So far my art journey has been a roller coaster. I started out drawing and painting as a very young girl. I was inspired by animations from DreamWorks, Disney, Pixar and so many more. I continued to draw my favorite characters and paint until the sun came up until I realized that my profession needs to be of the arts. I studied nursing courses in college for years before I figured out what I needed to center my life around. When Covid-19 hit and the world was forced on a lockdown is when I sat down and realized what I was capable of. I asked 3 of my coworkers if I could draw them over the break and to my surprise the portraits came out so beautiful. Then and there I scheduled an appointment with my counselor and asked for a change in major. After completing these courses, I am now looking to go to the Art Academy in San Francisco and paint my heart away. Eventually I hope to become a full time artist living and working in an area that I can be genuinely happy. I’ve taken my favorite scenes in cartoons and did color studies to learn the techniques and colors that great artists have used to convey emotion. I would love to one day open up a study area in my city that is surrounded by art, nature, and relaxing elements. My hometown has very few areas that college students and/or high school students can relax and get away from the pressures at home or just in todays world. I would love a beautiful outdoor study area as well as large tables where students can do large art projects comfortably. Before I can run a beautiful successful business I would like to travel and submit my artwork into galleries and meet some of my favorite artists. I would love to learn from these artists and get feedback from them. The first time I submitted to an art gallery I was in 3rd grade and didn’t really understand what was going on. My teacher at the time saw my artwork and told me that she could submit my artwork into a local gallery. I was so excited and my whole family came to see the event. I would love to re-live that moment as an adult and fully understand how meaningful it is to be an artist and appreciate others art.

My experience with mental health has been very tricky. It’s feels like you completely and understand what’s going on and 100% know why you are not feeling yourself. Self doubt has been fed to me as a very young girl before I even knew what I wanted. I was told what I could and couldn’t do from the start because of how future me is going to be like. Subconsciously carrying self doubt all the way up until now has significantly played a major part with my mental health. Severe anxiety and depression along with many other effects branched out exponentially by the time I was 5. Overwhelming feelings of anxiety continued to grow by the time I was 10 and continued to follow me throughout high-school. While I was in high school I used to have Panic attacks but at the time I did not know what it was. The way I thought about things were completely backwards and resulted in having ridiculously irrational fears. My beliefs weren’t even beliefs I doubted any and everything. My relationships with people when I was a toddler were very vague unless it was with my mother. I used to hide and tuck myself away in corners because I thought friends and family were going to judged me based on how I looked, what I would do or say. Throughout my life I’ve always only had 1 or 2 friends and no love interests, boyfriends, nothing. (Just recently getting my first boyfriend at 22.) I had many aspirations in life but never pursued them because of those voices I’ve heard since I was a young girl telling me I’ll never be able to do those things. When I got into college however I realized that all of those fears I had were irrational and I worked on overcoming them. I realized those things being told to me were lies and projections. I worked on introducing myself and talking to people to reduce the amount of social anxiety I had. Of course I wasn’t able to get rid of everything completely but working on them helped shaped my goals and made a lot of them come true. Now at 23, I’m able to be productive, work through my anxiety and socialize comfortably to a certain extent of course. I’m still in college trying to finish my degree online since my college isn’t offering many courses in person anymore. It’s very hard for me and I’m still continuing my journey with education and seeing life through.

I really would like to get the chance to build a space where people in my community including the high schoolers and middle schoolers. I’m going to build a space where I use colors to create a piece full anxiety reducing environment. In this space I will have artwork for sale as well as art work to enjoy. This can be where the people can study, bring a lunch, or simply meditate and relax. The environment with have artwork like murals and plants to embellish it. This will be a shop of some sort and the peaceful space I create will be very affordable. It is proven that colors have their ways of evoking certain emotions. The colors and artwork I put up will very from season to season to match the energy of the universe. This will help teens who may be struggling with managing emotions or giving teens a place where they can study without distractions. As for any adults who come in, the same will apply for them as well. This can give them a peaceful environment to study or get work done if they work from home. This space that I will create can always just be a place to visit just for the heck of it!

Recently I decided to make a life changing situation for myself. I’m a first generation college student and my whole family is depending on me to “get rich” and be “successful.” I’m naturally a person who truly gains happiness from helping others. So my family made the rescission for me to do that through nursing. Well, that life changing situation I was talking about is now changing to pursuing art. That success that I’m going to achieve is going to be through art and I’m going to help people and brighten up the community with my art. Once I get through school, I plan to open a space where everyone can benefit. This place will have lively artworks to enjoy and purchase. Along side that there will be colorful plants and flowers and somewhere anyone can just relax and enjoy the fresh air. The kids in my area are very to get out and learn about meditation and peace. In this space that I will open it’ll have an open breathable space where the kids can enjoy the colors and the artistic views of it after school. They can meditate here, finish up some homework, and create artwork of their own here.

I’ve been involved with the arts since kindergarten and never stopped. Once I was 8 years old I immediately started playing clarinet and have been playing for 11 years. The degree that I’m pursuing will allow me to transfer my credits over to the Art Institute in San Francisco. Being someone who lived in a violent environment as a child and growing up, it caused me to have permanent anxiety issues. Ever since I was a baby my mother would always put on Disney movies or Studio Ghibli animations and without knowing it, it calmed my nerves. I then started to pick up a pencil and draw what was on the screen to further release stress. I continued to do that for a while until I realized how important art was to me and how it has helped me for the longest time. Eventually I started drawing portraits and painting my favorite Disney characters.

For the longest time, I've only had a few friends. I wasn't raised in a wealthy family so I couldn't easily solve their problems with cash. Most of the time I sat and listened to what they had to say. Whatever problems were causing them stress, I made sure to listen and take notes. It wasn't easy watching them go through such traumatic times but it was easy to have an ear available. Of course, I love to help strangers too. As a woman though you have to be careful of who you help because it can easily lead to an abduction. There was a time tho where I was walking to school my senior year and I saw an older woman with a cast on her foot in a wheelchair and almost no strength to push herself. At a distance, I saw her throw her hands up into the air and give up. She had no idea that I was walking up to her. I politely asked her if she would like me to push her as far as I could before I reached my school. A couple of tears showed in the corners of her eyes as she smiled and told me she would greatly appreciate it. Luckily for her, the destination was right next to my school and I dropped her off where she could manage to push herself the rest of the way. In a case like that, I'm always available to help when I can while be safe of course.

"It's the little things in life." My happiest memory is something that I will always remember. I never won any prizes as a child but for the first time in my life, I won a prize out of a claw machine in a grocery store. I was so exhilarated that I screamed at the top of my lungs. Fireworks immediately shot into the sky and I didn't care that I was 22 years old with tears in my eyes. I reached for my new best friend and we sat there and watched all the pretty colors swim in the sky.

For a very long time my mom had to take care of her four kids as a single mom. We were all too young to watch ourselves so my mother had to quit her job and try to find a home and a nearby school. She couldn't do it all on her own. I was the second eldest child and had to take care of my 2 younger siblings and my older brother. 12 years have passed by and my mother has a decent paying job as a CNA working hard 5 days a week while I go to college so that I can continue to help my mother. Lately all of the responsibilities have been feeling like an uncomfortable weight on my shoulders. I work a part time minimum wage job and go to school at the same time. Its very hard to manage the two and I'm holding on to my motivation day by day because it feels as if Im going nowhere. So what motivates me? I am a bright creative woman with big dreams. I do not care how long it takes to achieve them and I certainly do not care about other people telling me my dreams are impossible. I want to attend hundreds of art shows and meet some of the worlds greatest artists today. I want to be known for selling major artworks for peoples homes and designing color for them too. I have a long ways to go but thats what motivates me. As a child thats all I used to do to ease the stress of my home life. I suffer from severe anxiety as well and art has always been the perfect way to voice my feelings and relieve my stress.

No internet. No cable. Just an old fashioned heavy television and cassette tapes. Since I was a child, I lived in a low income, high level noise, and violent neighborhood. At night or during the weekend I watched the same Disney movies over and over again. These animations made me forget about whatever else that was causing my anxiety to rise. Cinderella constantly sang to me, “a dream is a wish your heart makes.” The colors, the music, and most importantly the animation made me smile and calmed my nerves. My passion for art was completely unleashed. I would simply look at the screen and transfer Cinderella straight to a paper. This eventually evolved into many other Disney movies I loved and cherished. What drives my passion for art is how much of an impact it can make on so many people including the person creating the art. I love inspiring those around me and even strangers one day will stop and feel mesmerized when they see my work. Giving someone that calming feeling and a sense of serenity I felt as a young girl is what I feel drives me more and more each day. This scholarship will contribute to my tuition cost at San Francisco Art Institute. I will be attending this 4 year college but cannot afford the tuition out of pocket. I am so grateful for a scholarship like this even though it doesn’t cover the complete cost. Once I get into this art school my dream will sky rocket and I will finally be able to make a difference in my life and others. My heart made a wish and one day I know it will come true.