Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Alexandria Hunter. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Alexandria thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?
Earning a full-time living from my creative work is something I have been working at for a long time—and I hope that my experience and unique perspective will help inspire other people to face their fears, step outside of their comfort zone and pursue the things they love!
A popular phrase that has stuck out to me for most of my life, whether spoken from parents, peers, teachers, or my own doubts and fear, is “Art is a fun hobby, but what are you going to do to pay your bills?”
The whole act of creation in itself is an act of LOVE—while money, on the other hand, opens up a WHOLE new can of worms when it comes to the concept of it, our relationship with it, and how it makes us feel.
The most important thing I have learned on my journey, is to throw out the concept of money entirely!
I know it sounds crazy…but hear me out!
You can be the RICHEST person in the world, and live the most MISERABLE existence on the planet, just as you can be poor as DIRT but happy as a CLAM!
Most of us probably fall somewhere in between…working at a job that is tolerable, maybe even enjoyable, that leaves us JUST enough income to pay our bills, hopefully some for savings and maybe even some extra spending cash if we are lucky!
But no matter where we stand financially…one thing I often ponder is WHY ARE WE SO OBSESSED WITH MONEY?
We need money to LIVE, yes….
But are we REALLY living life to the fullest if we have no free time, no hobbies and no one to share it with?
What good is money if we wake up every day feeling EMPTY?
This is the position I found myself in when I was working as a marketing associate in my 20s.
On paper everything looked nice—I had a “grown up job”, my own place, a group of coworkers I met with for happy hour and friends I drank with on the weekends—the only thing missing was a feeling of inner peace, happiness, and a sense of PURPOSE.
Yes, there is value in every job—and in time, I have learned that it is WE who create our OWN sense of meaning and purpose in whatever work we do—but there is probably no worse feeling than waking up one day to realize that your life has been passing you by:
6:15 am
Wake up to an alarm that SHOCKS you.
6:30 am
Wash face, get dressed, brush teeth. Shove down breakfast.
7:00 am
Sit through 45+ minutes of morning traffic, screaming at the guy who cut you off cause you cant afford to be late.
8:00 am
Clock in…get some work done…data entry.
9-11:00 am
More data entry.
11:00 am
Email memes. Stare at the clock until lunch.
12:00 pm
Back to work.
1-5:00 pm
Back to watching the clock.
5-6:00 pm
Sit through rush hour, hurrying to get home to let your dog out who has been in a cage for 12 hours.
6:00 pm
Only 4 hours until bedtime, unless you feel like sacrificing sleep again…but that would make tomorrow suck!
6-9:00 pm
Spend 45 minutes cooking dinner, or pop a frozen meal in the microwave?
Shower or watch your favorite show? You could save your shower for tomorrow…but that means less sleep—which is no good! Your friend just called—they are going out tonight! But you can’t join, because your dog needs some attention. Oh crap how did you forget to feed him? OMG HOW IS IT 9:00 pm ALREADY!?
And wash…. rinse…. and repeat.
Until you find yourself in a therapists’ office, begging for antidepressants or SOMETHING to take away this emptiness until you eventually end up at an AA meeting cause the pills weren’t working and you STILL want to kill yourself but you don’t know where else to go because your brain is stuck in survival mode AND HAS BEEN ever since you got kicked off your parents’ health insurance and you don’t know how to be happy anymore cause all you do is work and eat and drink and consume and you’re still trying to suck the life out of ANYTHING and EVERYTHING if it MIGHT make you happy!
And the problem is still YOU–its not AT ALL how we live in a sick society where people tend to worship money like a God or a Higher Power.
It has nothing AT ALL to do with the fact that LOVE is the highest vibration in the Universe, and that LOVE is our direct connection to abundance of ALL forms, which explains how you can have ALL the money in the world, yet HATE what you do and who you’ve become.
So what do you do if you find yourself in this position?
And what does this have to do with my CURRENT career path as an artist, and how I support myself financially?
I could talk about my timeline…the numbers…my first sale…and all of that may be helpful.
But I would be doing a disservice to those who are listening, because those details are irrelevant.
What IS relevant, however, is my relationship with money, consumerism, my mental health, my body, my spirituality, and my confidence in myself—which I realized at that point, I had NONE.
Not only did I DESPISE money and was I constantly complaining about it, I was also treating my body like a garbage can, stuffing it with fast, greasy, sugary food and overindulging in alcohol.
I didn’t go to church. I didn’t read. I didn’t pray, and I was still under the impression that moving to another city, fixing my forehead wrinkles with Botox, or meeting the love of my life might somehow fix all my problems. (SPOILER ALERT: it doesn’t!)
I didn’t have hobbies (unless you include sampling the latest craft beer at your local brewery). I didn’t have anything in common with my friends, except for our mutual hatred of our jobs and love of blacking out with alcohol. I was still making excuses about how I was too overweight to pursue modeling, and that my voice was too bad to sing in public.
By FOLLOWING everyone else, ACTING like everyone else, and TAKING ADVICE from well-meaning parents and peers (instead of trusting my own intuition), I had ended up exactly like them—afraid and unfulfilled, still scrambling to find meaning in this existence.
It wasn’t until I STOPPED listening to the peanut gallery and fearlessly quit my job, that I allowed myself the freedom and space to explore WHO I WAS, without all of those things.
For ME, the act of downsizing my life to fit into my Toyota Camry and following my curiosity on a move that led me across the country was the most spiritual thing I have ever done, and the most RADICAL act of self-care and self-love that I had ever experienced.
So as much as I’d love to talk about my first sale, my businesses, and how it all came to be—none of it would have been possible without the foundation I built during the lowest and weakest moments of my life.
For it is in the darkest moments, that we are NOT being buried, but PLANTED.
It is the darkness that can be our greatest gift, if we allow it to be our teacher.
So to sum it all up, as simply as possible, HOW I was able to earn a full-time living from my creative work, would go something like this:
1. MEDITATE
2. MEDITATE
3. MEDITATE
Because if you CAN’T learn how to sit with yourself in your own discomfort, then you’ll NEVER be able to experience its equal and opposite equivalent—unequivocal JOY.
I owe all my success to my meditation practice, which taught me how to quiet my mind and trained my brain and body to slow down.
Once I found mental clarity through mediation, I had other good ideas, like quitting drinking and reading self-help books to educate myself about codependency, addiction, ptsd, money mindset and business management.
I got an easy serving job that was much more enjoyable than sitting behind a desk, which afforded me the luxury of more free time, which allowed me to continue to explore new hobbies, while also applying what I had learned from my books about money management.
I cut out expenses that were not 100% NECESSARY and I learned how to process my trauma with trusted counselors and friends, which helped me quit drinking and smoking, which put A TON of money back into my account and freed it up to be spent on all my new hobbies that actually GOT me somewhere in life.
Instead of watching TV, I watched YouTube videos that taught me how to sew, how to produce music, how to make jewelry, how to run a business, how to start a non profit, how to attract abundance.
I taught myself how to read Human Design and Astrology charts, with the goal of helping others navigate their own soul’s journey.
Instead of spending my money at the bars, I invested in MYSELF.
I started modeling. I started acting. I started a podcast. I became co-president of an organization of comedians and musicians that put on shows to benefit members of the community. Today, I make jewelry. I read Tarot. I do Astrology and Human Design readings. I edit videos. I create album artwork. I foster dogs and am in the process of starting my own animal sanctuary.
I brainwashed myself into believing I am capable of creating anything I put my mind to….and so far, I am!
But you want to know the best part?
SO ARE YOU.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Alexandria Hunter and I am the brainchild behind Statements by Alex, Freedom for Strays, and Co-President of Omegax4, an organization of comedians and entertainers that put on shows to benefit members of our community.
I am also a freelance designer, specializing in album artwork for musicians, video editing, and graphic design, as well as a model, musician, actress and comedian.
I somehow ended up here by default—only after losing EVERYTHING during a massive Ego Death and Spiritual Awakening.
Of course, I’ve learned since then that the ego never dies—we just have to make peace with it! ; )
And THIS is the type of work that I enjoy doing the most!
Statements by Alex was born in 2017 when I designed and sold my first necklace, raw piece of Quartz I had picked up from a Native American Spirit Shop and hand-wrapped with gold wire. The craziest thing is that Quartz is an energy amplifier and transmitter, often referred to as a Master Healer because it expands our consciousness, harmonizes our environment, and can be programmed with an intention to bring that which we desire into fulfillment.
I originally made the necklace for myself, but while I was wearing it I was dreaming heavily of what it would be like to have my own business, to be “free” from any employers who demanded so much of my time and energy.
I guess you could say I was my first client, because I saw the healing powers of that quartz crystal first hand, whether by placebo effect or actual magical powers…and I was BLOWN AWAY.
I had been wearing the necklace for 2 weeks, daydreaming of starting my own business, and BOOM I got my first sale 2 weeks later from a girl who had seen my Facebook post (a selfie of me in the necklace) and asked if I had any more that I could sell in her store.
My theory is that all of the LOVE and PASSION I had for crystals is what REALLY helped me get off the ground and running, and I have since then continued to dive deep into learning everything I can about crystals, healing, human design and astrology.
A few years into my sober journey, I was gifted with Tarot cards after setting an intention with the Universe, and I realized that I had natural psychic and mediumship abilities as well,
I have since then learned that we ALL have psychic abilities, many of which are active on the daily, yet most of us are not shown how to develop those any further, which can create confusion.
What’s even more heartbreaking, is that most people with natural sensitivity and no understanding of how to develop it any further often fall victim to substance abuse and die before they ever get the chance to experience their full potential.
Never in a million years did I ever think I would grow up to be a Tarot Reader, Astrologist and a Psychic…but as they say—what is meant for us, will always find us!
Sometimes we just have to walk away from what no longer serves us and continue to explore and seek what does, until we organically fall into something that just feels right.
My favorite services that I offer to my clients are remote Tarot Readings, Astrology Transit Readings, and Human Design readings.
My true gift in this lifetime and in my business is to meet people when they are in spaces of confusion, Ego Death and Spiritual Awakenings, in order to find confidence in their own internal guidance system and clarity about the path ahead . Those who call themselves Empaths, psychics, Indigo souls, and spiritual seekers are often drawn to get a reading from me, if not placed directly in my path by Spirit.
My other passion is collecting crystals that I transform into wearable art, which serve as tangible reminders of what we are trying to attract in our lives!
You want more money? I have a crystal for that!
Romantic Love? I’ve got you covered!
Good luck? Look no further!
Another one of my favorite things to design is bridal jewelry and talismans for the bridal party, which my brides absolutely LOVE!
I am also in the process of starting a non-profit called Freedom for Strays, an animal sanctuary featuring an eco village and community garden, with a plan to host events that benefit the community, as well as educational classes and a space to interact with animals to promote mutual healing.
I am currently in the process of searching for land and natural earthship home builders, and plan to attend a workshop this fall to learn how to build fire & earthquake-proof sustainable homes.
I’ve always been in love with animals from the time I was a little girl! When I first moved to Arizona, I worked at a puppy rescue and fell in love with rescue work and fostering.
My specialty is working with difficult, timid dogs who need extra time and attention to recover from the abuse they’ve experienced, and those are the dogs I plan to save and house at my animal sanctuary.
The concept and idea behind Freedom for Strays is to pair the stray dogs with the stray humans in order to nurse each other back to health and wholeness. I cant wait to share more details as this project unfolds!
In the meantime, I am currently co-producing an SNL-style sketch comedy show with former cast member of Saturday Night Live and MadTV star, Jeff Richards.
As co-president of our OTHER soon-to-be nonprofit, Omegax4, my goal is to provide opportunities for all members of the community, regardless of experience, race, age, financial status, sexual orientation and all of the other things that divide and separate us.
I am also a celebrity judge at the OmegaX4 weekly open mic on Wednesdays at The Desmond in downtown Phoenix, where comics have a chance to compete for $100 for their best 2 minutes of comedy!
I am blessed to have a wide range of talents and skills, and it is my absolute pleasure and passion to help with creative and spirutal work of all kinds!
Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?
“Ask and it is Given” by Abraham Hicks
“The Secret” by Rhonda Byrne
“Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill
“Journey of Souls” by Michael Newton
“Many Lives, Many Masters” by Brian Weiss
“Jersig” by JB Whitehouse
“You Are A Badass At Making Money” by Jen Sincero
“Creative Visualization” by Shakti Gawain
“Understanding Human Design” by Curry
Another favorite resource of mine is www.cafeastrology.com and www.astro-seek.com which I use during transit and natal chart readings.
How did you build your audience on social media?
I am no expert on social media by ANY means, but I have learned SO much about how to build an organic audience and to grow rather quickly, or at least fast enough to make meaningful connections.
I believe the most important thing to consider is which platform you enjoy spending the most time on. It seems to be a better idea to focus on ONE platform you enjoy, verses an inconsistent amount of effort spread across multiple platforms.
That being said, choose a platform you enjoy and BE CONSISTENT about posting—I don’t necessarily believe in whatever time the algorithms suggest that you post-—I believe it is more important to post content that we feel INSPIRED to post!
At the end of the day, everything comes down to ENERGY and INTENTION.
An INTENTION set, with ACTION EXECUTED, is the quickest way to find success in any endeavor, in my experience.
I also believe that the energy we give to others is the energy we will receive back, so I try to stay active on my favorite platforms, and be sure to like, share, and comment on my friends’ content!
I also think that collaboration and relationship-building are KEY, and that another quick way to grow your social media account is to get out there and meet people in person as well.
Leave your business cards in public places, bring them with you and hand them out whenever you meet someone new!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.spjrit.com
- Instagram: @thestarlettashow @statementsbyalex @freedomforstrays @the_original_alexhunter @omegax4.fratsor
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alexandria.hunter.5?mibextid=LQQJ4d
- Youtube: @Thestarlettashow @statementsbyalex
- Other: https://www.patreon.com/thestarlettashow
