We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Joanna Kalafatis. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Joanna below.

Joanna, appreciate you joining us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I always loved being creative, ever since I was a kid. I grew up very involved in the arts; learning piano, learning how to dance, and performing in school plays. However, when I entered college, even though I wanted to study theater, I thought this was an “impractical” path to follow professionally. I spent my freshman year searching around, taking different classes that interested me, and landed on economics as a major. I liked it well enough, it seemed like I could use the degree in a variety of fields, and it seemed more socially “respectable”, in my mind.

During my junior year, I was studying abroad in Cape Town, South Africa, and a car hit me as I was crossing the street. The damage was severe. A half-collapsed lung, a broken femur, multiple bruises, and heavy blood loss. Something changed in me that day. I realized that in one short moment, my life could have ended. Without warning. And what was I doing? Something that I liked, but not something I was passionate about. Something that made me feel like half my soul was dormant. Something that was “practical” and acceptable socially, whatever that meant in my immature head at that time.

That’s when I decided I would be finishing my degree, then moving to LA to pursue a creative path, for real this time.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am an actress and writer, with my writing mostly focusing on the travel space. In the last few years, I have appeared in the Netflix show “Maestro in Blue”, the UK show “Love Rat”, and a play at the Getty Villa based on the story of Alexander the Great. As for writing, I run a travel blog called LosetheMap.com. My articles have also appeared in Business Insider, Time Out New York, Matador Network, and several other digital and print publications. Last year I published my first full-length travel guide for Moon Travel Guides, titled Best of Greece. It’s an exploration of my homeland.

With my travel writing, I seek to go beyond the surface and really find interesting stories, histories, and cultural tidbits from my travels that I can relay to my readers. I always love peeking behind the curtain into how different societies and places function.

I also consistently write for The Infographics Show, an infotainment YouTube channel focused on answering questions relating to science, history, legends, and other interesting facets of our world. Thanks to my endless curiosity and over ten years of writing practice, I have become quite adept at processing tons of information, and distilling it down into easily digestible and (I’d like to think) occasionally humorous stories.

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

Pay them what they are worth! And give chances to new people to prove themselves. In all seriousness, a lot of people feel very comfortable devaluating artists and creatives of all kinds while relying on their output to get through every single day of their lives. They take advantage of the fact that so many new artists and creatives are desperate for any opportunity to show their work, to pay them almost nothing, or nothing.

When was the last time you made it through a day without listening to a podcast, or watching a TV show, or turning on some music? When was the last time you went a week without seeing a beautiful piece of art in someone’s home or office, or street art in some corner of your city? How many articles, poems, books, think pieces, and reviews have you read by writers from all over the world just this month? What gorgeous photographs and fascinating videos have you seen online and on social media since you woke up?

People make art because they love art, but the harder it is to earn money and sustain yourself via creativity, the fewer people will be creating all sorts of art and putting it out into our world.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Any time you try to follow the method or journey people say you should follow in order to succeed in your particular passion, you will most likely fail. Or take way too long to get anywhere. There is no one-size-fits-all model. You can improve your technique, you can get out there and meet fellow creatives who inspire you and can lead to job opportunities, but there is no one way to become a successful artist or creator.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://losethemap.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joanna.kalafatis/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LosetheMap1/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGtaHwo9CVaftSIkvNIwRaA

Image Credits

Personal Photo – Brian Love

Headshot Photo in batch – Damu Malik