2016 Babe of the Year: Claudia Gizell Aparicio-Gamundi
Photo courtesy of SA Current
In the first few months of the new year, we're celebrating the babes who helped buoy our community in 2016 with their inspiring ambition, work and success.
It's appropriate that Claudia Gizell Aparicio-Gamundi derives her creative energy from community as she's been such a creative force for ours.
Whether it's helping to get people grooving through the formation of Chulita Vinyl Club (the all-girl DJ collective that played at our August meet and, more recently, at our State of the Uterus event), to get them together through Mosaico Experiencia events, or to create for them as Puro Chingøn Collective does via designer toys, zines, videos, and murals, Aparicio-Gamundi is in the business of creating spaces for "those that might feel not spoken to."
Still, with all of those projects in her corner, the thing she's most proud of accomplishing is finally accepting that she's just not a fan of speaking in front of crowds. That's a sentiment we can absolutely get behind — may we all learn to accept that some things just aren't for us in the new year.
Where does the drive to do what you do — even when the struggle bus pulls up — come from?
The drive comes directly from wanting to create what I would like to see out there, not just for me but for those that might feel not spoken to.
What have been your favorite moments of creative energy this past year?
Getting together with the community during Puro Chingøn, Mosaico Experiencia and AIGA's events. Making people come together through sound and making them groove with all the chulitas from Chulita Vinyl Club — it just makes me super happy to be surrounded by pure light & great energy.
What have been the most challenging moments throughout your career and perhaps in this year in particular?
Not enough spaces for POC in the Austin creative scene.
What's the one thing you're most proud of accomplishing this past year?
Collaborating with great people and being challenged to speak in front of an audience. I don't enjoy it — never have — so I finally realized it is just not for me and being ok with that.