Today we’d like to introduce you to “ricothecreative”.
Hi “ricothecreative”, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Thanks for having me! I’m thrilled to share a bit of my story.
I’ve always been drawn to self-expression through creativity, the arts, and performance; these threads show up constantly weaved into the stories my mother would tell me about my formative years.
One of my favorites of these stories is from when I was still in diapers. One night, to my mother’s dismay, I escaped my crib and she couldn’t find me. Just as her maternal panic began to set in, she found me in the living room—alone in the dark, standing on the coffee table, surrounded by laundry, dancing and swinging her underwear above my head like a helicopter.
As much as this act had to be a personal expression of joy, I believe it was one of my earliest performances with the intent to entertain.
Years later at my pre-k graduation, each kid gets up on stage to announce what they wanted to be when they grew up.
Amidst the wishes of my little peers—
“I wanna be a firefighter!”
“I wanna be a doctor!”
“I wanna be a teacher!”
(Ya know, the usual.)
I got up on stage and declared,
“I wanna be a rockstar!”
Then I threw in a little air guitar to really sell my intentions to the crowd.
Since then, due to circumstance, practicality and responsibility have been my main drivers. While finding many small joys, I’ve maintained an overall feeling of creative repression that I’ve only very recently begun to break out of.
Doing photography, videography, and pursuing music, I’m really focused now on bringing little Rico’s vision to life. In many ways, it feels like my life is just getting started.
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?
Easy and smooth are not words I would associate with my path so far.
Aside from resources being scarce, I grew up in a tight framework that undoubtedly gave me structure, but kept my world small. I had a very limited sense of autonomy. There was a strong emphasis on conformity to a very specific worldview that shaped how I saw myself, my value, what I thought was possible, even what I believed I was allowed to want.
For a long time, I walked a path that left little room for what fed my spirit. Joy felt like indulgence, and I learned to meet my creativity and aspirations with guilt. I was torn between the decadence of self-expression and the fear that it was all vanity while wanting to be seen as good.
It’s only now, in my early thirties, that I’m starting to stretch out, put myself out there, and honor my gifts and interests.
But the rending and tearing of previous ways of thinking and coping are currently in progress for me, and the road so far has been nothing adjacent to easy or smooth.
One of the biggest lessons along the way has been learning to trust myself, to listen to my intuition, follow my creative impulses, and to allow myself the experience without guilt or shame. I’ve learned to stop waiting for permission to pursue what I truly desire, and to stop seeking advice from people who neither understand who I am nor live a life I aspire to.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
While I am a multi-passionate artist, I’m currently focused on my music, preparing my live show, working on recording an EP, and learning about the world of sync licensing in hopes to be able to make a living with music, thus allowing me to focus on the craft that is closest to my heart full time.
Aside from being a musician, I’m also a composer, producer, performer, writer, poet, graphic designer, photographer, videographer and video editor.
What sets me apart from others? I can only hope that my passion, my unique flavor, and genuine love of the human spirit set me apart from others.
I try to be nonchalant about what I do, but I’m actually very deeply driven by something that moves me to shock and awe others by going above and beyond the expectations set for me. That drive is present in my approach to my art, and in jobs I’ve held over the years. I have an innate need to transcend status quo. I’m often bored and trying to figure out how to shake things up—how to make things better, or more interesting. How to deliver something fresh, thats never been done before while still being profound. I love finding similarities in things that are starkly contrasted. Juxtaposition is so fun for me.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
I think because I’ve done so many things behind the scenes—and because I often shift focus—people are surprised when I share ANYTHING that’s been a huge part of my inner world. For example, I met a group of friends while I was heavily experimenting with photography and videography, so that’s what they associated me with. They didn’t know the photo/video work I was doing was practice to sharpen my skills for my own needs related to my music. When I released my single, Kindred Spirits, they were shocked—it didn’t even register that it was me singing. They had no idea I did music, even though I started writing that song over a decade ago.
I just have a lot of undercurrents people don’t always see—There’s lots of magma flowing underground with me.
Which kinda goes back to the question about challenges… I’ve played small for so long that I feel like people I share community with don’t even know who or what I am, which I’m working to remedy with sharing my art…
Short answer: I once worked as an EMT… and then I had a 6 month stint as a ballroom dance instructor… and I’ve worn many other hats since then.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.
instagram.com/ricothecreative - Other: http://distrokid.com/
hyperfollow/ricothecreative/ kindred-spirits/ - Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@
ricothecreative?_t=ZT- 8xKFXxO1am5&_r=1
Image Credits
Broston Serio, Rico Henderson, Felicia Tapia
