About Me — Nataly U. I am a writer in the process of…
By: Nataly U
Tags: Narrative Nonfiction, About Me, Dance, Personal Development, Writing

Hello! My name is Nataly U. and a female empowerment writer! Photo: Renzo Barrios. Plaza Botero, Medellin.

About Me — Nataly U

Hello! My name is Nataly, and I’m on the path to understanding how to live a happier life by learning healthier habits and ways of loving myself and others. I write to connect with other people and share experiences while offering my communication strategy and professional writing services to other female entrepreneurs.

I’m currently setting the foundations of @VenusEvolution, my Communication strategy, and professional writing services oriented to female empowerment and personal growth

But! Let’s go back to the beginning: which path is it that I’m talking about, and what’s my idea of happiness? And also, how did I get to consider myself a writer in the first place?

A Fullhouse Strategist:

Communication has been a vital tool for me since childhood. I am the third of four sisters in a Latino family, so you can imagine standing out was a matter of survival. Of course, being a middle child who also studied in a Catholic school, I was the most rebellious girl in the whole family, the class, the school, and probably a couple of counties.

As I have come to learn, communication can persuade others to achieve great things together. It can motivate your client to close a great deal, make your product known like never before, and make Mother Superior reconsider suspending you, AGAIN. By implementing the right communication strategy, your ideas can be replicated, you could even change the world.

Speaking of my family! Here’s a picture of Amelia and Frida, my two rescued dogs that helped me overcome cynophobia. Do you also love your pets as if they were family? Who wouldn’t?

Studying history, I have seen how we human beings need to believe and create a better world. That future, increasingly inclusive, fair, and participatory, is founded on social networks so that, through public opinion, people can influence how things are done.

I know, I know; inequalities and corporate interests are influencing public opinion in the first place. But still, political change always ends up happening. Do you know how I know that for sure?

Yup! this blurry picture is one of the best ones from my graduation.

It all started with me choosing the wrong career:

I’m a Political Scientist with an MS in Political Communications and Marketing. As a Venezuelan, I was particularly inclined to research propaganda, pacific protest, the praetorian army model as a dictator’s strategy to withhold power, and managing opposition candidates’ public images. All of those investigation lines can become more than controversial when you live under a military dictatorship.

Maybe you’re not aware of it (or perhaps you are), but Venezuela has been undergoing a political, social, and economic crisis that has brought famine, unimaginable poverty, thousands of deaths, and human rights violations in every way you can think of… including, of course, our human right to free speech and the right to protest.

Currently, UNHCR indicates that there are 4.5 million Venezuelan refugees scattered throughout the world. At the same time, our families back home are trapped in a country with no oil, electricity, or regular water supply. Did I mention that the minimum wage is only 5 dollars a month? People leave Venezuela on foot, carrying nothing but a few dollars, a backpack, and occasionally a blanket. Many of them have their children in arms.

It was always said that we weren’t an island, so we would never turn into another Cuba… We were wrong. Remember me being the 3rd of four daughters? Only one of them, the most resistant to change of us four, still lives in Venezuela.

This was one of my last performances with my students back in Venezuela. The piece named “I will learn to forget” was a representation of the immigration grieving process. It was an homage to all of our friends and family members that left the country due to the economical crisis. Photos: Carlos Carranza

Like to take risks? Work for the opposition in a communications intelligence department under a communist regime. I’ll never forget how I felt the first time I saw a dead coworker, murdered at our office entrance.

I also know that working on any NPO, even those that protect orphans, will eventually include a death threat or a kidnapping to make everything more interesting. Many of my colleagues and acquaintances have been threatened, tortured, or persecuted.

What does a Political Scientist girl do when job after job risks increase, opportunities decrease, and contacts are fleeing the country?

I’m an FCBD style Dancer. Here I was performing back in January 2017 in “Casa Vrida” at Caracas, Venezuela. My academy’s name is @mistica.fcbd, in case you would like to check more of my artistic dancing side. Photo: Jared Pimenta

In my case, reinventing myself came to unravel a series of changes that my life needed. Not only was the political environment hostile, but I had also been hostile to myself for years. I had never accepted that my artistic sensibility and creativity could somehow fit with my academic training.

And I made that happen! But not without help.

Therapy: Your best friend when in crisis

When you feel unmotivated, lost, lonely… Whenever you have to take a big step in your life, I sincerely recommend that you go to therapy.

Sure, therapy is not for everyone. But everyone should find an interlocutor who can help you have an in-depth look at your past and the current state of things. Accepting myself, problems and all, learning how to shine with my own light. That has been therapy for me. A place where I allow myself to embrace my shadows and talents, so I can overcome the problems that prevent me from conquering my dreams. Speaking of which…

A writer’s word of advice

The process of establishing myself as a professional writer has become a journey of personal growth. I started as a writer for a lifestyle magazine focused on relationships and sexuality.

And I dared to live my hidden dream of being like Carrie Bradshaw.

Yes, I change gray blazers and political campaigns for a white tutu and vibrator’s photoshoots. I also was pleased about the whole new fashionista world unraveling before my eyes.

In case you’re wondering, I dated a lot during those years. And afterward, too. But it turns out that, after all, I’m more of a “Charlotte” kind of gal.

Exploring fashion, I understood how crucial red lipstick can be, the details that make photography an incredible art, and everything there is to know about editorial processes while improving my writing technique and grammar. That’s how I fell in love with being a lifestyle writer and a Professional Makeup Artist.

As a Professional Makeup artist, I created a Venus Evolution Store on Etsy so I can teach all sorts of makeup techniques that can help my clients project their inner beauty.

I also learned that sometimes the horoscope is written by people who do not know anything about astrology. So if you are going to follow the spiritual and astrological advice published in magazines, do so at your own risk.

From that moment on, I have worked on multiple projects, many times as a ghostwriter. I have specialized in areas close to my heart: pets, marketing, entrepreneurship, personal development, psychology, and spirituality, especially Tarot… What? Surprised I know a thing or two about Tarot, symbols, Jungian archetypes, and fortune reading? I like to investigate, keep things varied, and learn new things! It’s an amazing world to discover.

Curiosity has benefited me a lot in every job that I’ve had. I always want to investigate and take care of every detail, learn more about the topics I work on, and give my best every time.

Female empowerment services:

Believing in yourself can change your life. That’s why I’m changing my career path once again, and now, I’ll be offering my writing and strategic communications consultant services through my personal platform: Venus Evolution! A place where you will find everything about female empowerment and personal growth.

This project started to take shape in the middle of this transformational year. 2020 has taught us many lessons, and out of all those lessons, the one I consider most important is having the ability to adapt, start from scratch, and accept that sometimes things are not out of our control.

Photo: Renzo Barrios

I have emigrated twice this year, got married, lost friends, made new ones, and started my Medium column. I understood that the best way to contribute to creating a better world is to take all my passions and channel them through a platform that provides that little push of confidence that we often need to keep working towards achieving our dreams.

It has not been easy, but we managed to get to this point. From here on out, everything can begin to improve if we continue to believe that our actions, no matter how small, influence all the people around us.

Alright now! Enough about me. Have you ever turned your life upside down? Tell me everything about it!