We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Giana Delossantos a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Giana, appreciate you joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
The most meaningful project I have ever worked on is my poetry book called “Sanctuary.” I’ve been working on it since Sophomore year of high school and even now while I’m in college. I’ve written poems about all of my feelings. The happiest I’ve been, the saddest I’ve been, vulnerable, being in love and falling out of love. I allowed myself to feel every single emotion and write it down. This book is not only my sanctuary, but a sanctuary for other people. I want to help people feel comfortable reading my book, to be able to let themselves feel. No matter how painful it is, my book is a place they can count on being safe. I want people to feel like they’re not alone and that their feelings, whatever they’re feeling in that point in time, is valued. I hope to make people feel less lonely and to find comfort in my poetry book. This project is so meaningful to me because it’s been my diary. I’m able to look back and see how far I’ve come. How much I’ve grown from highschool to now. The book is me showing my vulnerable side, despite being someone who doesn’t open up to people easily. This book is me pushing myself past my limits and going beyond my comfort zone.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I’m a writer who writes from the heart and from personal experiences. I believe writing from personal experience makes the best stories because you are able to put all of the raw emotion into your writing. I enjoy writing about love, growing up, poetry and the most painful but necessary things that happen in our lives. I haven’t gotten into the industry yet since I’m a Senior in college, but when I do get into the industry, I really hope to make a difference. I want to share my stories based on my real emotions, showing the honest truth. I’m most proud of how far I’ve come so far. I’ve won 2 awards for writing, edited people’s works and have successfully made honor roll every single year in college. I believe in the concept of hard work paying off because it certainly has, at least with my experience. I’m only going to continue work hard until my dream of becoming a full writer and editor comes true.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
At the moment, my audience on social media is pretty small. The people who follow me are either friends or family. But after graduation I hope to grow my audience by being more active on my writing social media accounts.
Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
Network is your biggest resource. I was so scared to network with people before, but it really does help. Your friends can always help you connect you with someone to help you find a job or even to just have a connection.
