We recently connected with Ev Marquee and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Ev thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.
I’ve always been considered somewhat of a risk taker, outside thinker and someone who does not follow the crowd. From this lens, I have come across many major choice points that have required I take those dreaded leaps of faith. I’ll share a couple.
1 – When I completed my undergraduate schooling I spent MONTHS preparing and studying for Graduate School entrance exams to continue my academic path. I was deeply committed. But then came an unexpected opportunity to travel internationally for an extended amount of time. Despite parental disapproval and the amount of backlash I received for even considering putting school on hold to travel was difficult, but I did it anyway. I travelled around the world for 6 months and this experience literally changed my life. While away, I discovered my passion for photography and a strong pull towards that form of documentation (deep down I was always an artist). So, I decided to not go back to school and instead gathered the funds to buy myself the latest DSLR camera and taught myself how to use it. This was the start of my Visual Arts career. That was over 10 years ago and I have been shooting ever since. Most recently, I have expanded my vision into the world of filmmaking with a few music videos and a beautiful short film under my belt.
2 – Prior to the pandemic, a dear sister and I were coordinating and hosting monthly holistic events for women of color in Oakland that were steadily growing while also going deeper within my spiritual practice – moving through major self-healing portals and multiple initiations. Then the lockdown happened. Before I knew it, I was visiting South Carolina to help my friend’s family navigate all the in-home changes and, in the process, fell in love with the slow, peaceful lifestyle. Coming back from that was tough. All of a sudden, all that I was doing and creating was no longer possible and things in the city were getting worse. I immediately knew that it was time to shift into the virtual space in order to survive. And because there was nothing physically holding me back, I realized that I could potentially live anywhere. This is where I was presented with another risk taking moment in my life, which resulted in leaving the madness that ensued and moving across the country to South Carolina where we (my best friend and I) would dream up and create an online women’s course to continue supporting our community while prioritizing our own mental health in a peaceful city. Through those pandemic years, I continued investing in spiritual courses and apprenticeships and focused on developing my Healing Arts practices and services.
Looking back, I’m grateful to have followed my inner wisdom in moments when I could have just stuck to what was familiar/safe. Taking risks is scary but I believe that these moments test our faith and hold within them opportunities that can literally change your life.
Ev, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My name is Ev. I am a queer femme of color (born in Mexico, LA raised).
I’m a visual artist, healing facilitator, activator and entrepreneur devoted to sovereignty, goddess spirituality, sisterhood and new paradigm visions.
My creative career began over 10 years ago as a professional photographer and event curator and in the last couple years has expanded to include filmmaking, teaching an online goddess course and guiding an energy work mentorship program.
As a new earth creatrix, the goal and intention underlying all of my projects, services and cocreative experiences is to offer inspiration and beauty, invoke empowerment and assist in the healing and elevation of the collective.
Some of the core reasons why people come to me are for spiritual support and consultation, past life regression work and empowering visual documentation.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
I value integrity, honesty and clear communication in my personal and professional life. I speak on my own experiences and the things that have actually worked for me. I have high expectations and standards for myself in terms of growth. I don’t take on projects that don’t align with me or that I don’t have capacity for. I actually care about those I work with and what we create together. I don’t pretend to be the best or to know all the answers. And because of this, I have loyal clients, peers and friends.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
So many! But a core lesson that is instilled in our hustle culture is the idea that you have to work hard and make sacrifices to “make it” in life. This leads to burnout, stress and letting work dominate your time in such a way that you no longer have time to actually live your life. I believe that life CAN be easy and that you don’t need to give up your needs or desires to experience success. But in order to have that, I had to unlearn the measure of “success” as how much I’ve produced, how many things I own or as a finish line. I find success in my day to day activities and small wins, in the strong healthy relationships I have, my physical, mental and emotional health and in how rested, loved, supported and nourished I feel.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.
instagram.com/evmarquee/ - Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/
biz/ev-marquee-photography- los-angeles-2 - Website: https://www.
evmarquee.com/