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

Hi Raiza, thanks for joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

My mission has always been to spread love and light. It’s been to help the broken hearted, those that feel unheard and/or unseen. It’s been to amplify peoples voices and visions for a better tomorrow for generations to come.

At a very early age, I had an awareness that people, animals, and the world itself was hurting. Witnessing a lot of suffering, death, injustice, racism, and tragedy, imbedded in my heart this desire to want to use my voice to bring about change. I was inspired listening and witnessing actions taken by activist who were continuously fighting for a better world. It taught me that our voices have power and inspired my mission to be an activist of love in order to evoke positive change within peoples hearts. I learned that if you can impact someones heart, you can impact the people within their community, which then impacts the people within their community, and so on and so forth. I believe you don’t have to work in specific fields to be a mission driven company. All business can be mission driven and so when I take photos, design content, and create visuals, it’s always with what was previously shared in mind. How can I create, design, capture a moment that will be impactful.

Raiza, 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 am a 35 year old multi-racial woman of color who was born in the Caribbean, Puerto Rico and grew up in the United States. From a very early age, I had a desire to see the world and the different people and cultures within it. I loved exposing myself to new experiences and adventure all while wanting to help others. Pursuing creativity wasn’t widely accepted as a viable career option as I was growing up, so I pursued a career in the mental health field. I found throughout my career that I kept dancing back & forth with my creative side but had a fear of taking the leap. During undergrad, all of my electives were rooted in creativity. I took communications, video, photography and art classes. My art professor, Professor Montefusco, and my communications professor, Professor Hughes, gave me the confidence and continued inspiration to pursue art. It was through those electives that the desire really took off. My undergrad professors guided me and helped me create an art portfolio I used to submit my application into art school and to my surprise I got into the grad school program I applied for. Next thing I knew, I was pursuing a Masters in Art.

After school, I was a bit conflicted. I wanted to simultaneously help the community while being creative. I just couldn’t figure out how to do that. I worked for different jobs and always ended up with a feeling of unfulfillment. If I was helping people and wasn’t being creative, I felt unhappy. If I was being creative and not helping others, I felt unhappy. After years of searching for a space where I could do both, I decided the only way I’d be able to do both would be to start my own company. I started a non-profit 501 (c) 3 to help the community and for-profit to tap into my creative side, and felt an immense sense of purpose and joy. After juggling the two for 5+ years, I came to the realization that I was still being torn in two different directions and made the tough decision of closing my non-profit to start again. I can’t get into too much detail just yet because it’s in the works, but my next step is to start a new business, with a new company name that is centered on being both mission driven and creative.

I provide services from photography that include events and special occasions, outdoor and travel photography, to illustration, and graphic design. I create and capture visuals that share a moment, tells a story, evokes emotion, and leaves a lasting impactful memory. I go beyond creating and capturing moments, by producing a space where people feel heard, seen, understood and loved. I create visual solutions for potential problems and tell clients story with my work.

I believe my mission and drive to make a difference sets me apart. Including my compassion for people and their stories. I treat others like family, dedicating my time into ensuring that everything I create is exactly what the client envisioned. I pour my heart into my work. Every photo I capture or visual I design and/or create is a piece I spend countless hours on. I don’t just mindlessly create with the focus of making money. I create with the desire to breathe life into peoples visions and stories.

I am most proud of myself for taking the leap to pursue a career that was tailored to the things most important to me, creativity and impact.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

A few lessons I had to unlearn was the idea that you have to have it all figured out first before taking steps to achieve or pursue a goal and that the approval or disproval of others determines if a goal is accomplishable. I have had a lot of people in my life tell me that I would never make a change or impact others lives, stating it was impossible. I’ve heard time and time again that the world is doomed from the start and there is nothing we can do about it. It’s just life. I was told that I would never find success pursuing a creative field because all creatives are starving artists and that I had to have it all planned out before taking my first steps because all successful business’s have detailed business plans. Those “lessons” seemed to be narratives ingrained into parts of American culture I was exposed to. I’ve always been someone to dive head first into something and figure it out later. The times I waited to have it all figured out, I realized I would never learn anything if I didn’t take the leap. I witnessed other people just go for things that were typically widely unaccepted as steps that should be taken and learned through others that it was okay to do things differently. There’s always going to be someone who disapproves your idea, passion, or goal. It was through others “defeating the odds” that I learned that everything I mentioned before was not set in stone even if the majority of people say so. It was super helpful to unlearn a lot of those concepts which gave me so much freedom and I’m grateful for the ones that paved the way for me.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

There is a lack of understanding and disconnect regarding what creativity is, looks like and stands for. There is a perception that it is a cookie cut-out, one size fits all. Which it’s not. I’d argue all people are creative in their own ways. I’d say I think people who don’t embrace creativity, don’t understand that it’s okay to be creative. That creativity is needed in the world and is ever changing and ever evolving. Creativity is perceived as a form of rebellion against those that are trying to create a world full of rules, structure, and boxes. For there to be improvement and growth in the world, rules need to be challenged, changed, and broken, which creativity does. There isn’t just one way to do things and I’d say creativity is needed just as much as structure. That is probably what most people have a hard time understanding regarding my journey as a creative.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.raizanoelia.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/raizanoelia