Today we’re excited to be connecting with Ashley Vargas again. If you haven’t already, we suggest you check out our prior conversation with them here.
Ashley, thanks for joining us again. Just to level set a bit for folks who may have missed our last interview together, can you briefly introduce yourself?
Hello, my name is Ashley Vargas also known by my stage name Ms.AyeVee.
I am an award winning Literary & Teaching Artist from Las Vegas. I run a literary organization called, Beyond the Neon Poetry or BTN for short. We focus on poetry exclusive events including open mics, festivals, publishing and corporate partnerships..
The poetry journey started for me when I was a kid, maybe 8 years old, writing poems in my diary. At that time I had no clue that you could share poems out loud as a profession. It wasn’t until many years later when I was in my 20s that things came full circle for me and I found myself sharing my stories at open mics in Las Vegas and eventually around the country.
I joined my first slam team in 2016 & things really took off from there. That same year I was featured on All Def Poetry & was published for the first time.
That was such a transformative year for me and really set the tone for where I find myself today.
The biggest update since our last interview is that I am now the Clark County Nevada Poet Laureate. I will serve from 2024-2026 and I am still a little shocked that I have been selected. It’s really exciting.
Awesome, so we reached out because we wanted to hear all about what you have been up to since we last connected.
Since our last interview not only have I become Clark County Nevada Poet Laureate, I also featured for TEDx in late 2022. That was truly and dream come true for me. This year I am part of the TEDx curation committee and the Arts Recruiter for the next TED event in April of 2025 in Las Las Vegas.
BTN is still going strong with our corporate partnership with UnCommons Las Vegas. We have moved our focus to Poetry Features and moved away from poetry competitions like Poetry Slams.
All the poet laureate stuff is still really new for me, but I’ve definitely hit the ground running. I’ve created Ekphrastic poetry programming that includes workshops and performances in partnership with Clark County Public arts. I also have my own monthly poetry segment on Clark County TV, local channel 4 Las Vegas. The segment focuses on highlighting different local poets that are really making waves in the community.
Of course, as part of being poet laureate for such a large county like Clark County, Nevada, with over 2 million residents, I’ve been hitting the road a lot and doing speaking engagements in towns across southern Nevada.
I’m so excited with all the amazing things happening and it’s crazy to think this is just the beginning.
Alright, so let’s do something a bit more fast-paced and lighthearted. We call this our lightning round and we’ll ask you a few quick questions.
- Favorite Movie: The Matrix
- Favorite Book: The mastery of love
- Favorite TV Show: Tracker
- Favorite Band or Artist: Erykah Badu
- Sweet or Savory: Savory
- Mountains or Beach: Beach
- Favorite Sport (to watch): I’’m not a sports girly
- Did you play sports growing up (if so which ones): Growing up, I played basketball and was on my high school swim team.
- As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up: I want to be a lawyer for a really long time. I really wanted to help people..
- French Fries or Onion Rings: French fries for sure
- Favorite Cartoon growing up: Gargoyles (iykyk)
- Favorite Childhood movie: The matrix
- Favorite Breakfast Food: Eggs, potatoes, and turkey sausage
When you look back on your life, what are three things you expect to be proud of?
I love this question. Three things I expect to be proud of:
– I’m extremely brave. Not just in terms of roller coasters and things like that. I’m brave because even in the face of adversity, I will continue to move forward in spite of the odds seemingly being against me. I really believe in myself. In a world that is constantly making you second-guess everything, being truly brave, is simply following your own heart..
– Being a mother. My children are the best of me and are an absolute dream come true. I’m so grateful to be with them on this journey.
– Telling the truth. I’m someone who detests liars and façades. I will tell the truth even when it’s uncomfortable or unpopular. I will tell the truth, even if I am the only one doing it. I will tell the truth because somebody has to.
