

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sahara Martinez.
Sahara, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Before I tell my story, I’d like to address what we are going through right now with the Corona Virus. We’re all scared, scared for each other, our families and scared of what the future will bring. I hope in ten years we all look back and realize the love and unity that is being generated in the world right now.
The streets are empty not because we are confined, we are free men and women. The streets are empty because of our love for each other. The love that we have for our families and fellow neighbors to protect each other and not spread this. The respect we show now will pay off tomorrow.
Everything in our life is in a reset cycle right now. The ground is fertile for change and new opportunities if we can face and conquer our fears.
Spring has come and we must continue to plant our seeds and look toward a future of growth. United we stand, divided we fall.
I’m working to find stillness and check in with myself as well as my family, friends and neighbors and take my spiritual power back from the fear that surrounds us because no matter what happens, we must rise from this and “Carry On.”
Artists harness one of the most powerful forces on this planet; they shine the light on all that is dark and help to bring truth and renewal. We have the power to inspire.
When fear starts to wash over all of us, we must remember that our humanity must be greater than our fear.
We must all remember to breathe through the fear and shine our light into the darkness. We must “Carry On” and rise out of this with a renewed sense of responsibility to each other and to our home, the Earth.
This is me…. I was born and raised in Alamosa, CO. I am Spanish and Native American, descendant of Ute Chief Ankatash of the Moache Tribe.
I grew up surrounded by the great Sand Dunes of the San Luis Valley with open starry skies as far as the eye can see. My parents divorced when I was seven years old leaving me and my three brothers bouncing between parents, grandparents and extended family.
I was a quiet and overweight child who got teased a lot in school. I had a lonely childhood. I was introverted and withdrawn from school and didn’t care to play with other kids. I loved learning from older people and my three brothers.
My mother put me in art classes and the church choir and I learned to sing and write songs. I was inspired by the beauty and power of words and music.
I memorized the lyrics to every song on the radio and studied why and how they were able to make people feel. I drew a lot of pictures and wrote songs and stories. I slowly became recognized for the beauty I was creating instead of my overweight body and the way I looked.
I poured more and more energy into creating art to deflect attention away from my body. As a young girl so much importance was placed upon beauty.
As I became better at art, the kids who teased me started asking me to create things for them. I became recognized for the Art that I created. I was the girl who drew pictures and created art. I started acting and singing and becoming a class clown. I learned how to make people feel and it was empowering.
The greatest thing I had going for me were my family, friends, teachers and the people that helped mold my abilities into all that I had the potential to become. The saying that it takes a village to raise a child was true for my life.
One negative or positive comment you say to a child can propel their life to the moon or six feet under the ground. My parents were broken together but amazing guides on their own, always lifting me up.
As I got older, I lost weight and slowly started to bloom. Suddenly I was considered pretty. I never forgot how I was treated when I was overweight and it changed my perspective and understanding of who genuinely wanted to know me for me and not the way I looked.
I attended the University of Colorado as a Music Business Major. I learned that there is a formula to everything that ever is and ever was in our universe. I thought that I could figure out those formulas by knowing the business of music in college.
I was determined to have a career where I could change the world with Art. During my time at the University, I was elected to be the founder of the student run record label CAM Records and president of the MEISA Music Business Club.
As a leader of those organizations, I met lifelong friends from around the world and traveled to conferences in Los Angeles and Canada.
After college, I worked for Moments Notice Entertainment helping to manage bands, sending them to events around the world. I traveled to Washington D.C. with two orchestras and worked on the Inauguration of two of the official Presidential inaugural Galas for George W. Bush. I helped to cue the president as he entered the stage for his inaugural dance. I worked on events around the US including the Kentucky Derby and many others. After 9/11, I was laid off due to a decrease in events and travel.
Shortly after, I met an amazing lifelong friend and musician, Maestro Manuel Molina. I traveled for 2-3 months out of the year to lead his tours with the US Department of Defense, dancing and singing around the world for eight years.
We traveled all over Europe including Germany, Spain, France, London, Prague, Norway, as well as Cuba, Egypt, Honduras, Turkey, and Puerto Rico.
During all of my adventures, I married my husband who has been my best friend since Middle School. He knew me when I was chubby and eating tortillas was my passion! He has been by my side every step of the way.
I moved to Los Angeles and began a career in Music Business working for BMG Music and ASCAP for a short time. With the evolution of the music business I transitioned into working in travel events and promotions with the Promotional Edge and various Los Angeles agencies and marketing teams, managing events and a multitude of marketing initiatives around the United States and Internationally for Entertainment Brands and Fortune 500 companies.
During my work and travels, I had the honor of meeting Elon Musk. He once said, “There have to be reasons that you get up in the morning and make you want to live. Why do you want to live? What’s the point? What inspires you? What do you love about the future? If the future does not include being out there among the stars and being a multi-planet species, I find that incredibly depressing.”
His words inspired me to use my skills in Art, Media and Marketing to create AIXA Media. Last year I was awarded a scholarship from the Space Foundation that helps minorities contribute ideas and business initiatives to Aerospace. Through that opportunity AIXA Media was born.
The opportunities I have received to share Art have picked me up and carried me on a beautiful journey. I have seen the treasures of the world.
I have twirled with Whirling Dervishes in Turkey, danced Rhumba in Cuba, swayed with a huge pint at Oktoberfest in Germany.
I have cried from seeing children with their eyes poked out begging for money and mercy on the steps of mosques, climbed inside the pyramids of Egypt, sang on a rainy day in Japan surrounded by beautiful bamboo trees and sang the National Anthem saluting our flag in stadiums. I have seen sunsets on the beaches of Veradero, Cuba and the Nile in Egypt.
I have studied great Artists around the world, wandered through the Louvre in Paris, and been among the audiences of the Opera National de Paris, the Mulan Rouge and the Grand National Theatre of Cuba, while dancers and singers have laid their soul on the line to express all that is beautiful.
Out of all my adventures and travels, the greatest adventure I have ever known has been the birth of my son. I have been honored and blessed to be his mother, teacher and guide on this journey. As my husband and I welcomed him into our arms, I thought about all that I have experienced, and who I am as an artist and my artistic journey.
I am an Artist and Marketing professional working through perfecting Art, searching to understand the formulas of successful art, communication and marketing.
As I carried my son inside me for nine months, I started writing, “Carry On,” our first project from AIXA Media. I thought about the life that I was creating and the meaning of it all. My brother, Caesar, once told me when I was talking to him about my fears of giving birth and being a mother, He told me, “Women bring life to Earth by carrying the next generation inside them.” He told me that it was the closest I would ever be to knowing the secrets of our Universe and how life gets here and that I should pay attention to the signs and trust in that life force and God, to carry me through.
Having my son gave me the answers to my questions and my intention is to share those answers through the art of “Carry On.” It is AIXA Media’s first project which is a song/video/book project with a message to my son and for our world.
With every breath we take we will face loss and taste the greatest of victories. We have had lives lost through the greatest of humanities endeavors.
Space flight will inevitably face more challenges as we raise future generations to travel among the stars. Generation after generation we will all contribute our gifts and march forward with everything we do.
My intention is to use my artistic talents and business skills to create a better world for all. I also volunteer for an incredible Non-Profit organization called Yuri’s Night.
Yuri’s Night is a global space party that is held every April to celebrate achievements in Aerospace and the first moment we launched a man by the name of Yuri Gagarin into the heavens.
Throughout this journey, I’ve realized that with each passing obstacle and hurdle that I encounter, there are lessons to be learned. If you’re not growing you are dying. Each lesson has taught me to follow my heart, to overcome fear, to learn how to be me and know and believe that I have something to contribute to this world.
We all have gifts to contribute here, and that is pure truth. We must use those gifts to contribute our energy to the world and we must follow our dreams to build a better world, no matter the odds.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Time has taught me that we pray for a smooth road but the bumps are what shape us and give us our strength for the next challenge.
As a child, I had a million questions, “What are we doing here? Why are we here?” I’d look up at the stars, surrounded by the tallest mountains in the cold San Luis Valley, feeling all alone with my questions, wondering how I’d ever make it to the top of and past all those mountains.
Throughout life, we all face struggles, loss and disappointment. I’ve made it through the mountains, and I have climbed a few more and that’s where my lyrics come from,
“When you reach the top of a mountain
it will take your breath away,
it’s sacrifice, but pain is the price we pay,
for that one kiss, those one lips, dancing in the sun,
if she goes away my words will keep you strong.”
I have learned that the moments we view in life as endings and misfortunes can be the beginning of the most beautiful adventures and opportunities to shape the future; to be better and do better, knowing that every time you get knocked down you get back up and, “Carry On.”
Please tell us about AIXA Media – Project Carry On.
AIXA Media is an artist collective building a bridge between Art / Media and Aerospace. The Aerospace industry is in need of creative content and tasked with the challenge of inspiring all men, women and children to look to the stars to explore careers in engineering, science and Aerospace.
Today in this time and this space, we all have the ability to contribute our creative ideas to build a promising future. A future where everyone can contribute their talents and creative ideas to explore the stars and to learn and know our place in the heavens.
AIXA Media is working to build a bridge to the stars! And that’s where my efforts lay. To use Art, marketing, events and promotions and media to ignite a spark that will build a bridge to the stars.
Our first project is a video called “Carry On” written by my son and I when I was carrying him inside me. I say, my son and I because the song would have never been written without his presence.
It contains a special message to him and this entire planet which communicates that through our darkest days on Earth, we must “Carry On.” I hope that anyone who listens to this will find hope and inspiration in it.
It was produced by an amazing producer by the name of Keith Sterling. The video was produced by Cevana Palmer, Quintin Palmer and Brittney Cervero. Social Media /Marketing – Rosa Navas, Diego Martinez, Andy Paolella, Roberta Martinez and Nikki Antonio. We shot it on a low budget using moments of great impact from our journey.
The video will be followed by a children’s book that is currently in design and artistic production which will communicate the messages in the video.
It’s my hope that the book will inspire the next generation and encourage children to look to the stars to create a new world.
I am most proud of the talent and heart of the people on our team, the incredible people who have dedicated their time to put our first project out into the world entitled, “Carry On.” Their energy and contributions are invaluable.
The one thing I have learned through this process is that I’m not alone. We are all a part of a collective journey, propelling life forward.
I’m looking up and out into the future. I have feelings that drive me to create, and a vision that sometimes no one else sees but me. I have learned that if I believe and keep driving my vision and intention forward, others start to see the same vision and believe as well.
It takes the talent of many people with new visions, with their God-given gifts to create the world’s most inspiring art and films. In this current climate of uncertainty with the Corona Virus sweeping our planet, as each day unfolds we must shine our light and march forward toward progress into the future. The job of an Artist will be to lead their vision and enlist the right people to believe and engage in their mission to create artistic messages with the magic that expands, improves, changes and perhaps saves our planet. I’ve seen so many amazing artistic gestures of our humanity as these past days have unfolded. We are all artists and we must shine our light to inspire each other each day.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
My greatest childhood memories are my grandmother’s hands, both grandmothers. They were warm, weathered, firm and steady. I remember my maternal grandmother’s faith and the way she held her hands when she prayed the rosery every day. I remember my paternal grandmother’s generosity and love. She had nine children and a lot of grandchildren and was constantly cooking and peeling potatoes. I would watch her peel potato after potato each in under 10 seconds. To me, their hands held the mysteries of time and the strength of our future. The echo of who they were to me and our family will be known and felt far and wide.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.aixamedia.com
- Email:Aixamedia@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aixa_media
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AixaMedia
- Twitter:@AixaMedia
- Carry On Video: https://youtu.be/ke97gNkNtNY
- Digital Music Release Link: Spotify/Itunes/Amazon:
https://sahara.hearnow.com - Carry On Video:
Suggest a story: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.