Meet Nayeli Maldonado

Hi Nayeli, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Yeah sure! So from a young age, I’ve always wanted to work in the entertainment industry. As I got older, I realized what I really wanted to do is expand representation by empowering and uplifting Latinx stories in the entertainment industry and my actual job title didn’t matter, as long as I could do that I’d be happy. It really wasn’t a straightforward journey though, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what I wanted to do after undergrad. For the first year and a half after college, I worked as a substitute teacher for kinder – 8th grade classrooms. Not going to lie, I was tempted to stay in the education field because the schedules and breaks they have are nice perks, but it truly wasn’t where my heart was at; I felt out of place there. So I took a wild chance on myself and decided to pursue a Music Industry master’s degree. I mean, why not? I was inspired by the thought of there not being enough Latinas on the business side of the music industry, and although I’m not musically talented, music is something that I’ve always been passionate about.

Through connections, I got to briefly work at NBCUniversal’s TV Music Department before I got offered a job at the Latino Film Institute. I worked at LFI as an assistant for two years helping organize the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival as well as their Youth Cinema Project. However, during quarantine I had a lot of time to think about what I really wanted for myself, and although it seemed like I was doing all the things I wanted to be doing (advocating for Latinx artists and giving them a platform to showcase their work) I did not feel fulfilled there. So I left. I quit my full-time job in the middle of a global pandemic. And I don’t say this lightly because I know how wildly privileged I was to do that. But I had to see what else was out there for me and luckily, I found it right away. Today, I work as a multi-talented freelance artist. I do a range of work from commissioned illustrations to set design to graphic design and photography. I’ve been lucky enough to get consistent work on music video sets usually doing set dressing or designing.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
I don’t think it’s ever a smooth road! But I think with the right mindset and plenty of ambition and determination, any struggle can be surpassed. For me, I’d have to say that my own insecurities and fears are my major struggles. I always doubt my abilities and compare myself to peers that are already navigating the industry successfully in major networks or getting booked on big-budget film sets. It’s so easy to feel like you’re not good enough when everyone is sharing their successes on social media and rarely their failures. I felt completely stuck when I was working as an assistant and I didn’t know how or in what direction to push myself. I didn’t feel like I was doing anything meaningful anymore, it was all for a steady paycheck and that wasn’t enough for me. In a sense, I had settled for my safety net and didn’t feel worthy or talented enough to pursue something greater. I constantly had an internal battle trying to decide what next steps to take and feeling too insecure about my potential. It took some time for me to change that mindset and really push myself towards the unknown.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’m a multi-talented artist (and that’s something I’m still getting used to calling myself!) as well as freelance live event coordinator, granted the latter has been something on pause due to COVID. Over the last year, I’ve been doing set design & decorating for music videos and virtual events. Some of my set design work has been featured on Placita Olvera’s “El Grito 2020” and their Dia de los Muertos 2020 virtual celebration. Some of my other work includes: set decorating for Summer Walker’s performance on Jimmy Fallon, set dec for Jojo’s “The Change” music video and her performance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and most recently set dressing for a new project with the legendaries Babyface and Jam & Lewis. With the Summer Walker video, my friend Day Hernandez who served as the Production Designer mentioned we would be working with live flowers to fill two entire rooms, which was the craziest set I’ve ever worked on because flowers are so delicate and getting them to stand up straight for hours was a challenge!

From then on, most of the sets I’ve worked on have incorporated live flowers; they transform and elevate any set, and at the end of the day everyone on crew gets to take a nice bouquet of flowers. So can I claim being a florist too? Maybe. Apart from having fun working on sets, I also do digital illustrations! All of my illustrations are made with my super antiquated iPad 3rd Gen, but it’s been super fun working with digital art. As soon as I started showcasing some of my work on social media, I started getting a lot of requests for personalized commissions and it’s made me super happy to receive all of the positive responses from friends and friends of friends. And if that’s not enough, I also enjoy art directing fun photoshoots with friends as well as graphic design. I love storytelling with art, photo and design. Everything I do, I’ve either taught myself or had friends teach me along the way (ok and some youtube videos helped me out as well.) Honestly, I am pretty proud of myself. I’m most proud of learning to stand up for myself and chasing what I want in life. I used to be afraid to speak up because I felt like it was bothersome to other people, but no, screw that! I have to be my own best advocate and go for what I want without feeling bad about it.

Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
For sure!! This year especially, I turned to meditative apps to help ease stress and anxiety. I primarily use “Insight Timer” which gives plenty of free guided meditations and sleep lullabies, and I’ll use the “Calm” app as well. Recently, I started listening to Deepak Chopra’s Spotify podcast, “Now for Tomorrow” which are super short healing reflections that give beautiful guidance on life. I’ve honestly found so much comfort during my healing journey by using these resources, so I highly recommend folks look into them!

Contact Info:

• Email: misfitporvida@gmail.com
• Website: https://www.nayeli-maldonado.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nayeli.maldo/ AND https://www.instagram.com/misfitporvida/
• Other: https://youtu.be/DhfDiuNudJ0 AND https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6_UmJR-tbw

Image Credits
Irais Cardenas for the orangey flower photo and the photo with the woman in a purple/silver dress