Conversations with Cristen Alexandria

Today we’d like to introduce you to Cristen Alexandria.

Hi Cristen, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’m Cristen Alexandria, a producer/DJ Community educator, and movement artist in the Southwest. Someone once told me we are our ancestor’s dreams and prayers, so in truth, my story begins with the strength of my family. As an Egyptian-Indigenous creator, honoring the lineage and sacrifices made by relatives in all forms to thrive, learn and craft a life of meaning are foundational to my artistry and understanding of the world.

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?
My story is anything but smooth! In my daily life as a trauma and violence-informed advocate, I often reflect on the many turns, events, experiences, and synchronicities that have shaped this wild and surprising life path. I lost my birth parents at an extremely young age which in truth a younger me saw as something of a curse (though I deeply love my adopted family). Yet, many of these obstacles have been the catalysts for intentional transformation, healing, and questioning both existence and purpose.

I have always been drawn to exploring the journey of the inner world, the mind, and spirit, spending hours as a child creating giant collages, dancing, and wandering outdoors to connect what I was feeling with tangible realities of expression, processes I still turn to and find foundational inspiration in. Working with survivors from all walks of life and stories, these days, many of the challenges I’ve faced as an emerging artist and as a person having a human experience are less of a barrier and more serve as points of connection.

In both my own and collective healing work, I feel strongly there are still numerous ways that more space can be offered to advocate and share compassionate practices of understanding generational trauma and how we likewise how to connect communal care with showing up to amplify means of access and equitable opportunities for creators.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Beyond producing creative projects, hosting a weekly radio show, and participating in the community as a DJ/musician, I foremost identify as a movement artist and equity advocate. This identification is central to work within our local and collective community because it speaks the communal truth that there’s a lot of room to grow, learn and deepen practices of restorative justice, outreach and education. I’ve been on the air on the radio in the Four Corners for the past 3 years repping and sharing stories of creatives of the Southwest.

Each interview is different and producing/hosting as a whole sometimes can feel like an entire lifetime in one exchange. I am still leaning toward understanding how to stay consistent with creative development, and have had the joy to practice and develop my artistry through expanding as a visual artist and recently receiving a substantial grant to delve deeper into producing, a move which I’ve been slowly weaving together through independent journalism for over a decade.

I recently completed a course in mediation at the University of New Mexico Law School, and if it taught me anything, it’s that listening and acknowledging are key. So, on a real level, I am most proud of the weeks when balance feels achieved, I get to hang with friends and family, create (and complete!) content for my clients, and when I’m listening to my intuition and acknowledging what the next steps in the dance might be.

I don’t have it entirely figured out but I have no problem trying and asking mentors or persons farther along for help and I think that’s something that sets my ethics apart from a lot of elements society tells us are essential to building a brand/business. It’s entirely possible to slow down, be reflective and do things in your own time and way that is authentic to you!

Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
Something surprising that people might not know about me is that I have seriously been all about radio forever! I grew up in a rural very small village in NorCal and radio was how we got our news and learned what was going on in the world. I got my start reading children’s books on air, interned in high school for a local station, and moved to Chicago to hopefully work for NPR, yet somewhere took an entirely different path and began working in print media, later starting my first production platform, interviewing musicians and creatives while in college.

After school, I ended up professionally pursuing journalism, later entirely jumping ship on reporting to become an actor for a few summers in Santa Fe. While I don’t do a lot of acting these days, experiencing the design and artistic development in a fast-paced ever-evolving environment carries much of the momentum I weave into my work as a storyteller and producer, especially about photography. While something pretty known about me is I love to take portraits, a lot of my work is inspired by a love of short films and cinematography—creating a feeling and capturing the authenticity of a moment is essential to my artistry.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @4Cornersart and @999c___
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/show/76HBHrvVdyIgXVFS3E02IF?si=9e2a26f9982742a8