We were lucky to catch up with Zaskia Villa recently and have shared our conversation below.

Zaskia, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?

I still remember the first time I verbalized what my purpose was. It was my second year of college and I was sitting in an interview at a local production company with a sore throat so awful it had nearly wiped out my entire voice. I looked my future boss in the eyes and used whatever voice I had left to tell him, “in a world that is becoming more technological, I want to remind people what it means to be human.”

At the time, I didn’t know exactly what I meant by this, much less how I was going to do it. I figured it would be through artwork, specifically through film, which is what I was studying at the time.

Art had always been a significant part of my life. When it came to science, however, I felt a bit less motivated. The subjects themselves were extremely interesting to me, but I often struggled to comprehend everything fully, especially at the quick rate we were expected to learn it. I had low self-esteem and I convinced myself I’d never revisit these subjects; they wouldn’t serve me in the future.

As the years passed and I increasingly grew more aware of myself and those around me, I felt myself being tugged further and further in the direction of psychology and brain science. I loved reading about it for fun. It was also invigorating for me to psychoanalyze myself and others, especially for the purpose of helping my loved ones suffering with depression, which at this point became one of my main passions.

After a couple years of working in a marketing & videographer role after college (which perfectly aligned with my undergrad studies), I found myself feeling hungry for more.

 This is when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and the business I worked for was unfortunately heavily impacted.

I was laid off from my first job.

At first, I panicked. It felt like grieving a death. And in some ways I was.. since I had grown so close to my boss and coworkers. I felt that I was thrown into the depths of the ocean without any life support.

It took about a week after my last day of work to sink into the feeling of being utterly lost.

Maybe this was just what I needed.

 I spent a lot of my free time reading my psychology books out on the porch, researching entry-level jobs in psychology, and looking for research assistant opportunities. This didn’t have to be a sob story. It was my chance to align myself and prepare a pathway for the rest of my life.

Months and several epiphanies later, I gleaned poems and entries from my journals to concoct a plan. I was going to create a blog around introspection. I was going to start a movement to help others look inward. I was going to go back to school to get licensed as a psychotherapist (now I’ve decided on becoming a psychiatric nurse practitioner) and I was going to use art to help others recognize their inner power.

Here is where I am now, after studying healing modalities for treatment-resistant depression and diving further into the reasons why I create art in the first place:

Perspecta Island (perspectaisland.com) is an online-based community with the mission of promoting mental health and personal growth through introspective multimedia art. This includes a primary blog site showcasing curated artwork, as well as resources for treatments using various modalities of therapy and healing work.

As I learn more, I am keeping my mind open to the shifts and transformations that Perspecta Island will endure, but for now, in its infancy, this is the way I am choosing to remind people that..

…in a world that is becoming more technological, we must not forget the beauty of humanness and the immense gift that lies in the will to turn inward.

Zaskia, 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?

For those who do not know me, I am a filmmaker, musician and founder of an infant psychedelic art blog called Perspecta Island.

I recently broke into the mental health industry with my first job as an assistant to a ketamine-assisted psychotherapist. I am also currently a student in the Vital psychedelic education program hosted by Psychedelics Today and am soon to begin the process of applying to graduate programs to become a psychiatric nurse practitioner.

While my business (Perspecta Island) presently manifests as a hub for psychedelic- and introspective-inspired artwork, it may also someday transform into a home base for my brand as I aspire to make valuable contributions to the psychedelic renaissance and mental health through authored books and public speaking opportunities.

In my documentary film work, I plan to use my vision to propel the conversation around mental well-being, psychedelic medicines, and inner work forward. I’m channeling these topics from my own angle which is quite skeptical, logical, imaginative & artful in nature. My hope is to reach an audience of individuals who are turned off by holistic medicines and are skeptical of the mental health industry, in general. Currently, I am in the midst of a new project based around describing the ketamine-assisted psychotherapy experience.

My musicianship is more personal to me, however; in this space, I am not creating for anyone other than myself. In the music I create, I tell stories of my introspective journeys, many of these revealing themselves as conversations with myself. I recently posted my first single on Bandcamp, which can be found by searching my first name.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Shifting my career from marketing & video to psychedelic psychotherapy was an enormous leap for me. I had no experience, guidance, or connections.

I was traveling without a road map, relying on my intuition to lead the way. 

I decided to cut back on my hours in a videographer position and devote myself to using any extra time to making connections, asking for advice and applying to countless entry-level positions in the field of psychology, mental health & psychedelic research. I only had my passion to show for.

My stress levels were accelerating as my savings account dwindled; the time I thought I was saving from going part-time was being filled up with class obligations (I had started taking pre-requisites in psychology at a local college) and all my efforts were transpiring in rejections and roadblocks.

There was a point when I had an emotional breakdown from the stress in front of my mom and I remember seeing the worry in her eyes. All she wanted was for me to feel stable and happy. She asked if I was sure this was the right path for me to move in and I don’t think I can ever forget the fire that ignited in me at that moment. Without hesitance, I said, “I’m sure.”

The months passed and an opportunity I thought would have ended up working out, fell through. I was struggling to make ends meet but I couldn’t get myself to give up this dream. I couldn’t stay in my old line of work; it wasn’t for me anymore.

Finally, after a long 9 months of spinning my wheels, a door finally opened for me in psychedelic medicine.

My current employer gave me an opportunity to work alongside her and help her ketamine-assisted psychotherapy clinic with administration. This position has given me the resources to learn more about the industry, to meet people and to be present in the world I’m heading towards. I am so grateful to be where I am now and I truly thank my current boss, my persistence, luck & sweet intuition for bringing me here.

Next stop: graduate school.

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

As I’ve now decided that I’m going back to school to become a psychiatric nurse practitioner, I’ve had to accept that I will be revisiting science subjects that I once struggled to understand.

I’m approaching it now with a new confidence and curiosity because, over the years, I’ve learned that we can teach ourselves any skill so long as we understand what learning styles work best for us.

I’ve unlearned the idea that I cannot do well in a scientific field. I am going to put my all into this work and see what transpires.

Contact Info:

• Website: perspectaisland.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/perspecta.island/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4ruYoJJfLkXBAE26hYsnfQ
• Other: https://zaskia.bandcamp.com/releases

Image Credits
Jedzia Rodriguez, Vishakh Pillai