We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Andreina P. Aristeiguieta a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Andreina P., appreciate you joining us today. Everyone has crazy stuff happen to them, but often small business owners and creatives, artists and others who are doing something off the beaten path are often hit with things (positive or negative) that are so out there, so unpredictable and unexpected. Can you share a crazy story from your journey?

My feature film ‘SEMICOLON’ started to develop back in 2016. I was only 22 years old, trying to thrive in a industry led by men and working to find the funds to make my film. I had a good teaser/trailer for creative pitch and via e-mail every person I would get in touch with was very impressed and was excited to chat more. At the time of the meetings I would walk into the room and they would analyze me from bottom to top and I could tell in their eyes everything they were seeing was a red flag (for them) “young, female, latina background, accent in her English, first time filmmaker, etc”. That’s what they saw and eventually failure after failure I started to see that myself, and believed it. In 2019 I met the person who is currently my Producer and the person who found the funds to make the film that is currently in pre-production.

Slowly we started to build the perfect team together, from Cast Members to Crew Members. One of the things I wanted and needed to make this film work, is to have a mentor, I can be young and talented and passionate, but one thing I am certain about is that I do need guidance from someone that has been in the industry longer than me, so it’s something that people requested, even though I already had it in mind. At the time of looking for a mentor, it was also hard, for the same reasons but adding the fact that it’s such a beautiful project that they wanted to direct it themselves. After so many “no’s” my way, I finally found my mentor, the best director and person I could even imagine having and the first thing he told me was: Andreina, you have everything in your favor now, all the reasons they said no before, they will say YES to: Being a female, young, latina and first timer.

Andreina P., 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 artistic name is A.P Aristeiguieta, that’s how you will find my books and soon to be out films as producer and director. You can also find me as Andreina Perez Aristeiguieta or Andreina E Perez. I must confess I had a hard time finding my artistic name since my team as always saying “Andreina Perez is too generic, we need something robust” so eventually I inspired myself from J.K Rowling so we went to A.P. Aristeiguieta.

I like poetry, prose, and novels that have either a deep meaning or are based on true events. All my books are based on personal experiences, and it has created a beautiful impact on the people that have read them. I think everybody has a mission in this life and mine is to be the person I needed when I was younger, to help those that sometimes are afraid to ask for help.

How’d you meet your business partner?

Yes, Emilia Tosta. We met at a planting trees in California event. We were there with other people planting trees in California Streets and mountains with the Karttos Green non-profit. We met there, she is a very outgoing person and I’m the complete opposite, at first she thought I was arrogant or egocentric, but eventually she realized I’m just shy when I’m unfamiliar with the people around me and nowadays she’s not only like a second mother to me but also my business partner and the person that believes in my and my talent the most.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

At first, like everybody else, our creative missions is to reach the hearts of others but as I grow up everyday I realize that we have to also think about financial goals and personal driven goals depending on what your view is as a family. My drive right now is to have an income to provide for a family that I am building up with my partner by doing what we love but also being conscious of everything that a family needs to be stable and worry about building a healthy life and routine. So I believe it’s fair to be able to talk about financial goals without sounding materialistic or superficial, because in the end I believe we all have financial goals that are afraid to share because is a taboo.

Contact Info:

• Website: on creation
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/andreinaepa
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/andreinaepa
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/andreinaepa

Image Credits
Karla Tosta