Jasmine Romero

6am: wake up. Brush teeth and skincare routine. I use Angels on Bare Skin from LUSH and The Ordinary products.
6:30am: I consult my planner/notes, see what’s on my to-do list. Put on music!
7:00am: get some basic house cleaning out of the way.
8:00am: I start working on personal art projects or commissions. I focus first on what is most urgent, but I also like to switch back and forth between my personal work and commission work so I don’t spend too much time on one thing. Keeps it from being monotonous.
Tell us a little bit about what drew you to your medium. Did you choose to work with this medium or did it choose you?

Tell us about how you became the woman you are today. Where did you grow up? What moments in life have influenced your character most?
It’s insane to think about how superficial people are, and this is why I always, always show people I am genuinely interested in what they have to say no matter how they look.
Growing up as an American, rather than having been born in Peru, has been a privilege, but also awkward, as I am lighter-skinned and not the most fluent in Spanish. I’m used to not feeling “Hispanic enough”, as family members and other Hispanics have implied growing up. White people tolerated me, but I still wasn’t exactly white to them, either.
I often wavered between wanting to partake in my heritage and rejecting it. I didn’t really like Spanish as a language and I most certainly didn’t like the older, conservative Christian attitudes. I’ve always kind of felt lost in terms of culture.
At 24, I have a while to go, but I’m much happier with who I am and where I’m at. I listen to a lot of doo-wop, jazz, and rock. I’m one of the silliest people you’ll ever meet. I wear big jewelry. I’m addicted to ice cream and vintage clothing. I’m fascinated with mythology, magic and my own distant Incan heritage. I’m a passionate multidisciplinary artist. I’ve been through a lot of pain but I’m grateful to have come out stronger for it.

What is the message you're sending into the universe with your work? Why do you feel so strongly about this message?

How do you define your creative gig? Full-time career or side hustle? Explain why you’ve chosen one over the other.
Right now, my artwork and business are run on the side, whenever I have free time off from work. My short-term goal is to eventually make enough profit so that I don’t need a full-time job. Long-term, I want a small brick-and-mortar business.
I’ve started small by running an online shop with Threadless, which I’ve done for a couple of months and have seen steady support, along with a Patreon. With the funds from Patreon and Threadless, I’m going to take things a step further. I’m finally making my own prints at home! I want to move on to making buttons, stickers, possibly pins, and accessories like bags.

Finish this sentence. I find myself most inspired to create when I am…
When I am listening to music. Music jumpstarts my brain. It brings me peace, clarity, excitement, and healing. It’s the one sure-fire thing to amp up or change my mood. It helps me put together colors and visions.Give us three of your favorite/ most inspiring things right now. It could be a book, a food, a destination, a song, a person, etc.
A figure I cannot stop thinking about is Venus. Feels like I’ve been deeply exploring her corresponding symbology for a few years now. Venus is responsible for love, passion, harmony, and reminds me of how good design or harmonious color palettes bring us a sense of calm and contentment. Plus, its heavy connotation for women and feminine energy is super empowering. Women or folks with feminine energy, I find manifest beauty with such ease. Women, in general, are inspirational to me.
Another source of inspiration is my tarot deck. My grandmother read tarot quite seriously. My mom taught me how to do some of it as well. My grandmother was the youngest of her siblings, as was my mother. As I am also the youngest female, it just feels like a tradition. For me, it’s a form of meditation rather than divination, although I am fascinated with that quality of it and want to evoke that in my art.
More recently than ever, fashion has important to me. I work with a lot of clothes, and seeing the variety of styles, structures and methods of using colors and patterns have got my head swimming. The same goes for jewelry. I am in such awe of the work of designers behind brands such as Ulla Johnson, Celine, Gucci, and Miu Miu, just to name a few. There are so many things you can say right off the bat with how you dress. Something as simple as shiny socks can get me feeling ready to conquer the day.
Name 3 Artists you would like to see featured on Hola Gwapa next and what you love about them.
I’d love to see, in no particular order:
1. Katie (IG: @thesearecollages)
2. Alana Questell (IG: @alana_questell)
3. Ashley Llanes (IG: @seldom_followed)
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