Life and Work with Victoria Maldonado

Today we’d like to introduce you to Victoria Maldonado.

Hi Victoria, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was born in South Carolina on an Air Force base. My childhood home was wrought with violence and aggression, abuse and emotional neglect but also interwoven with beautiful loving memories of my family wanting to care for me. I am Latina. And I come from a long line of wonderfully made Spanish, Indigenous and Caribbean ancestors. I sometimes wonder if our family had not gone through so much, would I still be where I am today? Ah, such is life.

I have been in an out of hospitals for mental and emotional stability. It’s been a rocky one having been diagnosed with so many “illnesses”; PTSD, Borderline Personality Disorder, an eating disorder and the like. It’s unfortunate to say I struggle with depression and anxiety like most of the population but it’s true.

I think what makes me different is this underlying fight I have to live. Despite all the hardships and glory, I am always trying to find something that’s meaningful. I’m very mindful and interested in how people behave, perceive me and are treated. I work really, really hard at having meaningful relationships with others and myself.

One of the things that has helped me grow immensely on this journey is art. Whether it be poetry, where I recite one of my spoken word poems annually at the Eating Disorder Foundation in Denver or drawing letters for menu boards, weddings, storefronts, etc, I always find the creative process to be soothing. Sometimes grounding and oftentimes illuminating.

I used to teach art to at-risk kids in Florida before I got laid-off and moved here. Since coming to the Denver Area five years ago, I feel myself deepening more and more into myself. It doesn’t come without its growing pains but here I am, still standing. I’ve made friends for a lifetime and I wouldn’t be where I am without them today. I am still working on myself and have discovered the ability and courage to finally pursue my own business.

I opened Let’s Chalk About Love, a hand-lettering and design studio, about 6 months ago and I am extremely proud. I’ve taken my life and my job a lot more seriously, my worth being one of them. I love learning about myself throughout this entire entrepreneurial process and am hoping to grow more into the Denver market as the years and months come by.

My lifetime goal is to allow this business to flourish in a way that I can afford to go back to school and become an art therapist, something that I feel has been in my heart for a long, long time. I like to make pretty things, sure, but I would love to have an impact again.

My friends, family and support team mean the world to me. If I didn’t have them, I wouldn’t be here. They say you’re only as strong as the people around you… well… I must be so loved because here I am. Talking to you. An editor of a magazine because someone believed in me. Despite what I’ve been through, I believe in me too.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Oh gosh, absolutely not, lol. I think my biggest struggles have been my mental and emotional ones. After sexual abuse as a child and emotional neglect from a parental figure, I’ve really struggled to know my worth and let people in. “Working hard” has not been something that’s been difficult for me. It’s letting people in to help that’s been the most difficult part.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
So, I am a hand-lettering artist. Meaning, I create beautiful letterforms with my hands, haha. Sometimes that’s paint, sometimes it’s a pen. Oftentimes, it’s procreate: an app I use on the IPad to create digital art.

I first started when I was just a cafe worker in Florida. I made all the fun signs for our specials and soup boards. Until one day I customer came in and told me she was leaving her job as an art teacher for the Boys & Girls Club. She asked me to apply because she loved my personality and well, my art was nice.

I eventually became that art teacher and loved what I did. When I moved here, I sort of lost that inspiration. I stayed in the mental health field but lettering took a backseat.

It wasn’t until I entered my most recent romantic partnership that I lost my way a little bit. I needed some more grounding so again, I went back to lettering.

What makes my creative process different than others is that I use art in a way that’s not just to make something pretty (though I love doing that too) but to lean more into myself. I’m SO conscious of how I approach the page and how my relationship to whatever medium I’m using that day is telling me about how I’m showing up in the world. Am I tense? Am I holding the pen too tight? Why am I disappointed even though I spent so long creating this? Do I need to take a step back and see things from a different light?

What makes me different is how conscious and self-aware I am about what I do. I used to think it was a burden. Now I feel it is a gift and I want to help people other people feel the same thing.

Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
Oh gosh, another one. Haha. Yes, absolutely.

Wow, I feel very strongly about this one. A lot comes up for me.

I feel that my whole life is an entire risk. As someone who struggles with passive and sometimes active suicidality, I live my life in a way that says, “is this going to make me happy? Because if not… I don’t want to be here.” That may seem very extreme but to me it’s a way of asking.. “this is your one life. Is this how you want to live it?” Which then leads me to a lot of risk-taking, haha.

When I moved to Colorado five years ago, I was in a relationship with my then girlfriend who was set in her ways in Florida. Though I loved her, I knew I wanted to be somewhere else. I had the conversation with her and boom, I’m here. A risk I was willing to take. (She came with me btw, lol, but didn’t stay very long)

I take risks in speaking up for myself in everyday situations. I feel almost every moment is a chance to take a risk. “What if I smell this flower? What would happen if I finally pulled over and stopped at the shop I see everyday?” Who knows! Life is full of risk!

Pricing:

• Chalkboards start at $120
• Murals start at $250
• Glass/Window starts at $150
• Donate to my www.Ko-fi.com/letschalkaboutlove to get me to art therapy school faster!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.Letschalkaboutlove.com
• Instagram: @letschalkaboutlove or @letschalkaboutstickers
• Other: Ko-fi.com/letschalkaboutlove