We were lucky to catch up with Alexis Mendez recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alexis, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s jump back to the first dollar you earned as a creative? What can you share with us about how it happened?

I have two creative sides and so the first dollar on both sides was definitely exciting but in different ways. Before really figuring out that I loved creating content on social media, I wrote poetry books and self published them. The first poetry book I wrote and self published was “Sometimes Sad Things are Beautiful”, which was a collection of mainly teenage emotions and my heart and soul. It was nervewracking to think that someone else would hold my work and that it could be judged or not liked. But after selling my first book, I realized that my books are art and I should believe in them after they’re published just as much as I do while creating them.

Speaking of creating, creating content is something I really enjoy wholeheartedly. The first brand I ever collaborated with was a eyeglasses brand by the name of Vooglam (formerly Voogueme). They reached out to me via email and I was so ecstatic that a brand wanted to not only work with me but pay me for my content as well. The other thing was that at the time they reached out to me, I only had about maybe 600 followers so I was shocked but I honestly shouldn’t have been. I sometimes have a tough time realizing my potential and all that I have to offer and so it’s easy to place your worth on follower amount. It’s a hard habit to break but I finally feel like I’m getting there. The first payment from the first collab out of many was an amazing feeling. I was proud of myself for stepping out of my comfort zone and doing something i’d never done before. I really created something out of nothing and someone else thought it was worth something. That feeling was honestly worth more than the dollars.

Alexis, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Hey ya’ll, I’m Alexis but I like to go by Lex. I’m a content creator who is always trying to outdo the last thing I created. I write poetry books sometimes and work from home all the time. If it matters I’m also a Capricorn which explains the endless endeavors I’ve made throughout my life in the hope that something I’ve created will take up residence on someone’s bookshelf or social media timeline. I love that when we create things and place them for all the world to see, it can stay as long as we want it to be seen by others. Those things we create are a representation of ourselves and I think sometimes we owe it to ourselves to really let others see just how beautiful our minds really are. That’s really all I ever try to do. But I digress, that’s a topic for another day!

Creating content is something I really enjoy wholeheartedly. Even on my bad days ‘m thinking about creating content. I love coming up with an idea and really seeing it come to life. Editing is another big part of my content and another love of mine. If you ever want to see where I truly started on Instagram, just go to @lexbmendez on Instagram. (That account is a close friends exclusive!). I never realized it until now but editing was always what grounded me and kept my emotions calm. I think at every stage in my life i’ve found something to cling to as an outlet for emotions that I didn’t know how to handle at the time. Whether it was books, or tv shows, or writing short fiction stories on wattpad and making 8tracks playlists to go with them, I always preoccupied myself with something. (if you know what wattpad or 8tracks is, we’re friends now!). I think I owe a lot of who I am to the creative outlets that kept me sane growing up and still do til this day. Of course who I am changes ever so slightly day by day, but I truly feel like what i’m doing now will all be worth it. Because what I create holds so much worth!

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Share their work. Share their work. Share their work. No really, sharing is the cheapest way to support anyone! Especially with how the Instagram algorithm works one day in your favor and not the next; sharing helps when posts aren’t being shown to as many followers as possible. Having support shown in any way is honestly the best and helps remind me that I’m meant to be doing what I’m doing, whether the imposter syndrome sneaks in or not.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I feel like so many times throughout my life i’ve had to be resilient. One event in particular that has made me the most resilient I think, would be my sister passing when I was four. She was younger than me by a year, 6 months and 20 days, so it was also like I lost my bestfriend too. We were together everyday and so it was strange when she was gone but since then nothing else could really shake my core, because that was the worst thing that had ever happened to me. I know it’s more of psychological resilience, to say that though something traumatic happened, I can still stand tall and put on a brave face. I think most times we just think of resilience as something resulting from an inconvenience that attempted to halt your progress but ultimately failed. I think unlike the minor things that seem major in the moment, trauma has a bigger effect on our resilience. But that’s just the Psychology Bachlor Degree holder in me talking and again that’s another conversation for another day! Speaking of days, because of my resilience through trauma and depression and anxiety, I’m glad to see another day when otherwise I thought that might not be possible.

Contact Info:

• Website: alexisbmendez.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/a.b.m
• Other: Tik Tok: www.tiktok.com/@thatssolexx