We were lucky to catch up with KORA DELTA recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, KORA thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s jump right into how you came up with the idea?
This is an excellent question. I want to get a couple of things straight. I am very young. All my creative things are for fun, gaining knowledge and connections, and experiences. All the right people and money, and opportunities will naturally flow.
My occupation in the military is very intellectual, very structured, and very left-brain. To balance this out, I need to do something creative and abstract.
I have always, always had an interest in the arts and something creative my whole life. When I joined the Air Force I wanted a way to document my Air Force journey. Everyone should have hobbies that keep them in shape, keep them creative, and makes them money. I already am an active person, so I thought photography is a great way to stay creative and also make money.
In January 2020 I bought my first camera, a Canon T7i. Then, the pandemic broke out, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me from being creative. Social Distancing? How about hiking in the mountains and plains of Idaho? There isn’t anyone for miles! I really connected with nature, I used my camera on my excursions, and I loved it. Forward to October, I decided it was time to establish a name, a business. As much as I tried, no one wanted to hire me! Businesses were still traumatized into holding money, but I loved the creative process more than I love money. I volunteered my time, and in exchange, I got personal connections, content for me and the partner, and sometimes free swag.
One of my first creative projects was KOLD, a way where I would taste food and beverage “going cold” meaning it would be things I have never tried, and to give my expert taste opinion on. Notable companies like GT’s, Brew Dr., and Humm Kombucha have sent me free beverages to taste. I didn’t care about “oh I’m not making money”; but rather I thought “wow, free kombucha!” and it made my videos that much more authentic because regardless of the money, I gave my soul into telling people about the notes, flavors, and acidity of kombucha. To this day, I have grown connections with Wild Tonic, and working on facilitating a connection with Rowdy Mermaid.
I literally need to be creative to survive. I need to balance out my hobbies with my career in the military. In 2021 when I was deployed, I neglected my creative side and caused an imbalance in my brain chemistry to sway too much one way. I suffered through one of the worst mental struggles that whole year and the following winter, so much so I almost wouldn’t be here today writing this article. What could I have done? Maybe gotten a magazine subscription of art to see and digest. Join an online group of art enjoyers to converse with to take tactical breaks and resilience pauses from work. There is always a way to be a part of your hobbies.
From the onset of PTSD, my stubbornness slowly and painfully directed it to Post-Traumatic Growth. It felt like I was crawling with bloody fingers out of my depression and suicide to never be in the same situation again. Experiencing music of all kinds, dancing, and singing in the car helped restore my humanity and I continued my photography and video work.
In March 2022 I became one of the photographers for Treefort Music Fest, taking pictures of concerts and drag shows; a complete opposite of the landscape and nature photography I did two years prior. Even to this day, in November 2022 I am still finding my style of photography, but it will only make me a better creative to try all different kinds of mediums. Throughout the Summer of 2022, I took photos of Idaho Fashion Week, which was such an eye-opener and helped me find “my people”. I knew I couldn’t stay in Idaho much longer. I realized how unique I am, I met new people, and seeing the way they talked and walked, and acted was a breath of fresh air to me. It was a hit of inspiration and motivation for me to keep going when I was still recovering from PTSD.
Then in September 2022, I took content for Flipside fest. I had experience, knowledge, and most importantly: how to be unique and stand out. In a sea of photographers with their 20-pound bags doing freelance work, I just had my camera with a small shotgun mic strapped on my shoulder and a skateboard making vertical videos because no one else was doing it. I was agile, I was lightweight, and I was doing something like TikTok which apparently people are still trying to adapt to it. I was winning against my past self, and that’s all that mattered. No more taking hundreds of photos and spending 2 minutes per photo to send them to people and hope that they post them, tag you, or even pay your suggested fee. I made my TikTok/Reels, shared them myself, and had people begging ME to send them the photo. I learned, and I am not wasting any more time.
If I never bought that camera, I would have never taken the photos, which would have never built my portfolio, which would have never given me the confidence to talk to businesses, which would have never built my portfolio anymore, which would have never gotten me noticed by other entities, and eventually, all that momentum and hard work you put in WILL work for you. People will instantly think of you when they think of “concert photography” or “fashion photography”. People will want to be your friend and invite you to things, where you meet other cool people, and that momentum just keeps growing and growing. Stay Grateful throughout, and frequently look back and admire yourself for how much you have done.
Always do new things, if you like it, then great. If you don’t then it gives you more confidence in what your taste is.
Was this a worthwhile endeavor? YES. There was a point where I literally had to be creative to keep my mental health aligned so I wouldn’t do anything drastic to myself. After much therapy and alone time, I have set the right mental framework where I can be content with the ethics of my military career and not need to obsess over other things to escape out of fear I would harm myself. I am comfortable in both situations and can ride those ebbs and flows with ease.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Kora. I am a Creative Mind – Spiritual Being – and Adventurous Soul. I have always been a unique kid. My ethnicity is half Burmese and half Honduran, two countries literally across the world from each other.I have moved 44 times (I have counted). I was in foster care for five years. I am a transwoman in the military. I literally cannot escape the fact that I have a very unique life. I embrace it, I have a unique perspective on life and have amassed such wisdom at a young age, I am a very powerful person. I understand human behavior. I have the knowledge and wisdom of people in their 80s, but I understand all the lingos and quirks of being in my 20s. I understand the internet. I was raised on the internet.
I am a problem solver, believe it or not. I am a Creative Mind. I think of abstract solutions to build better roads, make a city safer, have a more ergonomically changing room when shopping at a mall, think of better software improvements for Instagram and Spotify, knowing when to move from one social platform to another. I am a cunning and sharp person. I am the snake in the bushes, observing. Striking when the time is right.
Because I understand human behavior, I know how to create a personal connection with someone, as deep and as fast as both of our energies allow. I am a Spiritual Being. My Asian family’s blood comes from the Dragon Clan. My Hispanic family’s blood comes from Mayan Sun Warriors. I have a birthright to the ancient powers of both heritages. Stacked on top of each other, I can be either a warrior of destruction or a warrior for peace. I attract the right people to allow both of us to heal and grow. I was recently at an Odesza concert in September. I made friends with some fellow fans when we were in the front. Because I knew I was in the midst of a person who was mature, I knew I could be vulnerable, which allowed them to be vulnerable. We both shared our lives and exchanged energies. A few weeks later as I am moving to Tucson from Boise we meet for coffee and learn the husband sold two cancer biotech medical companies and is now learning to heal from abusive religious indoctrination and wanted someone to come along to learn and grow on their life path. Later that day I’m eating Charcuterie that’s hundreds of dollars drinking even more expensive wine in their private estate and using a bathroom that was bigger than my entire bedroom.
How the heck do these things happen? This is just one of the many wild stories I have by me being undeniably myself. Accepting my uniqueness and elevating my spirit.
I am young, I am active. I am an Adventurous Soul. Humans are meant to roam free, to be wild, to go out and explore. I have gathered various memories and physical collectibles on my travels, and when I settle down, I will be so happy and content in my life to see a piece of a broken keyboard key and think “I remember that one time it was the last performance of the music festival and the artist smashed and destroyed their keyboard with a bat that has nails poking out”. I am going to shout out things on my wall and let your imagination run wild, but reach out to me and I can tell you the story: an illuminati certificate, an invitation to an event that is partially burned at the edges, a mirror with many various bodily fluids on it, a box of matches from a hotel restaurant. I want to have those experiences like that. I want to get closer to people, closer to nature, and closer to God.
Life is a fucking mess, so truly take in and feel all of it, on both extremes.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
I eluded to mental health. I think this is the perfect segway. I will go into some excruciating detail on some things, and hopefully someday people reading this will be able to read through my experiences without any triggers. It was hard for me, but the work to heal is so worth it. Being in an abusive home so much where the government has to step in and say “you are legally no longer this person’s parent” is a bit too much for an average 5-year-old kid. Then to spend another 5 years bouncing from house to house to house to house to house to house to house to house to…..
Is a lot for anyone, especially a vulnerable kid who already has unearthed gender identity struggles they won’t address for another decade, and now has attachment issues, and struggles in school, and becomes overall sensitive and pretty much autistic.
But I had some right people at the right time. People who cared, maybe a teacher, or a friend, or another foster parent.
Then to be pressured into being adopted because the foster system is a little tired of moving you so much. Thinking this will be good, but has a father with masculine inferiority issues and a mother that is an alcoholic bipolar and knows it but won’t do anything about it and gets nasty when the topic comes up.
You learn to keep your mouth shut. You learn when to be fake happy, and when to not be in sight. You learn how to hide things and be secretive, you learn to be cunning and discreet.
I don’t want to get messages like “oh poor you!” I don’t give a fuck about that. I am giving you a framework of what my past is, what I really want is for you to be in awe of how it is overcome.
In life, you can become the victim or the victor, and there was no way I was going to be mentally crippled for the rest of my life when I’m going to live to be 150. I take the pain and learn from it, grow from it. Harden from it. Many people “toughen up” after hard situations, but the truly strong people learn to soften up, be human again but also have that side of them that can overcome challenges. I learned that people have their own struggles, and the truly weak ones lash out at others. They don’t really care about you, even though they want you to think that they only care about their own world. Once you realize this, you actually hold pity and realize how pathetic some people are. They can’t hurt you, no one can hurt you without your permission. Then to become soft AFTER THE FACT, and tell them how it made you feel, and to calmly shut them down and tell them how they’re never going to hurt you anymore, to see them fall apart and cry while you slowly tell them these words?! The powerful feeling, when you recover and come back stronger to mentally destroy someone, but instead make them powerless is using your power wisely and not abusing it. Everything is in balance, treat others the way you want to be treated. I will not strike at anyone physically, because those who wronged me (physically, mentally, emotionally, xxxxxxxxx, financially) will receive that negative energy they gave back at them much more. I understand this and then become nice still, and the good energy I gave when I could have been hurtful back comes to me even greater fold.
The best way and fastest way to heal is to go through it rather than mask it. As I said, it was hard for me, but the work to heal is so worth it.
Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?
I have a plethora of resources I think anyone would love, I am about to drop so many links to things, it will be a lot.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1vLhGBFDjQ2P8amfB9PgpXq5VViNAQv5K?usp=share_link
Movies:
Perks of Being a Wallflower
Seven years in Tibet
Shawshank Redemption
The Last Samurai
Pride and Prejudice
Part of who I am has to do with the books I read. The books listed have helped shape me and helped me define who I really am. I am still on the journey to find myself. We all are. I know myself better than anyone else. I also feel closer to my inner spirit than most people are with theirs. Meditate. But most importantly, find a relationship with God. Once you tap into the Holy Spirit, you will have an unlimited amount of power to achieve things you never thought possible.
***The Outsiders
A Wrinkle in Time
The Catcher in the Rye
Fahrenheit 451
***You are a Badass
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Looking for Alaska
***The Fault in our Stars
***The GREAT Gatsby
Pride and Prejudice
***The Things They Carried
Flipped
Call of the wild
White Fang
Huck Finn
Paper Towns
***Warrior Ethos
Here are some things I want to do, so I always stay active and mentally sharp:
https://isha.sadhguru.org/us/en
-Amazing yoga and wisdom from Sadhguru. I want to retreat in India, learn Hatha yoga, and do all the great spiritual things. They have a retreat in Tenessee that would be great to visit
https://www.workaway.info/
https://www.occupationwild.com/all-jobs
-Now I know you can travel much more luxuriously, but I also want to experience “slow living” a slow, low-impact travel
-Dave Asprey retreat in Washington
Yoga Teacher Training
Become reiki master
Acupuncture
Become a martial arts master
Learn about Architecture
Interior Design
Decor
Become a yogi in India (Isha yoga)
Learn languages
Flying Hours
Contact Info:
- Website: https://koradelta.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/koradelta/
- Facebook: https://www.instagram.com/tetra.jpg/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/koradelta/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXhZOmMjLytxGEqMBBEPGtQ
- Other: https://linktr.ee/koradelta https://www.tiktok.com/@koradelta https://open.spotify.com/show/6BqJCy7sDtUkBLtH8vc09q
Image Credits
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