We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Valentina Alvarez a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Valentina, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on is creating Soul, a creative coliving space for artists, travelers, and anyone seeking a safe environment to create, connect, and embrace a slower pace of life. This project holds deep significance because it stems from my personal journey as an artist and entrepreneur.

Throughout my career, finding inspiration and connecting with other artists has been both essential and challenging. While traveling, I often experience a surge of creativity life’s textures, colors, characters, and new experiences awaken my artistic spirit. However, limited budgets for long stays or the need to return home for work frequently disrupted this creative flow.

The idea of establishing a space where artists could gather, create, and inspire one another has been a long-standing dream. As a photographer and designer, I’ve freelanced for years, but I always envisioned a home where I could welcome like-minded souls people with a thirst for creation, ready to leave their unique marks on a shared canvas.

Soul emerged from this vision. It’s more than just a physical space it’s a nurturing environment built on the values of community, creativity, and shared experiences. Seeing others create, collaborate, and grow within this space has been profoundly rewarding, making Soul the most meaningful project of my professional journey.

The space is now open. It took me about a year to renew, shape, and tailor it and it remains a project that is never truly finished. This evolving nature excites me because Soul is now in the hands of others, making it a free and dynamic entity.

We are beginning to build a community infused with the diversity of the world different backgrounds, ideas, and thoughts merging into a collective piece of art.

This makes me incredibly happy because I believe empathy in the art world is essential. In my journey, I often found myself navigating a maze of ideologies, trends, and competition where solidarity was scarce.

Valentina, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a visual artist born in Caracas, Venezuela, inspired by a childhood filled with travels through diverse and beautiful landscapes. These experiences shaped my creative journey, blending nature’s raw beauty into my artistic work.

As a photographer, visual communicator, and designer with a master’s degree in interior design, I’ve followed a path driven by curiosity and a passion for creating meaningful spaces. Thirteen years ago, I moved to Europe, embracing new opportunities and challenges along the way.

My passion lies in building immersive environments where art and hospitality intersect. This inspired my project ‘Soul,’ a creative space that merges artistic expression with hosting experiences. For the past four years, I’ve attended the Electric Picnic music festival in Ireland, designing imaginative settings and transforming ideas into magical worlds.

Working in hospitality has taught me that dealing with the public is complex—they’ve become my clients in a very direct way, requiring both adaptability and attentiveness. Unlike design and photography commissions, where creative freedom is greater, hosting requires a different approach, balancing creativity with service.

What makes my work unique is its multidisciplinary focus—from brand development to designing and building physical spaces—all approached with an artistic touch and a sense of playfulness. I transform concepts into engaging environments that leave lasting impressions.

Choosing to be a freelance artist allowed me to avoid the limits of traditional office work and embrace the variety and flexibility that make my work exciting. This approach hasn’t always guaranteed financial stability, but it has brought immense personal fulfillment by blending organization with spontaneity—two essential elements for happiness in any creative endeavor. I believe that with persistence and belief in your vision, dreams can flourish.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

I’ve come to realize that setting specific goals in a creative journey can feel limiting, as the true magic lies in the journey itself the unfolding process that shapes both the creator and the work. The rewards come naturally along the way, through learning, evolving, and connecting.

However, if I were to define a mission, it would be to create a safe and nurturing space for others to express themselves freely. My own experience navigating creative networks has been challenging at times, as these environments often become competitive and self-serving, driven by individual ambitions. In such spaces, empathy and genuine connection can be overshadowed by the pursuit of personal success.

In response, I’ve dedicated my journey to fostering a welcoming environment where creativity thrives through collaboration, mutual respect, and shared inspiration. A space where individuals can feel supported, understood, and free to explore their artistic potential without fear of judgment.

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

One of the most defining moments of resilience in my journey came when I decided to leave behind a well-established creative career in Dublin and move to Portugal to start anew. In Dublin, I had built a name for myself in photography and design, but relocating to a traditional Portuguese town on the outskirts of Lisbon meant beginning from scratch, both personally and professionally.

I shifted my focus from the creative industries to hospitality, launching Soul Coliving, a concept still unfamiliar to the local community. Balancing these two worlds my artistic identity and my new entrepreneurial venture has required determination, adaptability, and relentless hard work. Introducing a creative hospitality space where art, community, and cultural exchange coexist has been a challenging yet rewarding process.

I’m still in the midst of this journey, working every day to merge these two worlds. Despite the cultural barriers and the challenge of redefining myself, I remain committed to building this dream. Soul Coliving continues to evolve into a space where creativity and hospitality meet, offering a unique experience for travelers and artists alike. It’s a project shaped by resilience, where art and community intertwine, inspiring others as much as they inspire me.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.valentina-alvarez.com
• Instagram: valentinalv
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/valentarts/
• Other: www.soulcoliving.com
  www.soulcoliving.com