October 6, 2025 • 50 mins
From the Paris Opera Ballet School to circus stages and fine art photography, Laetitia Bouffard-Roupe’s path defies convention. Born in France but belonging “to the world,” she shows how saying yes to the unknown can transform your life.
At just nine, Laetitia left home to train at the Paris Opera, where strict discipline built resilience but left lasting wounds around body image. After experiencing the darker side of ballet, she took a leap—accepting an acrobatic role with zero experience. Two years later, she was winning international circus competitions as both a ground and aerial acrobat.
Now a fine art model working worldwide, Laetitia sustains her energy through gratitude practices and mindful mantras: “You are what you eat and you are what you think.” Despite constant travel, she nurtures her online community with care. A recent loss of a longtime colleague reinforced her philosophy: follow your heart and dreams now, because life is short.
Laetitia's Profile
Art Portraits
Website
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
and that's the first time in my life when I I said
yes to something I didn't evenknow how to do, except the
contract, not having the skills,actually not having the but
that woman had the massive faithin us and she's like you can do
it, I know you can do it.
(00:30):
You're gonna learn, you'regonna be good, like, just do
what you want, what you're doing, and then, on the way there
during the contract, you'regoing to learn and you're going
to know I'm yes.
Thank you for believing.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Hello and welcome to another edition of For the Love
of Creatives podcast.
I am your host, dwight, and Iam joined by our other
connectionsions and CommunityGuy Maddox, and today our
featured guest is the wonderfulLeticia Buffa-Rupp, also known
as Leticia Chanel.
(01:16):
Welcome to the podcast.
We're so glad that you can joinus.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Wow, thank you so much for having me.
It's an honor.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
We're so glad that you're here Now.
I know that there's a whole lotthat you have done over well,
not a very long period of time.
You're quite accomplished.
I know that you have beeninvolved in ballet.
You've done aerial acts withthe circus and um, circuses and
(01:48):
um, you've done things with, uh,incredible beautiful
photography.
Um, I am just amazed at the,the beautiful art that I I see
on your instagram, all of thethings that you're doing and the
beautiful books that you'veproduced, the, the latest one
being unseen, yes, um, and I Icould just scratch the surface,
(02:12):
but could you just tell the, thepeople that are listening, a
little bit about who you are andwhat you're about, just a like
a two-minute sketch of of whoyou are?
Speaker 1 (02:25):
who am I?
Uh?
So, yeah, like you said, myname is leticia.
I come from france.
Uh, I am based in spain, but Ido travel a lot for um, for my
work, and I always did since alittle, uh, when I started
ballet at the Paris Opera BalletSchool and then I did all my
(02:49):
ballet school in Paris.
I then performed all overEurope in national theatres as a
semi-solist, a professionalballet dancer, and then, long
story short, a lot happened inthe ballet world and I decided
to quit ballet and and Itransitioned to acrobatics,
(03:13):
which has been a big, big changefor my body.
So, yes, like you said, groundacrobatics and also aerial
acrobatics with hoop and silksground acrobatics and also
aerial acrobatics with hoop andsilks, and I have traveled up to
87 countries performing as afreelance acrobat, winning
international circus competitionand ballet competitions.
(03:35):
And then I had my thirdtransition, um to modeling, um,
so this is my, since six years Iam a freelance art model and,
um, this is, I feel, like themoment where I'm like the most
accomplished as an artist,because I get to to link all the
(03:59):
skills that I gathered in mylife with ballet with acrobatics
.
I'm also a yoga teacher, so Iuse the yoga poses for posing.
And and now the world ofphotography is endless
creativity, because every time Imeet a new photographer, they
are just like blooming ideaswith locations, with outfits,
(04:20):
with lighting, with um.
And adding my posing to that,it's just like you feel like
you've done it all and youhaven't.
So, yeah, just amazing way tolike continue my artist life.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Okay, so Leticia, inquiring minds want to know
when do you sleep?
Speaker 1 (04:44):
I do sleep.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
That's a lot.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Yeah, I do sleep.
I try seven hours, seven toeight hours I try to have every
night.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Wow, that's a lot of balancing, though that's a lot.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
Yes, it is a lot.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
That in itself is a very unique skill to be able to
do all the things that you aredoing Wow.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
The one part which takes a lot of time, which is
like during my lifetime,everything I've done is actually
keeping the body in shape.
So this is the most hours arespent on that, and everything is
related.
It's not just the actualworkouts, it's also the diet
(05:34):
that goes with it, it's also themindset, the life choices, um.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
So yeah, and sleep is part of body recovery and being
healthy and looking good andmaintaining everything well,
it's a lot and, just as we tryto absorb you, you packed a
whole lot in there, uh, withyour, your entire history.
(06:02):
You're you kind of packed in alife story and some of the
highlights are I mean, youstarted this as a child, right?
I mean like you were very muchheaded in a direction and this
has been your life this wholetime and your pivots are amazing
(06:23):
for a lot of folks.
I don't think that you evenmentioned that you had to deal
with a pretty serious surgery.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
Yes, two years ago I had a full hip replacement my
left hip.
It's been a lot to deal with.
I don't know if you want to goin details into that part I can.
(06:55):
Well are you still able to dothe full range of acrobatics
with a hip replacement?
I'm not allowed to run anymoreand I'm not allowed to jump
because if I do I'm going toreduce the lifetime of the
prosthesis.
And before the surgery I washyper extensive, like I was over
split and over everything.
(07:15):
My articulations were very,very, very flexible.
So my mobility is reducedcompared to that flexibility.
So my mobility is reducedcompared to that flexibility.
But I am still able to do allmy splits straight, clean lines.
I'm not over anymore.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
But if you don't know , you don't know.
That's still remarkable.
You know, a moment ago, whenyou were talking about all the
components the diet, the keepingyour body in shape to do it,
the mindset you rattled off awhole list of things that I hear
that you really have that down,Like you.
(07:59):
You have a system, you have itdown and you manage all of it
sounds like with ease.
Has it always been that way, orwas there a time when you
didn't have all that in place?
And I think that if there was atime when it wasn't that way, I
think our listeners would loveto hear how it was that you came
(08:21):
from where you started to whereyou are now with all that
balance, Because I can't imagineas a child, that you had all
that in place.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
But please, yeah, well, as a child, ballet is all
about discipline and consistencyin training, right?
So actually you learn that as achild.
At school you learn everythingabout having the habits.
So your day is like, soprogrammed and so consistent.
(08:53):
Every day is the same you eatat the same time, you dance at
the same time, you sleep at thesame time, and all of that is
just engraved in you as a kid.
And the habits of like theytell you you must drink that
much water, you should eat, thatyou should not eat, that you
should stretch at this moment ordon't you know whatever, don't
(09:17):
eat sweets.
And of course they watch yourweight too, like crazy.
So all of that it's engraved asa child.
Because I was at Paris Operas,which is one of like it's
actually the number one worldballet school, so it's like
military.
You have no choice, you justhave to follow the program.
(09:41):
They know how to train you.
They know how to like conditionyou mentally.
You're constantly also toldthat you are bad, that you are
never going to make it, that youare too fat too, whatever.
All of that is told every day.
(10:02):
So they work a lot on mentalstrength checking, if you really
want it, because ballet is sohard, it's so demanding for the
body and for the mind that theytest the kids already really
young to check if they havereally the will of becoming a
(10:23):
professional.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
It very much sounds kind of like the military.
I mean, I haven't been in themilitary but Dwight has the
stories I hear.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
I've been at the ballet school.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
You know, so many people oftentimes go into the
military to kind of get theirlife straightened out.
And I'm hearing that you know,if you want maybe a not quite so
extreme thing where thegovernment's running you, if you
want to get your life straight,you could take ballet, because
it would teach you all thosedisciplines that you have
(10:52):
learned.
I mean, I have a close friendthat's a ballerina, but she's
never talked about it quite likethat.
I didn't.
I mean, I knew that there wassome strictness to it, but
you're describing it on acompletely different level.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
Yeah, paris Opera is quite extreme.
Depends to which school she'sbeen or with which teachers.
Yeah, I don't know if theystill do that Like I was there
like 30 years ago or more, so Idon't know what now they are
allowed to do or not do withparents, and in that time we had
(11:29):
no cell phones.
There were no evidence ofwhatever happens.
It was a different time.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
They could get away with murder basically.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
Yeah, they could, they could, but yeah.
So all that discipline with umimplementing habits and have
daily habits, it all comes fromthe barbershop yeah, and I
believe that the friend you weretalking about was featured in
episode seven sydney.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Yes, yeah, oh, my goodness.
Well, and the thing aboutmindset, about all those things
that you brought on board, Iknow that one thing that we
haven't talked about and weshould take a chance, take an
opportunity to share this.
You actually work with peopleto share some of that, like you.
(12:19):
You do coaching now too rightnow.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
I started coaching um , aspiring artists, uh, dancers,
acrobat models, um to to followthe path that I've found as um,
let's say like, when you knowyou have that time when you're
on stage and you have that timeas an artist, but you're like,
okay, my stage time is kind ofover, but, um, you still have
(12:44):
the skills, you still have theneed to create.
So, yeah, the way I found withphotography is just so amazing.
And now I have quite a lot ofpeople following me on Instagram
that are like, wow, I want todo that too, and that are
messaging me and asking, like,how I do it, how to handle
(13:04):
photographers, bookings, travels, all the backside of the
business and marketing and allof that so organically came.
Just like you know, I startedhelping and then I started like
more like coaching and, yeah,I'm really enjoying now sharing
(13:25):
actually all my, my tips andtricks and my knowledge.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
It's uh, it's interesting to see through which
struggles they are goingthrough and and and helping and
it's oh, go ahead dwight well,and I I just want to say you're
really downplaying, uh, the the,the fact that you bring the
whole package.
When it comes to marketing, youare your master and it's not
(13:57):
one of the things that youreally toot your horn about,
because you are you're doing so.
Your marketing is so flawlessthat it speaks for itself.
Like you are the proof.
You have everything that youput out.
It's curated to make sure thatyou're sending the message
You're showing.
(14:18):
This is what the modeling isall about.
These are the kinds of thingsthat I can do and, for
photographers, this is how youcan work with me.
Like it's brilliant, it'sbeautiful, it's timed well.
It's all just perfection.
People could take a class tolook at how it is that you get
(14:42):
the word out and let people knowwhat you can do.
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
Because when you do your own marketing, it's your.
You don't see what people seeand you don't know.
You don't hear often how it'sperceived, right like um, so
thank you.
I don't hear often feedbackabout this.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
So, leticia, I'm thinking about all of the
podcast guests that we've had,and you share a story that's
unique in that it sounds likefrom the time you started, when
you were a child, how everythingjust unfolded smoothly and
(15:24):
beautifully.
But I think that you know, ifwe stop there, it may be hard
for our listeners to relate,because few people experience
just this perfect unfolding, andso I'd love and I think our
listeners would too to hear thepart of it that we don't often
talk about the challenges thatyou went through through the
(15:46):
years with each one of thosereinventions of yourself, the
hard things, what they were, andthen how you moved through them
.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
Well, I will say, the first big hit I had was the one
at ballet school where we wereweighted every day and being
told that we were fat.
It's something.
It's a trauma for lifetime.
I think I still have it Like Inow don't want to stay on a
scale, like I don't want to knowhow much I weight because I've
(16:21):
been weighted all my life.
I wait because I've been waitedall my life, and that's a
long-term trauma which is, Ithink, never gonna go away.
Um, being told that you're fatwhen you're 10 years old, 11
years old and and and in allhonesty, skinny actually yes,
you, you've never been fat haveyou.
(16:42):
No, I was not fat.
I was far from fat being toldthat.
So this is one of the bigstruggles that I had as a kid.
The second one that I had tosacrifice is being away from my
(17:03):
family, because the Paris OperaBallet School was about a
six-hour drive away from wheremy family was living.
So at nine years old I had toleave my family and go live
alone in Paris.
So this is not something everyfamily would agree on and not
every kid can handle.
(17:23):
So it's been a big, bigsacrifice to go to achieve.
To be a professional ballerinawas a lot of sacrifice as a kid.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
Was that sacrifice that you made to leave your
family and live alone?
Was it truly your choice or wasthere other influences?
Speaker 1 (17:46):
No, I truly had the dream of becoming a professional
ballerina as a kid.
For me, it was like am I reallygoing to be in a school where I
can dance all day?
Becoming a professionalballerina?
As a kid it was something.
For me, it was like am I reallygoing to be in a school where I
can dance all day?
I was like, yeah, I'm going,that's it and I'm going to be a
professional ballerina from it.
Yes, okay, I'm going, like itwas no.
But of course, I cried a lot.
(18:06):
I missed my parents, I missedmy family, I missed, missed.
But yeah, there were a lot ofsacrifice to to achieve the goal
.
Right it?
Speaker 3 (18:19):
was where, do you think, that determination that
you were just willing to do youknow pretty much whatever you
needed to do to see that dream.
Where did that determinationcome from?
Speaker 1 (18:32):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
Are there other people in your life that are
like that?
Was it modeled to you?
Speaker 1 (18:42):
by friends or family members.
I don't know where thatdetermination came from.
I just had this huge dream ofbecoming a professional
ballerina.
I guess the dream was the drive.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
You were unstoppable, and that's something that most
of us find really, reallydesirable.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
But we made.
I had a great support systemfrom my family.
They really, really supportedmy decision and they did
everything for me to make ithappen.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
Well, and then you probably had even though they
told you you were fat every dayat school.
You had the support at schoolas well.
And now we're talking about anelement of community.
Absolutely it doesn't matterwhether it's friends or family,
or whether it's even a paidpractitioner.
When we have people standing byus and supporting us, that is a
form of community.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
It is, I would say, at school.
They were not there to help atall the teachers or anybody.
They were there to break youand check if you were really
made for it.
They were there to break yourmoral and break your mental
health.
They were not there to help.
The support system was outsideof the school.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
Wow, that had to be even harder because you were at
school all the time.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
Yes, five days a week .
It's a closed school.
You're not even going out inthe street Once you enter on
Sunday evening.
You don't leave until Fridayafternoon.
So you're not even in contactwith anybody from the street for
five days.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
You know, I've never heard of such a thing, I mean,
this part of the story in and ofitself is quite fascinating.
It's like it almost sounds likea you know nuns in a convent or
something.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
Pretty much it, yes Wow.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
Yeah, the only thing that I can relate to that comes
close is when I went throughreception and basic training.
There's a period where we'reclosed off from the outside
world.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
No, contact at all.
Well, we had at that time.
Like I said, we had no cellphones, yeah, we only had like a
phone box with a card.
Yeah, we were 100 kids in theschool and we had four phones.
So you could call like for fiveminutes, right, and it was a
(21:22):
line and you spoke more thanfive minutes and the next kid
was behind you and was like, hey, it's my turn.
And then you could receiveletters, yeah, in packages.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
This was the only way the external world could enter
the school.
So let's move on to the nextbig challenge.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
Next big challenge is when I actually became a
professional ballet dancer and Imet my ex-boyfriend, which used
to be an excellent balletdancer too, and we we auditioned
for a company and the directorknew exactly that we were a
couple when we entered theballet company and he took us
both, gave us both a contract, aone-year contract.
(22:12):
In Europe we have this thingthat you have a three-month
trial period and after thethree-month trial period, any
party can decide to continue ornot.
After the three months, thenyou're entitled to finish your
contract for a full year.
(22:33):
So after the three months, thedirector took me to his office
and told me that he will keep me, but he would not keep my
boyfriend and that basically, Iwill, he will be my boyfriend,
oh yes.
And I was like well, that's thedeal.
Well, he knew exactly that wewere hired as a couple and that
(22:56):
we were a couple when he met us.
So that was not the plan.
And that's like that's themoment where I lost all my, all
my heart into the ballet world,because at that point, all these
years of training just showedthat, um, it's not only about
talent.
(23:17):
The ones that dance and theones that are in front, they
dance for other reasons, becauseat this point everybody
finished a professional balletschool, everybody is
professional, everybody has thetechnique, everybody has the,
the abilities to be on stageprofessionally.
And if you're the one dancingin front, it means you're doing
(23:41):
something else than just dancingand just being talented wow, so
there's a form of corruptiongoing on in that whole thing
yeah, absolutely it's.
When you see somebody likebecause in ballet you have all
these grades, you know, like abit like in the military,
actually um coming back.
(24:01):
So yeah, when you see somebodygoing up quickly, you know why,
um, it's not just talent that'sso dark.
Yeah, that's dark.
I lost completely my.
I lost my heart for ballet.
I was like I'm not going to beplaying those games and that's
(24:22):
not why I learned what I'velearned all those years.
And it was not even crossing mymind that I would sleep with a
director just to be on stage.
So this was the one big turningpoint.
Speaker 3 (24:43):
So you both left the program.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
Excuse me.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
You both left the company at the same time.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
Yeah, we both left.
Speaker 3 (24:50):
Good for you.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That would have been a hardchoice for a lot of people to
make you know, after all, thatyou'd worked for it.
To walk away from it the season.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Beginning of the season?
Uh, ballet season.
It starts in september.
If you're not booked, if you'rebreaking a contract at the
beginning of a season, you haveto wait for season again, so
you're basically jobless.
If you're quitting in themiddle of a season because
nobody's going to hire youmid-season- Wow, that's rough.
(25:23):
Yeah, the ballet world is notas pink as it seems.
Speaker 3 (25:30):
So is that when you pivoted away from ballet and
started to get into theacrobatics?
Speaker 1 (25:36):
Yeah, we tried.
With my expo, we danced a bitin Poland and then we did some
ballet competitions and then weunderstood that it would be
extremely complicated as acouple to find contracts.
And yeah, we had, we got areally strange opportunity to do
(25:59):
an audition in Paris for anAmerican company and then it was
a strange circumstancesActually, we didn't even want to
do this audition.
Our friends wanted to go tothat audition but they had no
car and we had a car like canyou drive us to the audition?
And then after the drive wefelt like, oh, it would be good
(26:20):
to stretch and move.
And we're like, let's just dothe audition and take a class.
And while we did that, weactually got the job.
So it was a very strangecoincidence.
And then they were hiringdancers.
There was an audition fordancers and then after that was
an audition for how they calledadagio.
(26:42):
So in ballet, adagio is when aman and a woman dance together
and a duo and very slow music.
It's like very lyrical, andwith my ex-husband we used to do
that in ballet, we used to doadagio.
So when they they mentioned theadagio audition after dance
audition, we were like, well, wecan do that too.
(27:03):
So we stayed and we auditionedfor adagio.
And then we realized when westayed at the audition that
actually they were not lookingfor ballet adagio, they were
looking for acrobatic adagios.
Because all those couplesarrived and did crazy tricks
which we've never seen.
We were only doing the balletlifts, you know like the basic
(27:26):
ballet stuff.
And then here we go, like therewas this big guys flipping
women around.
We were like what is going onin here?
That's not, we don't know howto do that, and um and yeah.
But this woman, she was verycurious about us and she was
like I want to see your balletadagio, and I really like ballet
(27:47):
, I want to see it.
And we did our ballet adagio,anyway, left the audition not
expecting anything really, andtwo weeks later we got the call
that we got the job as acrobaticadagio.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
So you had to learn acrobatics fast.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
Yes, in two weeks.
In two weeks yeah, just thetime to do the, the visas for
usa and uh, and and hop on tolearn shows.
Speaker 3 (28:18):
Yeah, it was crazy so one minute, one minute.
You don't even see it coming.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
In the next minute, the trajectory of your life has
been altered and that's thefirst time in my life when I I
said yes to something I didn'teven know how to do, accepted
the contract, not having theskills, actually Not having the.
But that woman had a massivefaith in us and she was like you
(28:45):
can do it, I know you can do it.
You're going to learn, you'regoing to be good.
Just do what you're doing.
And then, on the way thereduring the contract, you're
going to learn and you're goingto know.
I'm like, okay, thank you forbelieving.
And she believed in us andactually, two years later, we
(29:08):
won international circuscompetition as an acrobatic duo.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
Amazing, okay.
International circuscompetition with as an acrobatic
duo so amazing, okay.
So let's see, you said yes tosomething that you didn't even
know about, and we actually havea podcast episode earlier right
probably knows the number wherethe, the, our guest, talked a
lot about saying yes to thingswithout even knowing what he was
going to be doing and how itopened up things in his life.
So I kind of want to hear youknow did that change anything
(29:41):
for you, saying yes to somethingthat you didn't know anything
about and having it unfold theway it unfolded?
Have you found yourself in theyears since then saying yes to
more things that you didn't knowanything about?
So speak to that a little bitplease.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
Yes, first of all, she asked first time about
acrobatic adagio.
We're like okay.
And then the year later she waslike well, I have another
contract for you, but then youneed to be doing aerial
acrobatics.
We're like, okay, fine, nevertouched an aerial acrobatic
equipment in my life.
But we said yes again a yearlater and I learned hoop and I
(30:28):
learned silks, and again I woninternational circus competition
as an aerial hoop artistafterwards.
And then it happened again withphotography, because my first
professional photo shoots I got.
I got, um, I got an email onInstagram from a professional
(30:51):
photographer, fine artphotographer and I have never
modeled in my life, I've neverhad a professional photo shoot
in a studio, even even even forme as like just personal, and I
just said yes that's beautifuland I and I will.
I just want to go many times andall this, and all those saying
(31:14):
yes changed my life completely.
Love it.
Those moments just shiftedeverything.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
Yeah, and I can't help but think of that episode
that Maddox was referencing.
We actually put in the title ofsaying yes.
It was episode number eightwith Michael Alves and it's very
, very similar circumstanceswhere he was just willing to say
(31:46):
yes with an opportunitiespresented themselves.
And this sounds very, verysimilar.
Speaker 3 (31:53):
So, leticia, you mentioned mindset earlier and
now, being much farther intoyour story, there is a definite
pattern, and that pattern is youhave a winner's mindset, you
have won and you have won, andyou have won and you have won,
you've won in every category ofevery different facet that you
(32:17):
have extended yourself in.
I'd love to know, like, fromyour internal experience, you we
could get any kind of answers,but your answer, what is, for
you, that winner's mindset?
What are the things that you dointernally, whether it be in
(32:39):
your head or in your heart, thatkeep you in that winner's
mindset?
Speaker 1 (32:49):
Well, like I said earlier, I'm also a yoga teacher
, so I practice journaling.
Every morning, I have agratitude journal and I write
everything at least three thingsthat I'm grateful for as the
first thing in the morning,meaning like my alarm ring, I
(33:12):
have my gratitude journal and Iwrite.
I don't do anything, as before,like I don't touch my.
I touch my phone just to switchoff the alarm.
Um, I put the light on and Iwrite what I'm grateful as I
wake up.
And also I use mantras.
I'm not sure if you know whatthey are, but it's like I
(33:34):
repeated a sentence that yourepeat multiple times and it
becomes a meditative thing and Ichange them according to my
state of mind and what I'm intomy life at the moment.
But one is I am happy, I amhealthy, it's my like every day.
Speaker 3 (34:01):
Yes, please share a couple more of your mantras so
people really have anunderstanding.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
And when I had my hip surgery, I think my mantra
helped me so much for my healing.
So it was I am happy, I amhealthy, I am healing.
I am happy, I am healthy, I amhealing.
And I repeated that a hundredtimes a day, like just sometimes
out loud, sometimes justquietly, and I used to write it
(34:30):
too.
And, yeah, I always come backto that mantra.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
For me it's like a I can see how your gratitude
practice translates into the waythat you bring others along as
well.
I'm thinking about the worksthat you publish.
You're very intentional aboutmaking sure that you send the
(35:00):
business to a printer of yourchoosing.
You send the business to aprinter of your choosing and you
know, it's kind of like a wholeAJ Jacobs experience.
You know, thanks a thousand.
He wrote a book about all ofthe people that were responsible
for bringing him his cup ofcoffee.
(35:21):
But I can see how you're veryconscious about all of the
supply chains involved inproducing one of these books.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
Yes, very, I print locally.
My printer is like 10 minutesaway from my house.
I would not go and print inChina or anything like that.
No, I like to have theconnection with the people who I
create with.
It's very, very important.
(35:48):
I like to have the connectionwith the people who I create
with.
It's very, very important.
During the lockdown, they hadthis weird thing in the
photography world where they didonline photo shoots and it was
a way for models to still shootwith photographers and vice
versa and still stay creative.
But I I refused.
(36:09):
I said I need to be in personin the room with the person.
I cannot be creating throughscreen, it's just.
I need the connection, uh, thephysical connection with the
person to be creating.
Speaker 3 (36:23):
And yeah, I would love to have you talk a little
bit more about.
I mean, you obviously haveexperienced a great deal of
success and you sound quitefulfilled in all that you do.
It's demonstrated in yourgratitude and your mantras.
(36:45):
Talk a little bit more abouthow community has played a role
in your journey oh, my god,community is for me, like so, so
important, like my instagram.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
I'm now at 103 000 followers.
Uh, since 2018, I've opened itand I welcome every follower I
get every day personallypersonally from day one.
I mean maybe some days I haveskipped some because I was busy
(37:24):
or something, or there were toomany in one day and I didn't
manage, but I do my best.
I welcome personally, not a bot, Because actually this action
you cannot automatize.
I checked Instagram.
Don't allow you to automatizethis action, so you will get a
(37:45):
thanks for following me messageif you're following me and this
thanks for following me message.
Some people just read it and donothing.
Some people just double tap andput a heart on it and some
people answer and then a massiveconversation starts.
Speaker 3 (38:04):
So it's more than just following.
It's connecting right.
Speaker 1 (38:07):
So I try to connect with every single person that
follows me.
I, I do the first step and thenI see what happens.
But it's, it's showing like Imean the my.
I don't have hate messages, Idon't get any.
You know, my community is sosupportive of my work.
(38:29):
The comments, the likes, theshares, everybody's just like so
genuine and so nice.
Um, and then I have okay, thisis my followers Instagram, but I
have also like a more privatecommunity on Patreon where my
fans are supporting me to seemore exclusive content and more
(38:53):
videos and more photos.
And this community is evenstronger, like I have some fans
since six years there and theyare like they become my friends.
Speaker 3 (39:05):
What about local community away from social media
?
Speaker 1 (39:10):
I don't have that because I travel so much, I'm
everywhere and for me it's veryhard to actually connect with
people locally, besides my printshop, which is really important
, besides my print shop, whichis really important.
(39:31):
But, um, yeah, I don't have alocal community like physical
community.
Um, all my communities areonline, but they're really
strong.
I feel more connected to someof my community members than
with my family or friends, likethey know more about me, they
know me better, they know yeahyou know, if you travel that
much, it's what you have to workwith, do you?
Speaker 3 (39:53):
do you think about a time when you might travel less
and and be able to have a localcommunity?
Does that appeal?
Speaker 1 (40:02):
uh, I don't know.
Like all my life I've beentraveling.
Since, yeah, since I was 16years old.
I've been on tours for shows,tour for and my, my friends, and
my life is like worldwide, I amlike I belong to the world.
I don't feel like I belong tomy, to my city, to my, even to
(40:23):
my village.
I don't know I I belong to mycity, even to my village.
I don't know.
I have a bigger picture aboutcommunity than just and I don't
think I could find that manypeople right where I live that I
could connect really with likeI do with all the people that I
connect with online.
Speaker 3 (40:45):
That's fascinating.
I mean, I experienced some ofthat during the pandemic, when I
was locked in my house for twoyears by myself, when we had not
been together yet, and so Iexperienced some of that.
I had most of my community, myrelationships and my social
(41:06):
activity were over Zoom withpeople far away, many of them
that I'd never met in person,and it sustained me in a
beautiful way.
I think I would have committedHarry Carey if I hadn't had
those people that I couldconnect with.
So I've had a glimmer of that,and so I kind of understand that
(41:26):
.
Speaker 1 (41:27):
Like I have friends all over the world.
I can like just message someoneand then go take a flight and I
have so many people all overthe world that I can meet with
and connect with.
Speaker 3 (41:40):
That's amazing.
When you go to faraway places,do you meet them in real life
sometimes?
Speaker 1 (41:45):
I do.
Yeah, I've met some of mycommunity members.
Speaker 3 (41:50):
So you do have in real life community, it's just
not local.
Speaker 1 (41:55):
It's not local right, but I do meet some people in
person.
Speaker 3 (41:59):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (41:59):
While I travel.
Speaker 3 (42:01):
That's beautiful.
Speaker 2 (42:09):
I travel.
That's beautiful.
Well, I know that if you everfind yourself around Dallas, the
connections and community guyswould love to spend some time
with you.
Speaker 1 (42:14):
I've been in Dallas.
Speaker 3 (42:15):
Yeah, that would be amazing.
You know, I want to know whereall your energy comes from,
because if you can put it in abottle, I'll buy it.
Speaker 1 (42:28):
My energy.
You are what you eat.
That's one of my one of mymantra and one of my mottos.
I have two mottos.
Speaker 3 (42:44):
One is you are what you eat and the other one is you
are what you think, and yeah,true, truer words have never
been spoken.
Speaker 1 (42:48):
Yes, your energy comes from what you eat.
It's like a car you know if youput bad gas, that's not gonna
go that far.
If you put the wrong gas, itmay go anywhere.
So, um, the body is the same.
It's a machine.
You have to maintain it Likeyou maintain your car.
(43:09):
You have to bring it to service.
You have to give it good foodand good thoughts, and that's
where you come from.
Speaker 3 (43:19):
That's a great metaphor.
Great metaphor.
Yes, most of us care for ourcars better than we care for
ourselves.
Great metaphor, great metaphor.
Yes, most of us care for ourcars better than we care for
ourselves.
Speaker 2 (43:35):
Most of us care for our stuff better than we care
for ourselves.
Speaker 1 (43:39):
Yes, yeah, it's a scary thing, because what you
put in is what you know.
Speaker 3 (43:42):
Shit in, shit out, as the saying goes.
Speaker 1 (43:46):
Yes, better to die.
So the quality of your food.
When do you eat your food?
How do you eat your food?
Speaker 3 (43:59):
All of that.
It's part of the energy.
Yeah, that makes sense.
Well, mr Dwight, have you gotthe big question ready for?
Speaker 2 (44:08):
leticia.
Well, I have a couple um.
First I I want to make surethat this has been a meaningful
exchange for you, and I don'twant to exit this conversation
without making sure that youhave an opportunity to express
(44:28):
everything that's on your heart,everything that's on your mind,
and I know we covered a lot ofground, but is there anything
that you would like to sharewith someone that might be
listening?
Speaker 1 (44:43):
Follow your heart and follow your dreams, because
life is short, um.
You don't know if you havetomorrow, so don't wait for
taking action oh and I know, Iknow someone needs to hear that
(45:07):
a lot of someone's probably needto hear that, not I sometimes
need to hear that, yes, we don'thave tomorrow until it's here I
I say that because I've beenrecently in a really, really,
really traumatic experiencewhere I showed up at the photo
(45:29):
shoot with a photographer that Ihave shot already for four or
five years.
We knew each other very, verywell and when I arrived at the
photo shoot he was dead.
Speaker 3 (45:42):
So, sorry.
Speaker 1 (45:45):
It's not just light words, it's from recent
experiences and it makes yourethink life when you're into
this situation.
He was a young man.
Yeah, his wife was waiting forhim for dinner.
Speaker 3 (46:05):
I can feel your, I can see and feel your feelings
right now the loss of him.
Speaker 1 (46:11):
He didn't make it that day, so yeah, wow, wow.
Speaker 2 (46:19):
That is heavy, heavy to hear and heavy to feel, heavy
, heavy to hear and heavy tofeel.
But I would like to steerthings toward another way of
thinking.
(46:39):
So we never know who it is thatmight be listening, and a lens
provides a platform where youcould speak a wish into being,
and the big question that I'dlike you to consider is what is
(47:00):
one thing that would make it sothat it would open doors for you
and make it so that, if there'sany kind of a barrier, any kind
of obstacle, if you had a wishthat could be granted, what
would that be?
What would that look like?
Speaker 1 (47:22):
A wish to be granted.
Wow, big question.
Um, I wish for peace in theworld.
I I know it sounds very cliche,but I think it's needed.
Speaker 3 (47:49):
That would change all of our experiences, wouldn't it
?
Speaker 2 (47:53):
It would, and I love the way that you took time to
consider your answer to thatquestion and I think the place
that you went speaks to how youhave done a lot to work on
yourself, right like I, knowingall the things that you've
(48:15):
accomplished and the way thatyou move about in the world.
You're sharing all all that youhave to give.
You're pulling others along theway that you're intentional
about using your local printshop to deliver unseen and the
(48:36):
prior publications.
Speaker 1 (48:38):
Yeah, they've all been printed at the same print
shop.
Speaker 2 (48:42):
Amazing.
Speaker 3 (48:45):
I mean your whole story and and now your, your
wish for work for peace.
It's very much an indicator ofhow important our own personal
growth is, not only in our ownlife, but then in the lives of
those that we touch.
When we don't do our ownpersonal work, it would be
(49:08):
short-sighted to think that thatonly affects you, the
individual, when you don't dothe work that you need to do.
But when you don't do the workyou need to do, it affects every
person you touch and everyperson that that person touches.
The way we reach that worldpeace is by all doing our work,
our own personal work.
It starts in here.
Peace starts in here and thenmoves out here.
Speaker 1 (49:32):
Yes, because if you don't have peace in yourself,
you can't spread it Right.
Speaker 3 (49:38):
That's right.
That's why that personal growthwork is so important.
Leticia, this has beenwonderful.
Thank you so much.
Feel so honored that you werewilling to come and share your
story with us and our audience.
Speaker 1 (49:55):
Thank you for having me.
and that's the first time in my life when I I said
yes to something I didn't evenknow how to do, except the
contract, not having the skills,actually not having the but
that woman had the massive faithin us and she's like you can do
it, I know you can do it.
(00:30):
You're gonna learn, you'regonna be good, like, just do
what you want, what you're doing, and then, on the way there
during the contract, you'regoing to learn and you're going
to know I'm yes.
Thank you for believing.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Hello and welcome to another edition of For the Love
of Creatives podcast.
I am your host, dwight, and Iam joined by our other
connectionsions and CommunityGuy Maddox, and today our
featured guest is the wonderfulLeticia Buffa-Rupp, also known
as Leticia Chanel.
(01:16):
Welcome to the podcast.
We're so glad that you can joinus.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Wow, thank you so much for having me.
It's an honor.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
We're so glad that you're here Now.
I know that there's a whole lotthat you have done over well,
not a very long period of time.
You're quite accomplished.
I know that you have beeninvolved in ballet.
You've done aerial acts withthe circus and um, circuses and
(01:48):
um, you've done things with, uh,incredible beautiful
photography.
Um, I am just amazed at the,the beautiful art that I I see
on your instagram, all of thethings that you're doing and the
beautiful books that you'veproduced, the, the latest one
being unseen, yes, um, and I Icould just scratch the surface,
(02:12):
but could you just tell the, thepeople that are listening, a
little bit about who you are andwhat you're about, just a like
a two-minute sketch of of whoyou are?
Speaker 1 (02:25):
who am I?
Uh?
So, yeah, like you said, myname is leticia.
I come from france.
Uh, I am based in spain, but Ido travel a lot for um, for my
work, and I always did since alittle, uh, when I started
ballet at the Paris Opera BalletSchool and then I did all my
(02:49):
ballet school in Paris.
I then performed all overEurope in national theatres as a
semi-solist, a professionalballet dancer, and then, long
story short, a lot happened inthe ballet world and I decided
to quit ballet and and Itransitioned to acrobatics,
(03:13):
which has been a big, big changefor my body.
So, yes, like you said, groundacrobatics and also aerial
acrobatics with hoop and silksground acrobatics and also
aerial acrobatics with hoop andsilks, and I have traveled up to
87 countries performing as afreelance acrobat, winning
international circus competitionand ballet competitions.
(03:35):
And then I had my thirdtransition, um to modeling, um,
so this is my, since six years Iam a freelance art model and,
um, this is, I feel, like themoment where I'm like the most
accomplished as an artist,because I get to to link all the
(03:59):
skills that I gathered in mylife with ballet with acrobatics
.
I'm also a yoga teacher, so Iuse the yoga poses for posing.
And and now the world ofphotography is endless
creativity, because every time Imeet a new photographer, they
are just like blooming ideaswith locations, with outfits,
(04:20):
with lighting, with um.
And adding my posing to that,it's just like you feel like
you've done it all and youhaven't.
So, yeah, just amazing way tolike continue my artist life.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Okay, so Leticia, inquiring minds want to know
when do you sleep?
Speaker 1 (04:44):
I do sleep.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
That's a lot.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Yeah, I do sleep.
I try seven hours, seven toeight hours I try to have every
night.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Wow, that's a lot of balancing, though that's a lot.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
Yes, it is a lot.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
That in itself is a very unique skill to be able to
do all the things that you aredoing Wow.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
The one part which takes a lot of time, which is
like during my lifetime,everything I've done is actually
keeping the body in shape.
So this is the most hours arespent on that, and everything is
related.
It's not just the actualworkouts, it's also the diet
(05:34):
that goes with it, it's also themindset, the life choices, um.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
So yeah, and sleep is part of body recovery and being
healthy and looking good andmaintaining everything well,
it's a lot and, just as we tryto absorb you, you packed a
whole lot in there, uh, withyour, your entire history.
(06:02):
You're you kind of packed in alife story and some of the
highlights are I mean, youstarted this as a child, right?
I mean like you were very muchheaded in a direction and this
has been your life this wholetime and your pivots are amazing
(06:23):
for a lot of folks.
I don't think that you evenmentioned that you had to deal
with a pretty serious surgery.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
Yes, two years ago I had a full hip replacement my
left hip.
It's been a lot to deal with.
I don't know if you want to goin details into that part I can.
(06:55):
Well are you still able to dothe full range of acrobatics
with a hip replacement?
I'm not allowed to run anymoreand I'm not allowed to jump
because if I do I'm going toreduce the lifetime of the
prosthesis.
And before the surgery I washyper extensive, like I was over
split and over everything.
(07:15):
My articulations were very,very, very flexible.
So my mobility is reducedcompared to that flexibility.
So my mobility is reducedcompared to that flexibility.
But I am still able to do allmy splits straight, clean lines.
I'm not over anymore.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
But if you don't know , you don't know.
That's still remarkable.
You know, a moment ago, whenyou were talking about all the
components the diet, the keepingyour body in shape to do it,
the mindset you rattled off awhole list of things that I hear
that you really have that down,Like you.
(07:59):
You have a system, you have itdown and you manage all of it
sounds like with ease.
Has it always been that way, orwas there a time when you
didn't have all that in place?
And I think that if there was atime when it wasn't that way, I
think our listeners would loveto hear how it was that you came
(08:21):
from where you started to whereyou are now with all that
balance, Because I can't imagineas a child, that you had all
that in place.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
But please, yeah, well, as a child, ballet is all
about discipline and consistencyin training, right?
So actually you learn that as achild.
At school you learn everythingabout having the habits.
So your day is like, soprogrammed and so consistent.
(08:53):
Every day is the same you eatat the same time, you dance at
the same time, you sleep at thesame time, and all of that is
just engraved in you as a kid.
And the habits of like theytell you you must drink that
much water, you should eat, thatyou should not eat, that you
should stretch at this moment ordon't you know whatever, don't
(09:17):
eat sweets.
And of course they watch yourweight too, like crazy.
So all of that it's engraved asa child.
Because I was at Paris Operas,which is one of like it's
actually the number one worldballet school, so it's like
military.
You have no choice, you justhave to follow the program.
(09:41):
They know how to train you.
They know how to like conditionyou mentally.
You're constantly also toldthat you are bad, that you are
never going to make it, that youare too fat too, whatever.
All of that is told every day.
(10:02):
So they work a lot on mentalstrength checking, if you really
want it, because ballet is sohard, it's so demanding for the
body and for the mind that theytest the kids already really
young to check if they havereally the will of becoming a
(10:23):
professional.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
It very much sounds kind of like the military.
I mean, I haven't been in themilitary but Dwight has the
stories I hear.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
I've been at the ballet school.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
You know, so many people oftentimes go into the
military to kind of get theirlife straightened out.
And I'm hearing that you know,if you want maybe a not quite so
extreme thing where thegovernment's running you, if you
want to get your life straight,you could take ballet, because
it would teach you all thosedisciplines that you have
(10:52):
learned.
I mean, I have a close friendthat's a ballerina, but she's
never talked about it quite likethat.
I didn't.
I mean, I knew that there wassome strictness to it, but
you're describing it on acompletely different level.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
Yeah, paris Opera is quite extreme.
Depends to which school she'sbeen or with which teachers.
Yeah, I don't know if theystill do that Like I was there
like 30 years ago or more, so Idon't know what now they are
allowed to do or not do withparents, and in that time we had
(11:29):
no cell phones.
There were no evidence ofwhatever happens.
It was a different time.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
They could get away with murder basically.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
Yeah, they could, they could, but yeah.
So all that discipline with umimplementing habits and have
daily habits, it all comes fromthe barbershop yeah, and I
believe that the friend you weretalking about was featured in
episode seven sydney.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Yes, yeah, oh, my goodness.
Well, and the thing aboutmindset, about all those things
that you brought on board, Iknow that one thing that we
haven't talked about and weshould take a chance, take an
opportunity to share this.
You actually work with peopleto share some of that, like you.
(12:19):
You do coaching now too rightnow.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
I started coaching um , aspiring artists, uh, dancers,
acrobat models, um to to followthe path that I've found as um,
let's say like, when you knowyou have that time when you're
on stage and you have that timeas an artist, but you're like,
okay, my stage time is kind ofover, but, um, you still have
(12:44):
the skills, you still have theneed to create.
So, yeah, the way I found withphotography is just so amazing.
And now I have quite a lot ofpeople following me on Instagram
that are like, wow, I want todo that too, and that are
messaging me and asking, like,how I do it, how to handle
(13:04):
photographers, bookings, travels, all the backside of the
business and marketing and allof that so organically came.
Just like you know, I startedhelping and then I started like
more like coaching and, yeah,I'm really enjoying now sharing
(13:25):
actually all my, my tips andtricks and my knowledge.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
It's uh, it's interesting to see through which
struggles they are goingthrough and and and helping and
it's oh, go ahead dwight well,and I I just want to say you're
really downplaying, uh, the the,the fact that you bring the
whole package.
When it comes to marketing, youare your master and it's not
(13:57):
one of the things that youreally toot your horn about,
because you are you're doing so.
Your marketing is so flawlessthat it speaks for itself.
Like you are the proof.
You have everything that youput out.
It's curated to make sure thatyou're sending the message
You're showing.
(14:18):
This is what the modeling isall about.
These are the kinds of thingsthat I can do and, for
photographers, this is how youcan work with me.
Like it's brilliant, it'sbeautiful, it's timed well.
It's all just perfection.
People could take a class tolook at how it is that you get
(14:42):
the word out and let people knowwhat you can do.
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
Because when you do your own marketing, it's your.
You don't see what people seeand you don't know.
You don't hear often how it'sperceived, right like um, so
thank you.
I don't hear often feedbackabout this.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
So, leticia, I'm thinking about all of the
podcast guests that we've had,and you share a story that's
unique in that it sounds likefrom the time you started, when
you were a child, how everythingjust unfolded smoothly and
(15:24):
beautifully.
But I think that you know, ifwe stop there, it may be hard
for our listeners to relate,because few people experience
just this perfect unfolding, andso I'd love and I think our
listeners would too to hear thepart of it that we don't often
talk about the challenges thatyou went through through the
(15:46):
years with each one of thosereinventions of yourself, the
hard things, what they were, andthen how you moved through them
.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
Well, I will say, the first big hit I had was the one
at ballet school where we wereweighted every day and being
told that we were fat.
It's something.
It's a trauma for lifetime.
I think I still have it Like Inow don't want to stay on a
scale, like I don't want to knowhow much I weight because I've
(16:21):
been weighted all my life.
I wait because I've been waitedall my life, and that's a
long-term trauma which is, Ithink, never gonna go away.
Um, being told that you're fatwhen you're 10 years old, 11
years old and and and in allhonesty, skinny actually yes,
you, you've never been fat haveyou.
(16:42):
No, I was not fat.
I was far from fat being toldthat.
So this is one of the bigstruggles that I had as a kid.
The second one that I had tosacrifice is being away from my
(17:03):
family, because the Paris OperaBallet School was about a
six-hour drive away from wheremy family was living.
So at nine years old I had toleave my family and go live
alone in Paris.
So this is not something everyfamily would agree on and not
every kid can handle.
(17:23):
So it's been a big, bigsacrifice to go to achieve.
To be a professional ballerinawas a lot of sacrifice as a kid.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
Was that sacrifice that you made to leave your
family and live alone?
Was it truly your choice or wasthere other influences?
Speaker 1 (17:46):
No, I truly had the dream of becoming a professional
ballerina as a kid.
For me, it was like am I reallygoing to be in a school where I
can dance all day?
Becoming a professionalballerina?
As a kid it was something.
For me, it was like am I reallygoing to be in a school where I
can dance all day?
I was like, yeah, I'm going,that's it and I'm going to be a
professional ballerina from it.
Yes, okay, I'm going, like itwas no.
But of course, I cried a lot.
(18:06):
I missed my parents, I missedmy family, I missed, missed.
But yeah, there were a lot ofsacrifice to to achieve the goal
.
Right it?
Speaker 3 (18:19):
was where, do you think, that determination that
you were just willing to do youknow pretty much whatever you
needed to do to see that dream.
Where did that determinationcome from?
Speaker 1 (18:32):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
Are there other people in your life that are
like that?
Was it modeled to you?
Speaker 1 (18:42):
by friends or family members.
I don't know where thatdetermination came from.
I just had this huge dream ofbecoming a professional
ballerina.
I guess the dream was the drive.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
You were unstoppable, and that's something that most
of us find really, reallydesirable.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
But we made.
I had a great support systemfrom my family.
They really, really supportedmy decision and they did
everything for me to make ithappen.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
Well, and then you probably had even though they
told you you were fat every dayat school.
You had the support at schoolas well.
And now we're talking about anelement of community.
Absolutely it doesn't matterwhether it's friends or family,
or whether it's even a paidpractitioner.
When we have people standing byus and supporting us, that is a
form of community.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
It is, I would say, at school.
They were not there to help atall the teachers or anybody.
They were there to break youand check if you were really
made for it.
They were there to break yourmoral and break your mental
health.
They were not there to help.
The support system was outsideof the school.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
Wow, that had to be even harder because you were at
school all the time.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
Yes, five days a week .
It's a closed school.
You're not even going out inthe street Once you enter on
Sunday evening.
You don't leave until Fridayafternoon.
So you're not even in contactwith anybody from the street for
five days.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
You know, I've never heard of such a thing, I mean,
this part of the story in and ofitself is quite fascinating.
It's like it almost sounds likea you know nuns in a convent or
something.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
Pretty much it, yes Wow.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
Yeah, the only thing that I can relate to that comes
close is when I went throughreception and basic training.
There's a period where we'reclosed off from the outside
world.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
No, contact at all.
Well, we had at that time.
Like I said, we had no cellphones, yeah, we only had like a
phone box with a card.
Yeah, we were 100 kids in theschool and we had four phones.
So you could call like for fiveminutes, right, and it was a
(21:22):
line and you spoke more thanfive minutes and the next kid
was behind you and was like, hey, it's my turn.
And then you could receiveletters, yeah, in packages.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
This was the only way the external world could enter
the school.
So let's move on to the nextbig challenge.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
Next big challenge is when I actually became a
professional ballet dancer and Imet my ex-boyfriend, which used
to be an excellent balletdancer too, and we we auditioned
for a company and the directorknew exactly that we were a
couple when we entered theballet company and he took us
both, gave us both a contract, aone-year contract.
(22:12):
In Europe we have this thingthat you have a three-month
trial period and after thethree-month trial period, any
party can decide to continue ornot.
After the three months, thenyou're entitled to finish your
contract for a full year.
(22:33):
So after the three months, thedirector took me to his office
and told me that he will keep me, but he would not keep my
boyfriend and that basically, Iwill, he will be my boyfriend,
oh yes.
And I was like well, that's thedeal.
Well, he knew exactly that wewere hired as a couple and that
(22:56):
we were a couple when he met us.
So that was not the plan.
And that's like that's themoment where I lost all my, all
my heart into the ballet world,because at that point, all these
years of training just showedthat, um, it's not only about
talent.
(23:17):
The ones that dance and theones that are in front, they
dance for other reasons, becauseat this point everybody
finished a professional balletschool, everybody is
professional, everybody has thetechnique, everybody has the,
the abilities to be on stageprofessionally.
And if you're the one dancingin front, it means you're doing
(23:41):
something else than just dancingand just being talented wow, so
there's a form of corruptiongoing on in that whole thing
yeah, absolutely it's.
When you see somebody likebecause in ballet you have all
these grades, you know, like abit like in the military,
actually um coming back.
(24:01):
So yeah, when you see somebodygoing up quickly, you know why,
um, it's not just talent that'sso dark.
Yeah, that's dark.
I lost completely my.
I lost my heart for ballet.
I was like I'm not going to beplaying those games and that's
(24:22):
not why I learned what I'velearned all those years.
And it was not even crossing mymind that I would sleep with a
director just to be on stage.
So this was the one big turningpoint.
Speaker 3 (24:43):
So you both left the program.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
Excuse me.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
You both left the company at the same time.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
Yeah, we both left.
Speaker 3 (24:50):
Good for you.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That would have been a hardchoice for a lot of people to
make you know, after all, thatyou'd worked for it.
To walk away from it the season.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Beginning of the season?
Uh, ballet season.
It starts in september.
If you're not booked, if you'rebreaking a contract at the
beginning of a season, you haveto wait for season again, so
you're basically jobless.
If you're quitting in themiddle of a season because
nobody's going to hire youmid-season- Wow, that's rough.
(25:23):
Yeah, the ballet world is notas pink as it seems.
Speaker 3 (25:30):
So is that when you pivoted away from ballet and
started to get into theacrobatics?
Speaker 1 (25:36):
Yeah, we tried.
With my expo, we danced a bitin Poland and then we did some
ballet competitions and then weunderstood that it would be
extremely complicated as acouple to find contracts.
And yeah, we had, we got areally strange opportunity to do
(25:59):
an audition in Paris for anAmerican company and then it was
a strange circumstancesActually, we didn't even want to
do this audition.
Our friends wanted to go tothat audition but they had no
car and we had a car like canyou drive us to the audition?
And then after the drive wefelt like, oh, it would be good
(26:20):
to stretch and move.
And we're like, let's just dothe audition and take a class.
And while we did that, weactually got the job.
So it was a very strangecoincidence.
And then they were hiringdancers.
There was an audition fordancers and then after that was
an audition for how they calledadagio.
(26:42):
So in ballet, adagio is when aman and a woman dance together
and a duo and very slow music.
It's like very lyrical, andwith my ex-husband we used to do
that in ballet, we used to doadagio.
So when they they mentioned theadagio audition after dance
audition, we were like, well, wecan do that too.
(27:03):
So we stayed and we auditionedfor adagio.
And then we realized when westayed at the audition that
actually they were not lookingfor ballet adagio, they were
looking for acrobatic adagios.
Because all those couplesarrived and did crazy tricks
which we've never seen.
We were only doing the balletlifts, you know like the basic
(27:26):
ballet stuff.
And then here we go, like therewas this big guys flipping
women around.
We were like what is going onin here?
That's not, we don't know howto do that, and um and yeah.
But this woman, she was verycurious about us and she was
like I want to see your balletadagio, and I really like ballet
(27:47):
, I want to see it.
And we did our ballet adagio,anyway, left the audition not
expecting anything really, andtwo weeks later we got the call
that we got the job as acrobaticadagio.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
So you had to learn acrobatics fast.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
Yes, in two weeks.
In two weeks yeah, just thetime to do the, the visas for
usa and uh, and and hop on tolearn shows.
Speaker 3 (28:18):
Yeah, it was crazy so one minute, one minute.
You don't even see it coming.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
In the next minute, the trajectory of your life has
been altered and that's thefirst time in my life when I I
said yes to something I didn'teven know how to do, accepted
the contract, not having theskills, actually Not having the.
But that woman had a massivefaith in us and she was like you
(28:45):
can do it, I know you can do it.
You're going to learn, you'regoing to be good.
Just do what you're doing.
And then, on the way thereduring the contract, you're
going to learn and you're goingto know.
I'm like, okay, thank you forbelieving.
And she believed in us andactually, two years later, we
(29:08):
won international circuscompetition as an acrobatic duo.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
Amazing, okay.
International circuscompetition with as an acrobatic
duo so amazing, okay.
So let's see, you said yes tosomething that you didn't even
know about, and we actually havea podcast episode earlier right
probably knows the number wherethe, the, our guest, talked a
lot about saying yes to thingswithout even knowing what he was
going to be doing and how itopened up things in his life.
So I kind of want to hear youknow did that change anything
(29:41):
for you, saying yes to somethingthat you didn't know anything
about and having it unfold theway it unfolded?
Have you found yourself in theyears since then saying yes to
more things that you didn't knowanything about?
So speak to that a little bitplease.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
Yes, first of all, she asked first time about
acrobatic adagio.
We're like okay.
And then the year later she waslike well, I have another
contract for you, but then youneed to be doing aerial
acrobatics.
We're like, okay, fine, nevertouched an aerial acrobatic
equipment in my life.
But we said yes again a yearlater and I learned hoop and I
(30:28):
learned silks, and again I woninternational circus competition
as an aerial hoop artistafterwards.
And then it happened again withphotography, because my first
professional photo shoots I got.
I got, um, I got an email onInstagram from a professional
(30:51):
photographer, fine artphotographer and I have never
modeled in my life, I've neverhad a professional photo shoot
in a studio, even even even forme as like just personal, and I
just said yes that's beautifuland I and I will.
I just want to go many times andall this, and all those saying
(31:14):
yes changed my life completely.
Love it.
Those moments just shiftedeverything.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
Yeah, and I can't help but think of that episode
that Maddox was referencing.
We actually put in the title ofsaying yes.
It was episode number eightwith Michael Alves and it's very
, very similar circumstanceswhere he was just willing to say
(31:46):
yes with an opportunitiespresented themselves.
And this sounds very, verysimilar.
Speaker 3 (31:53):
So, leticia, you mentioned mindset earlier and
now, being much farther intoyour story, there is a definite
pattern, and that pattern is youhave a winner's mindset, you
have won and you have won, andyou have won and you have won,
you've won in every category ofevery different facet that you
(32:17):
have extended yourself in.
I'd love to know, like, fromyour internal experience, you we
could get any kind of answers,but your answer, what is, for
you, that winner's mindset?
What are the things that you dointernally, whether it be in
(32:39):
your head or in your heart, thatkeep you in that winner's
mindset?
Speaker 1 (32:49):
Well, like I said earlier, I'm also a yoga teacher
, so I practice journaling.
Every morning, I have agratitude journal and I write
everything at least three thingsthat I'm grateful for as the
first thing in the morning,meaning like my alarm ring, I
(33:12):
have my gratitude journal and Iwrite.
I don't do anything, as before,like I don't touch my.
I touch my phone just to switchoff the alarm.
Um, I put the light on and Iwrite what I'm grateful as I
wake up.
And also I use mantras.
I'm not sure if you know whatthey are, but it's like I
(33:34):
repeated a sentence that yourepeat multiple times and it
becomes a meditative thing and Ichange them according to my
state of mind and what I'm intomy life at the moment.
But one is I am happy, I amhealthy, it's my like every day.
Speaker 3 (34:01):
Yes, please share a couple more of your mantras so
people really have anunderstanding.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
And when I had my hip surgery, I think my mantra
helped me so much for my healing.
So it was I am happy, I amhealthy, I am healing.
I am happy, I am healthy, I amhealing.
And I repeated that a hundredtimes a day, like just sometimes
out loud, sometimes justquietly, and I used to write it
(34:30):
too.
And, yeah, I always come backto that mantra.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
For me it's like a I can see how your gratitude
practice translates into the waythat you bring others along as
well.
I'm thinking about the worksthat you publish.
You're very intentional aboutmaking sure that you send the
(35:00):
business to a printer of yourchoosing.
You send the business to aprinter of your choosing and you
know, it's kind of like a wholeAJ Jacobs experience.
You know, thanks a thousand.
He wrote a book about all ofthe people that were responsible
for bringing him his cup ofcoffee.
(35:21):
But I can see how you're veryconscious about all of the
supply chains involved inproducing one of these books.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
Yes, very, I print locally.
My printer is like 10 minutesaway from my house.
I would not go and print inChina or anything like that.
No, I like to have theconnection with the people who I
create with.
It's very, very important.
(35:48):
I like to have the connectionwith the people who I create
with.
It's very, very important.
During the lockdown, they hadthis weird thing in the
photography world where they didonline photo shoots and it was
a way for models to still shootwith photographers and vice
versa and still stay creative.
But I I refused.
(36:09):
I said I need to be in personin the room with the person.
I cannot be creating throughscreen, it's just.
I need the connection, uh, thephysical connection with the
person to be creating.
Speaker 3 (36:23):
And yeah, I would love to have you talk a little
bit more about.
I mean, you obviously haveexperienced a great deal of
success and you sound quitefulfilled in all that you do.
It's demonstrated in yourgratitude and your mantras.
(36:45):
Talk a little bit more abouthow community has played a role
in your journey oh, my god,community is for me, like so, so
important, like my instagram.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
I'm now at 103 000 followers.
Uh, since 2018, I've opened itand I welcome every follower I
get every day personallypersonally from day one.
I mean maybe some days I haveskipped some because I was busy
(37:24):
or something, or there were toomany in one day and I didn't
manage, but I do my best.
I welcome personally, not a bot, Because actually this action
you cannot automatize.
I checked Instagram.
Don't allow you to automatizethis action, so you will get a
(37:45):
thanks for following me messageif you're following me and this
thanks for following me message.
Some people just read it and donothing.
Some people just double tap andput a heart on it and some
people answer and then a massiveconversation starts.
Speaker 3 (38:04):
So it's more than just following.
It's connecting right.
Speaker 1 (38:07):
So I try to connect with every single person that
follows me.
I, I do the first step and thenI see what happens.
But it's, it's showing like Imean the my.
I don't have hate messages, Idon't get any.
You know, my community is sosupportive of my work.
(38:29):
The comments, the likes, theshares, everybody's just like so
genuine and so nice.
Um, and then I have okay, thisis my followers Instagram, but I
have also like a more privatecommunity on Patreon where my
fans are supporting me to seemore exclusive content and more
(38:53):
videos and more photos.
And this community is evenstronger, like I have some fans
since six years there and theyare like they become my friends.
Speaker 3 (39:05):
What about local community away from social media
?
Speaker 1 (39:10):
I don't have that because I travel so much, I'm
everywhere and for me it's veryhard to actually connect with
people locally, besides my printshop, which is really important
, besides my print shop, whichis really important.
(39:31):
But, um, yeah, I don't have alocal community like physical
community.
Um, all my communities areonline, but they're really
strong.
I feel more connected to someof my community members than
with my family or friends, likethey know more about me, they
know me better, they know yeahyou know, if you travel that
much, it's what you have to workwith, do you?
Speaker 3 (39:53):
do you think about a time when you might travel less
and and be able to have a localcommunity?
Does that appeal?
Speaker 1 (40:02):
uh, I don't know.
Like all my life I've beentraveling.
Since, yeah, since I was 16years old.
I've been on tours for shows,tour for and my, my friends, and
my life is like worldwide, I amlike I belong to the world.
I don't feel like I belong tomy, to my city, to my, even to
(40:23):
my village.
I don't know I I belong to mycity, even to my village.
I don't know.
I have a bigger picture aboutcommunity than just and I don't
think I could find that manypeople right where I live that I
could connect really with likeI do with all the people that I
connect with online.
Speaker 3 (40:45):
That's fascinating.
I mean, I experienced some ofthat during the pandemic, when I
was locked in my house for twoyears by myself, when we had not
been together yet, and so Iexperienced some of that.
I had most of my community, myrelationships and my social
(41:06):
activity were over Zoom withpeople far away, many of them
that I'd never met in person,and it sustained me in a
beautiful way.
I think I would have committedHarry Carey if I hadn't had
those people that I couldconnect with.
So I've had a glimmer of that,and so I kind of understand that
(41:26):
.
Speaker 1 (41:27):
Like I have friends all over the world.
I can like just message someoneand then go take a flight and I
have so many people all overthe world that I can meet with
and connect with.
Speaker 3 (41:40):
That's amazing.
When you go to faraway places,do you meet them in real life
sometimes?
Speaker 1 (41:45):
I do.
Yeah, I've met some of mycommunity members.
Speaker 3 (41:50):
So you do have in real life community, it's just
not local.
Speaker 1 (41:55):
It's not local right, but I do meet some people in
person.
Speaker 3 (41:59):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (41:59):
While I travel.
Speaker 3 (42:01):
That's beautiful.
Speaker 2 (42:09):
I travel.
That's beautiful.
Well, I know that if you everfind yourself around Dallas, the
connections and community guyswould love to spend some time
with you.
Speaker 1 (42:14):
I've been in Dallas.
Speaker 3 (42:15):
Yeah, that would be amazing.
You know, I want to know whereall your energy comes from,
because if you can put it in abottle, I'll buy it.
Speaker 1 (42:28):
My energy.
You are what you eat.
That's one of my one of mymantra and one of my mottos.
I have two mottos.
Speaker 3 (42:44):
One is you are what you eat and the other one is you
are what you think, and yeah,true, truer words have never
been spoken.
Speaker 1 (42:48):
Yes, your energy comes from what you eat.
It's like a car you know if youput bad gas, that's not gonna
go that far.
If you put the wrong gas, itmay go anywhere.
So, um, the body is the same.
It's a machine.
You have to maintain it Likeyou maintain your car.
(43:09):
You have to bring it to service.
You have to give it good foodand good thoughts, and that's
where you come from.
Speaker 3 (43:19):
That's a great metaphor.
Great metaphor.
Yes, most of us care for ourcars better than we care for
ourselves.
Great metaphor, great metaphor.
Yes, most of us care for ourcars better than we care for
ourselves.
Speaker 2 (43:35):
Most of us care for our stuff better than we care
for ourselves.
Speaker 1 (43:39):
Yes, yeah, it's a scary thing, because what you
put in is what you know.
Speaker 3 (43:42):
Shit in, shit out, as the saying goes.
Speaker 1 (43:46):
Yes, better to die.
So the quality of your food.
When do you eat your food?
How do you eat your food?
Speaker 3 (43:59):
All of that.
It's part of the energy.
Yeah, that makes sense.
Well, mr Dwight, have you gotthe big question ready for?
Speaker 2 (44:08):
leticia.
Well, I have a couple um.
First I I want to make surethat this has been a meaningful
exchange for you, and I don'twant to exit this conversation
without making sure that youhave an opportunity to express
(44:28):
everything that's on your heart,everything that's on your mind,
and I know we covered a lot ofground, but is there anything
that you would like to sharewith someone that might be
listening?
Speaker 1 (44:43):
Follow your heart and follow your dreams, because
life is short, um.
You don't know if you havetomorrow, so don't wait for
taking action oh and I know, Iknow someone needs to hear that
(45:07):
a lot of someone's probably needto hear that, not I sometimes
need to hear that, yes, we don'thave tomorrow until it's here I
I say that because I've beenrecently in a really, really,
really traumatic experiencewhere I showed up at the photo
(45:29):
shoot with a photographer that Ihave shot already for four or
five years.
We knew each other very, verywell and when I arrived at the
photo shoot he was dead.
Speaker 3 (45:42):
So, sorry.
Speaker 1 (45:45):
It's not just light words, it's from recent
experiences and it makes yourethink life when you're into
this situation.
He was a young man.
Yeah, his wife was waiting forhim for dinner.
Speaker 3 (46:05):
I can feel your, I can see and feel your feelings
right now the loss of him.
Speaker 1 (46:11):
He didn't make it that day, so yeah, wow, wow.
Speaker 2 (46:19):
That is heavy, heavy to hear and heavy to feel, heavy
, heavy to hear and heavy tofeel.
But I would like to steerthings toward another way of
thinking.
(46:39):
So we never know who it is thatmight be listening, and a lens
provides a platform where youcould speak a wish into being,
and the big question that I'dlike you to consider is what is
(47:00):
one thing that would make it sothat it would open doors for you
and make it so that, if there'sany kind of a barrier, any kind
of obstacle, if you had a wishthat could be granted, what
would that be?
What would that look like?
Speaker 1 (47:22):
A wish to be granted.
Wow, big question.
Um, I wish for peace in theworld.
I I know it sounds very cliche,but I think it's needed.
Speaker 3 (47:49):
That would change all of our experiences, wouldn't it
?
Speaker 2 (47:53):
It would, and I love the way that you took time to
consider your answer to thatquestion and I think the place
that you went speaks to how youhave done a lot to work on
yourself, right like I, knowingall the things that you've
(48:15):
accomplished and the way thatyou move about in the world.
You're sharing all all that youhave to give.
You're pulling others along theway that you're intentional
about using your local printshop to deliver unseen and the
(48:36):
prior publications.
Speaker 1 (48:38):
Yeah, they've all been printed at the same print
shop.
Speaker 2 (48:42):
Amazing.
Speaker 3 (48:45):
I mean your whole story and and now your, your
wish for work for peace.
It's very much an indicator ofhow important our own personal
growth is, not only in our ownlife, but then in the lives of
those that we touch.
When we don't do our ownpersonal work, it would be
(49:08):
short-sighted to think that thatonly affects you, the
individual, when you don't dothe work that you need to do.
But when you don't do the workyou need to do, it affects every
person you touch and everyperson that that person touches.
The way we reach that worldpeace is by all doing our work,
our own personal work.
It starts in here.
Peace starts in here and thenmoves out here.
Speaker 1 (49:32):
Yes, because if you don't have peace in yourself,
you can't spread it Right.
Speaker 3 (49:38):
That's right.
That's why that personal growthwork is so important.
Leticia, this has beenwonderful.
Thank you so much.
Feel so honored that you werewilling to come and share your
story with us and our audience.
Speaker 1 (49:55):
Thank you for having me.
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!