SUP STEEMIT - Lemme LEARNZ u Sumthin ! A Blog dedicated to self-love, the art of communication + community building, travel-gypsy explorations of music art culture & people, space transforming, womxn empowerment, being a wavy Cancerian and all the things.

Greetings Steemians !

I am writing to you tapping into the 15-year old inner-teen version of myself that just got high-speed DSL internet (dead are the days of my dad yelling at me for taking up the dial-up) - a time when I used to blog every single fucking day on a beautiful platform called Xanga. Yes, indeed, I was a former Xangstah that used to go by the name of charTO_THEmaine - when "blogging" meant writing your thoughts and feelings online and sharing them with a tiny community of like twenty people who cared about your emo days and favorite bubble tea flavors. Who would've thought that a short five years later, that term would evolve into so much more - for me, it meant seeing and being part of the evolution of when social networking sites (like Friendster, Asian Avenue, etc) became social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) - when social media marketing actually became an industry and a job, and blogging could come with great product endorsements.

Ah, the digital tech information age has been good to us in many ways, and at the same time, has taken us so far away from the purity of human connection. I have traversed through different lifetimes of having been in social media marketing, of community building for the app tech world, of video blogging/content creating, of having had the product sponsorships, so on and so forth... and it's all been very weird, if I'm to be completely honest. There's a deeper side of me that has consistently questioned "Why?" and "What is this doing to social culture and how we connect authentically as human beings?"

You see, I'm a people person. My passion is how I create connections with dope human beings, and how we relate - especially in the realms of music, art, dance, spirituality, self-love, womxnhood, etc. There was a period of time where I was so turned off by this growing egoic youth culture who defined their self-worth by 'likes' on selfies and blah blah blah that I just had to step away from it all. I've always been an early-adopter, someone who could see potential new tools or platforms for people to engage and connect on a genuine level (before the platforms got bought-out, ad-barfed-on, etc) ... and I guess that brings me to this - Steemit - and wanting to join this community.

It's taken me awhile to finally write my first post. I've been reading a lot of what people want to talk about - and something that has drawn me instantly is how engaged and invested this community is with one another. The information, knowledge and learnings have great value, and I'm seeing this platform as something that brings me back to the days of being a bonafide Xangstah. I have lots I'm excited to share and I'm so tired of being scrolled over on someone's chaotic and incessant feed. I definitely need to give a huge shout out to my homie @vandal for introducing me.

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So, a bit about me, in point form:

• I write how I talk. I pretty much have my own language and it's very informed by the slang I've picked up from all the places I've lived and traveled. Those flavors include influences from: Toronto Jamaican Patois, Westcoast Vancity/Cali, SE Asia Singapore, Tagalog, Malaysian, Indonesian
• Was born in Manila, Raised in Vancouver, Canada, got growned up in Teedot, Montreal, and now currently based out of Vancity... but have been exploring more and more of SE Asia every year for the past three years (My goal is to not have to subject myself to Canadian Winter again...)
• Almost completed my Saturn Return and will be turning a dirty thirty this year!
• Born a summer baby Wavy Cancer and the year of the Dragon
• I'm a MUSIC HEAD - funk, hip hop, soul, r&b, disco, nu-disco, neo-soul, future r&b, future bass, electro-hiphop soul, jazz, blues, reggae, dub, dancehall, house, funky-house, errr ... Am I missing anything?
• Thrifting Queen - I love styling myself and others. I love patterns and colors. I collect fabrics !
• I'm a community builder and Event Producer - been producing events primarily in the world of hip hop music, art, street-dance and culture - worldwide! I travel and find these communities/these communities find me. What it takes to build a community starts from within - the intention to truly connect with people and want to see something bigger than yourself emerge... it's what drives me in life !
• I transform spaces and I create what I call multi-sensory immersive experiences. I see space and environment as something that truly affects how people can feel. I started playing with different elements as to how to curate that, with intentionality and magic. It's difficult to explain but I think it will make more sense over time. For now, check out more of that here: http://shapeshifterstudio.ca
• I love traveling, learning new languages, knowing the lay of the land
• LOVE DANCING and movement. YOGA and breathing is so good for us.
• My dad has always told me, "It doesn't matter what you say, it's HOW you say it." I'm an extremely intuitive human who has spent her whole life learning communication - how to say things, how to interpret people... and find ways to connect and relate. So much dysfunction in relationships stems down to how we express ourselves, and I believe as a society we are so regressed in how we know how to communicate our emotions. I want to share more about this, how we can all be better communicators and experience the fullness of love and acceptance of ourselves and in our most cherished relationships
• I'm a WOMXN - I started tracking my cycle, learning about the female anatomy, hormone cycles and how to deal with my LOW ESTROGEN (Ladies, you are not crazy.) I want to empower us to know our bodies more so that we can support ourselves, and honor all the beauty that comes with. Too much of what is natural and beautiful about us has been tabooed, oppressed, and stigmatized negatively. I say - learn to use a diva cup and honor your vagina!
• Super tickled visually - love photography, video visual storytelling, and the marriage of all of that in multi-mediums and audio
• Did I say MUSIC? I've got my ear to the ground, have had a few DJ lessons (Vinyl, yo), and in my travels have come across such a world wide collection of sound. I want to put you ON ONE.

Sigh. So many more things to say - but I'm in Manila right now, at a co-working space and I've got to meet a dope vogue dancer to talk about music for an upcoming freestyle dance video we are shooting here in a few days. Share more on that later !!!

Thank you for taking the time to read. If you're into it, let's be friends. Let's build community =)
I've spoken my piece.
Peace.