I was faced with challenge after challenge since my beginning. One of my biggest challenges was facing a lot of abuse all throughout my childhood all the way up until in high school when it got worse. I was drugged, raped, and robbed of every one of my valuables by someone I trusted. This left me not only extremely traumatized but without any of the tools I needed to do school because everything was online at this point. This made me want to give up even more and I started not showing up to school, not showing up to volleyball, which I loved playing. I at this point was so depressed I wanted to take my life away, and I tried many times. It wasn’t until my first attempt on my life that I started to see how life could be better. I was finally safe but in a mental hospital. At this hospital I was with the kindest kids ever that actually understood me but, in person. I started to get a glimpse of how good life could be because I was safe for the first time and given the tools to thrive. When I got out the mental hospital it all went back to bad. So it still took more time and transformations for me to really see how beautiful life could be. It wasn’t until a couple years later did things really start to change. I tried to get myself better by admitting myself to residential therapy. This was not a safe space, I was locked in a room and starved losing 40 pounds in just two and a half weeks. In that kind of stillness of having no control, and being unable to escape you’re forced to either choose to make something out of it or let go and suffer. It was the silence and alone time that allowed me to get to the point where I decided to live life, because I deserve it. Nobody wanted to make life easy for me but I decided that didn’t matter. I will give myself a better life. I decided I didn’t care how hard things got or how much abuse I endured there was nothing that would stop me from having the best quality of life possible.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I love creating art through fashion and my outfits. I love styling and making things. Currently I’m learning to sew so I can finally make my designs come to life . Stay tuned! My specialty would be creating doll houses, scenes, and clothes. I also love scrapbooking so I been showcasing my layouts for a while as well! I’m most proud of my dollhouses and scenes though. I’d say what sets me apart from others is how free I am to do what I want. I try to emphasize “no limiting beliefs” in everything I do whether that be my art or my mentality.

Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
I think something surprising about me would be how much I’ve went through in life, but am still filled with love. I think usually people are surprised to learn what I’ve had to experience while still being able to live a happy life.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/4talana?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@atalaana?_t=ZP-8x1CG5foaXm&_r=1