Reflections With Salomé Gómez-Upegui

Suchitra Mattai is a Guyanese-American artist of South Asian descent who creates spellbinding, monumental installations and textile sculptures to spotlight women's voices, while honoring her ancestors, who were once brought from India to Guyana as indentured laborers. In this episode, she joins Salomé to talk about art as a practice of healing, reclamation, and liberation. She opens up about t...

Fashion stylist Cassandra Lanrick says she likes things "a little bit ugly." She resists the traditional rules of fashion—dressing for flattery, dressing for the male gaze, dressing for trends—and instead treats getting dressed as a practice of self-expression and delight. In this episode, Cassandra joins Salomé to talk about what it takes to show up online consistently, how she overcame...

Jennifer Higgie is an Australian-born, London-based writer, editor, and curator. Author of The Other Side: A Journey into Women, Art and the Spirit World , The Mirror and the Palette: 500 Years of Women's Self-Portraits , and the novel Bedlam , she began her career as a painter before finding her way into art writing and spending over 20 years as editor of frieze magazine. In this episode, Jen...

Blending solo episodes and conversations with some of the most thoughtful, interesting people I know, Reflections is meant to be a welcoming, curiosity-driven space to explore what it means to find and feel creative alignment in our lives.  Together, we’ll ask questions like: How do people find and stay connected to their creative lives? How do they devote themselves to their passions, practice di...

At just 27 years old, Kelly Talamas became the youngest editor-in-chief ever at the helm of Vogue México and Latin America . Five years into the role, she made the bold decision to step away from what many would consider a dream job to build a more intentional life, one rooted in creative independence and family. Today, Kelly is a mother of three and the co-founder of LATINNESS, a website that exp...

In this solo episode, Salomé reflects on the winding path that led her from human rights law to creative writing. She revisits her time at Harvard Law School, the moments of doubt that shaped her search for purpose, and the quiet power of choosing inner guidance over external validation. After sharing this story with friends and colleagues countless times, she offers it here hoping to inspire anyo...

Maritza Lacayo, Associate Curator at the Pérez Art Museum Miami, is a woman who shows up unapologetically in every aspect of her life. In this episode, Salomé Gómez-Upegui sits down with Maritza to explore her journey in the art world, from starting part-time at PAMM’s front desk to becoming a curator who approaches her work as a storyteller in service of the museum and its community. They discuss...

Kathryn Mikesell is the co-founder of Fountainhead Arts, a Miami-based arts organization dedicated to supporting artists and fostering meaningful connections between creators and the community. A former tech professional turned cultural leader, she has become one of the city’s most trusted and beloved advocates for the arts. In this episode, host Salomé Gómez-Upegui sits down with Kathryn to explo...

After a 10–month pause, host Salomé Gómez-Upegui returns to Reflections with a deeply personal life update. In this solo episode, she opens up about navigating postpartum for the second time, the challenges of rediscovering creativity in the midst of motherhood, and the duality of immense love and overwhelming difficulty that comes with raising young children. Here, Salomé reflects on what has hel...

Emanuel Hahn is a Los Angeles-based photographer and filmmaker whose work delves into themes of identity, culture, diasporic experiences, and the search for belonging. In this episode, Salomé sits down with Emanuel to explore the thriving arts career he's built from the ground up, driven by relentless self-motivation and discipline. They also discuss the often-challenging relationship between crea...

In this episode, Salomé interviews Valentina Hernandez Botero the founder of Sana, a Miami-based skin studio redefining the skincare experience through goal driven facials, real guidance, and clean skincare. Among many subjects, Valentina and Salomé discuss the push and pull of looking for stability vs. taking creative risks, the path that led her to starting Sana, the experience of opening their...

Camila Falquez is a photographer and visual artist of Colombian descent based in New York who was born in Mexico and raised in Spain. With a particular focus on creating portraits and extensive experience as a fashion photographer, Falquez channels conventions of surrealism and a vibrant color palette to create images that reimagine notions of power, beauty, and liberation and celebrate social and...

In this episode, Salomé reflects on her experience of not buying new clothes for 6 months. She goes over why she decided to start the challenge, the many themes it brought up (i.e. awareness around a constant craving for novelty, social media peer pressure, thoughts on repeating outfits), and how it changed her relationship to clothes. Resources shared: Remake, Fashion Nonprofit: https://remake.wo...

Willow Defebaugh is a compassionate and wise writer whose creative practice is all about honoring nature and humanity. As the co-founder and editor-in-chief of Atmos Magazine, a non-profit biannual publication and digital platform, she has dedicated her life's work to re-enchanting others with the environment through captivating storytelling and stunning visuals. And though her writing often a...

The story of how artist and marine researcher Beatriz Chachamovits first fell in love with coral reefs is like something out of a dream. “It was magical, as corals are,” she says to Salomé at the beginning of this episode. Considered the most biodiverse ecosystem on earth, coral reefs are essential for our planet. They house 25% of all ocean species, and as humans we get countless medicines from t...

When Jose Campos was a young child, he immigrated by land from La Paz, El Salvador, to San Francisco, California. There, he spent years living undocumented, cleaning houses with his mother, and experiencing the many struggles of being simultaneously targeted and invisibilized due to his migratory status. Today, Jose, now based in the UK, is the mind and soul behind Studio Lenca, a talented and inc...

LA-based mindfulness and meditation teacher Mariana Orkenyi joins Salomé for an enlightening and nuanced conversation on the subject of purpose. They discuss what it means to "discover" our purpose, and how we can deal with the anxiety and heaviness that this theme oftentimes brings up while also recognizing the many benefits of intentional living.  Mari Orkenyi's Website: https://ma...

London-based artist Laxmi Hussain joins host Salomé Gómez-Upegui to reflect on motherhood and creativity. She shares how motherhood led her to become an artist and how her artistic practice is continuously influenced by her experience as a mother of three. "I'm always going to want to be there for my kids, but also, I really want to do this thing, and, personally, I need to make it work.....