We recently connected with Gabriela (Gabie) Castañeda and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Gabriela (Gabie), thanks for joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

I feel like I always knew what I wanted my path to be. As a teenager my dream was to be a photographer that traveled the world with just a backpack. Obviously life took a much different path but art, especially photography was always my favorite. Photography to me is a window to the world from someone else’s perspective. We all experience life & view it differently and photography captures moments that can be appreciated by many in different ways. I want people to view life/ the world from my eyes.

Gabriela (Gabie), 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?

About me…I’m proudly a 1st generation Mexican – American born & raised in East Los Angeles California. I’ve lived in Tulsa, OK for about 12 or 13 years. I am a mother of 2 amazing young men, Jason & Milton and I am a photographer & business owner. I started photographing in my teens. Shooting mainly the architecture around my favorite city, San Francisco. I then began photographing friends and strangers that peeked my interest. I however, did not take it too seriously until I started attending hip hop shows at Soundpony & collaborating with OKC artist Jabee on GIFT RAPS. The local talent was surprisingly good and they inspired me to start my photography again. Their unique styles & really what was happening here in the music scene was to me important to photograph. The hip hop scene back then is nowhere near what it currently is & I’m grateful to have been a witness to it’s growth & the evolution of some of the local artists. Currently I still do freelance photography and black and white with little to no editing is my style of choice.

A few years back I also founded EmpowerHER with my partner Bezel365. EmpowerHER is an event where I collaborate with other women of color and bring much needed exposure to the contributions women have made not only in the arts scene but hip hop scene as well. Women, mainly women of color don’t often get the space nor credit deserved. EmpowerHER for me is a way of acknowledging them and saying I see You & I Thank You! The event is usually held in March, it’s a 1 day event and the artists are allowed to set up a booth sell their art and keep 100% of the proceeds. We have entrepreneurs, singers, photographers, painters, designers and women in the Cannabis industry too. This year I hope to add more of mental health, self love aspect to it as well.

Lastly, I am part owner of LeRoux’s Kitchen with my partner Bezel365. With LeRoux’s Kitchen we enjoy bringing to life delicious dishes and it’s our way of showing love to all, one dish at a time.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

With my photography the reward is the emotion my work gives either the subject of the photograph or the person admiring the photograph. The thing is no one sees the same so everyone’s take will always differ and that’s the beauty of it to me.

With EmpowerHER the reward for me is seeing the connections made. Either artist to artist or otherwise.

With LeRoux’s Kitchen the reward is the smile, the feels or the memories a dish may bring someone.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

The goal for me is to leave something beautiful in this world and for it to continue to exist once I’m no longer here.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @artsierthanwe
• Facebook: Gabie Castañeda

Image Credits
All photographs were taken by me, Gabie Castañeda aka ArtsierThanWe