We were lucky to catch up with Fiely Matias recently and have shared our conversation below.

Fiely, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. One of our favorite things to hear about is stories around the nicest thing someone has done for someone else – what’s the nicest thing someone has ever done for you?

When I was in high school there was something inside me that felt like I wanted to draw. I think everyone has creative voices inside them that whisper and encourage them to find that creative outlet, any way any how. For me it was drawing. I never had any training I was literally “drawn” to it from seeing images all around me and always asking “Where do these images come from, that connect with people.”. The ability to use a pen or pencil and to create something out of nothing with just a blank piece of paper excited me. So one of my first projects was to make my own greeting cards. I thought, how cool would it be to just buy a bunch of blank cards and then just draw a design on them and maybe I can then sell them at a slightly higher price and then I can make some profit. So I went to a crafts store, bought some blank cards and took them home. I then went to the dining room, opened them up, got my pen and just started drawing. Looking back on what I drew, there were just abstract lines that formed semi-interesting shapes, but for me, it felt right. Mrs. Oda, my sister’s mother-in-law, walked in on me, and saw how passionate I was in creating these cards. She didn’t know I liked to draw and asked me about my project. I timidly told her my plan. She smiled and without missing a beat, she said…”Well, I’d like to be your first customer.” And she bought the first batch of cards I made. I was stunned. It was my first art sale. That small act of understanding and support is something I’ll never forget. It taught me that risking and knocking on doors and following your passion yields support from the most surprising places, if you just believe.

Fiely, 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?

As a freelance artist for over 30 years, I have freelanced in the fields of theater, graphics, animation and writing. I am self taught and continue to learn every day as knowledge has no boundaries. I became a freelance artist in so many fields as my interests and passions took me down many roads of exploration. In college I got my degree in journalism, but I found a love of theater which eventually led me to moving to New York after I graduated to study at the Alvin Ailey School of Dance, but after two months of being in New York I landed my first professional acting job in a Broadway bomb entitled Annie 2 which played at the Kennedy Center in DC. I then start gigging around as an actor performing in industrials and a few tours with a movement theater company. During that time I started teaching myself to draw on the computer. While I acted during the day, at night I taught myself how to become a digital artist. I entered a few contests and started winning. So then I started uploading my graphics to stock sites and via the stock sites I started getting job offers. During this time, I still acted, wrote and produced original works of theater. My most successful collaboration has been developing and directing the Off Broadway musical “Disenchanted!” written by Dennis T. Giacino. The musical has been licensed worldwide via Broadwaylicensing.com and is about to embark on a USA National Tour in 2025. Dennis and I are currently working on our newest theatrical project “The Cat, The Rat and What Happened!,” a new family musical based on the children’s book I wrote last year. On the graphics side I also did animations for Jonathan Blank’s award-winning documentary, “Sex, Drugs and Bicycles.” I think folks who have worked with me like my honesty, sense of humor, and my intuitive approach to any project. I also like to think out of the box. I’m not schooled in any of disciplines I currently pursue, so my street sense gives a real world approach to any project I’m part of.

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

Being a theatermaker takes a lot of time, sacrifice and a belief in the unbelievable. For years my partner and I slept on friends’ and family’s floors as we worked towards taking our musical to Off Broadway. We were lucky that we had a friend who had a small one bedroom apartment and she let us sleep on the floor of her living room while we rehearsed and developed the show around the country. Before that, my partner and I wrote and produced our original shows. We funded it all using everything we made from our other jobs. We spent as little as we can on everything else, just so we can invest in our shows. It took us about 25 years to be an “overnight” success, where our show is now being licensed worldwide and has been translated in 5 languages. There was no reason to believe one of our shows would be a success, all we knew was what we felt in our guts and we tried not to think about the future, but only look at what was in front of us.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

The pandemic was a time where everyone pivoted. There was no other choice. Some people tried desperately to hold on to what they knew, but for others we accepted the change in course and opened our hearts to new adventures. I decided to turn to writing and illustrating a children’s book, which has been in a dream of mine since I was a kid myself. I got it published and when it was published, my writing partner decided that we could turn this into our next musical. The children’s book entitled “Reebee deedoo dada” was about a green cat who loves to sing, but gets bullied by a rat. Inspired by my growing up feeling different and being bullied, I wanted to share my story. The pandemic allowed a lot of us to look deeper inside ourselves and ask ourselves what we truly wanna share and leave with the world.

Contact Info: 

• Website: https://www.officialdisenchantedmusical.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fielymatias
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/fiely.matias
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@fielymatias

Image Credits
All images I created myself except for: directing.jpeg photo by Brad Cerenzia