Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Dana Toledo. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Dana, thanks for joining 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 had been living in Los Angeles for 7 years already when I established the beginning of my creative career as a hospitality interior designer. Los Angeles was my home and a place that I’ve really grown to love and embrace as it had opened so many life-changing opportunities for me. My whole life was in LA – my chosen family, my 12-year-old Siberian Husky, and my connections in the design industry.
I moved to LA from Atlanta in 2014 with my partner at the time, and we parted ways in the summer of 2021. By then, I’d been laid off for about 5 months from one of the most respected design firms because of the pandemic. This was a pivotal moment for me because I was feeling a lot of pressure at work with the short staff and workload ratio. To this day, I’m still very thankful for the opportunity to work with them as it opened many doors and connections for me. I grew so much creatively and professionally from the experience with some of the best mentors in the industry.
When we started working from home in March of 2020, the lack of a commute allowed me to gain two more hours in the day. I had more time to myself and revisited a craft I picked up at the beginning of the year: metalsmithing. The thing I loved most in interior design was putting together materials during the concept phase. I found so much satisfaction in playing with different materials to create a beautifully cohesive palette, seeing the final presentation with shiny metals, fabrics, stone, glass, wood, and wallpaper. This process made me realize that I was a tactile person, and I somehow fell into learning the art of metalsmithing [jewelry]. The ability to create something from scratch with my hands was exciting and put me in flow. I could sit at my workbench and file, saw, and hammer metal for hours. When I got laid off, I launched a collection of ten rings and sold 7 out of 10 in less than 48 hours. It was exciting that I could possibly make a living as an independent artist.
I wanted to keep up the momentum and already planned my next collection launch when my ex and I made the mutual decision to end things. This put a huge pause in my plans to keep making jewelry as I had to prioritize my next steps – where to live when our lease ended. DTLA was a place of comfort for me, so I searched for other apartments in the South Park area. I was pretty dead-set on staying in LA, but with zero income, the idea of paying for a place by myself was daunting.
I switched gears fairly quickly and three weeks before moving in, I signed a lease for a loft in Atlanta. With only a month-and-a-half’s worth of rent, no job, and no real game plan, I left the life I loved in LA and found myself back in a city I said I would never step foot in again. Even though I’d lived in Atlanta and the metro area for about six years prior to moving out West, the first few months felt rough and was quite an adjustment. The city changed so much since I left, and I was basically starting from scratch. I had some major losses earlier in the year, and it took me a long time to get my footing. I had so much anxiety from the lack of a job and very limited resources at the time, but with much perseverance and patience, things started to turn around.
Not only did I land a website design client (I took a bootcamp course out of curiosity late 2020 right before getting laid off), but I also got a call for a remote part-time position from my first job in interior design in LA. I love the saying by Arthur Ashe, “Start where you are, use what you have, do what you can.” – and that’s exactly what I did. Moving back to Atlanta was an impulsive decision, but it’s one of the best things that has ever happened to me. I had the option of moving in with my mom in Texas, but I knew that living comfortably (as in, not having to pay rent or for groceries, etc.) was going to make me complacent. I didn’t want to get stuck and as a fiercely ambitious individual, I needed a kick in the rear to keep going after my dreams of being a successful multidisciplinary artist and creative entrepreneur.
Dana, 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?
I launched Medjo Rebelde at the end of summer this year. ‘Medjo Rebelde’ translates to “A Little Rebellious” in Tagalog, the national dialect of the Philippines. The idea was born out of years of self-discovery and trial & error in my personal life. Growing up in a Filipino household, there are cultural expectations and the pressure to live and be a certain a way. As a child, I was typically drawn to architecture and fashion and loved drawing and painting. In the 4th grade, I handed my father a list of art supplies I needed for a class project. He refused to buy them despite my protest that the project counted for 20% of my grade. He deemed art as “useless” and that moment made me put art aside and forget about it for about 15 years. Both my parents are medical professionals, and so is every one of my aunts, uncles, and cousins on my mother’s side (she has 11 brothers and sisters). They all followed through with successful careers in medicine, and I admire them for (literally) saving people’s lives every day.
And then there’s me. I started college in a small town in South Georgia as a pre-pharmacy major, bounced over to IT for a semester, and ultimately declared a major in Exercise Science before entering my junior year at Kennesaw State University. In my pursuit to move to the Atlanta metro area, I got curious and applied to interior design school at SCAD and got rejected. At the time, I thought it was too late to change majors anyway and continued on a science track for years. After retaking chemistry for the third time, I finally graduated with a B.S. in Exercise & Health Science on a pre-professional track to get a doctorate in Physical Therapy.
About a year into living in LA, I scrapped the idea of grad school. I was surrounded by new creative influences in Downtown Los Angeles, admiring the diverse street art, eccentric fashion, and iconic architecture. With much gumption, I ultimately went back to school for interior design at UCLA and simultaneously began my career as a hospitality interior designer. I like to say that Los Angeles gave me permission to be a creative while Atlanta allowed me to embrace that identity.
Going back to school for interior design felt scary. I was afraid to start over at the age of 24 and had this huge fear of being rejected by my family for pursuing a creative path. With PT school still in mind, I was retook some Anatomy & Physiology courses that expired and quit my job slinging acai bowls and selling supplements at a smoothie shop three blocks from my apartment building. For three weeks, I sat around my loft figuring out my next moves – to find another job or go back to school, maybe retake the GRE I didn’t study for. Trying to “make do” with my Exercise & Health Science degree became unappealing. I even played with the idea of Sports Marketing (no thanks). After a few days of feeling lost and hopeless about my future, I stumbled on UCLA’s Interior Design & Architecture program. I also found a job on Craigslist that kickstarted my interior design career and opened the doors for me in the industry.
These were all signs for me to pursue the creative path that my heart deeply desired. Interior design was my gateway drug to the creative world where I currently thrive. Since then, I’ve explored different mediums from metalsmithing to painting, and now apparel design with Medjo Rebelde. It’s a passion project that was on my mind for months as a result of a compounding of ups and downs in the first few months of my transition from Los Angeles to Atlanta. I feel strongly about stepping out of our comfort zones and the idea that there is more than one way to live. To let fear be a compass. Medjo Rebelde is about going against the grain and going after what sets your heart on fire, whether it’s art, music, or saving lives. It’s about doing the things you enjoy and not what is expected of you. At the same time, I still find it important to continue to pay reverence to the generations before us and remember where we came from.
There is a strong emphasis in respecting our elders in the Filipino culture. While this is deeply ingrained in our upbringing, I want to change the way we approach some of these practices. We’re taught that individualistic thinking is a bad thing. Having an opinion is a form of talking back. I was programmed to think that a profession in the medical field is my only option and that veering away from this path was disrespectful to my parents, potentially leading a life of shame and guilt forever. This is all far from the truth, and I know I’m not alone in this. I want to encourage fellow Filipinos and Filipino-Americans to break away from this mindset and do the things they’re passionate about. I created Medjo Rebelde to be a safe space to express and give ourselves permission to live a life that’s true to ourselves. It’s ok to be “a little rebellious”.
Today, I still live as a creative and entrepreneur. Admittedly, it was a bumpy path but a path that was worth taking. With a lot of self work and mindset shifts, I’m happy to say that I thrive as a creative and continue to build a better relationship with my family the more I live my truth.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
For me, the process of creating is the most rewarding part. I get into a steady state of flow, where time stops and nothing else around you matters other than the piece or activity you’re working on. I work with my hands primarily, either in metalsmithing or painting. Using your hands, even when writing or sketching, is the quickest way to transfer your ideas to a medium. There is a sense of satisfaction you get from seeing your thoughts come to life – it’s unique to you and up to everyone else to interpret.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
Show up. Show up and have an open mind – learn about the artist / creative and be present with what they offer. Whether it’s a painter, musician, baker, printmaker, or architect, a lot of thought goes into what they create. It takes a lot of time and effort to put together a concept and present it to the world.
While we can’t predict how another individual reacts to what we create, our intentions are pure and are meant to express what matters to us and what’s been brewing in our minds. Everything is carefully curated and deliberately planned, with hours, days, and years of repetition and experimentation to get to where we are today. Like any business, financial support is always appreciated to keep our work sustainable and allow us to continue to do what we do. Otherwise, keep showing up, tell your friends about us, and get to know us more during each encounter.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.medjorebelde.com
- Instagram: @medjorebelde @okashijewelry @neue.neutral