Today we’d like to introduce you to Sara Lopez.
Hi Sara, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I remember being a little girl, probably like seven years old and a family friend was visiting, her name was Oleta, she had brought over some things from her travels abroad, she had some leftover money from her trip and showed it to me. This for me was my first time seeing anything other than a US bill. I think it was a British pound if I remember correctly. I was completely fascinated. Just seeing this piece of paper really got my imagination going, looking at the pound I was already thinking to myself, “I wonder what life is like over there?” And then you’ve got these historical figures on the paper money and different symbols— that also took my imagination to a place. Why is this person’s face on the bill? What does this symbol mean? I was unknowingly wanting to find out more about the history. I had never felt that feeling of curiosity or pull for anything like that before. I remember I wanted to see what currency looked like from other countries too. This is really where I can trace back my first memory of my initial curiosity and love for the world and travel.
Another important thing I should mention is that I grew up on the Texas— Mexico border. I grew up Mexican— American on a Mexican— American border. This is actually a really important part of my story. It is literally why I am who I am and why I believe I do what I do. Borders are such interesting places and intersection points. Especially when a part of you comes from the other side of that border. Apart of me was always defined by borders and that caused me pain in many ways growing up. A sort of disconnect psychologically. In an individualist society like America where identity is everything, it was difficult. I never felt complete in either of my identities. Additionally being Mestiza added to that, not ever feeling “white”, but also not feeling like I was connected to my indigenous roots either. I think about my family and their struggles and just desire for me to have a better life and I am incredibly grateful for that. But within that same vain, I felt this need to fit the American mold. Subconsciously, I needed to prove it for my family I was going to be American. Participating in this homogenization of the American identity, deep down never made me happy.
Then I went to college at UT and started to travel. Taking advantage of study abroad programs and just cheap round trip tickets with kayak and priceline or whatever I could find. That was the thing I looked most forward to in college—travel. I loved discovering new lands and learning about cultures from all around the world. It made me and still makes me feel alive to this day. Morocco was my first trip alone and that trip changed my life. For so many reasons. I was getting really into photography as well, I got myself a camera, taught myself how to use it and shot as much as I could when I went abroad. I was studying French and Arabic too at that time. But then my life really began to change when my dad died. This marked a huge shift for me. I remember one of the last things he told me was to continue traveling and exploring the world and just to continue doing what I loved. I never forgot that.
Two years later, I graduated from UT where I completed the Texas creative program through the Advertising school there. It gave me these amazing creative and conceptual skills. I also learned to work with all of the adobe programs and I had the opportunity to sharpen my design eye. So as most of my peers did, I moved to New York City thinking I was going to work in advertising. However, I realized that my heart was not in it. I remember the day I decided I was going to leave the city. I was heading down the stairs, I was at Bedford Station in Williamsburg and I started to hear the tune of an instrument I had never heard before. Floating in the air. It just hit me. Right in my heart. When I made it down the stairs, I saw a man from Senegal playing the kora instrument. It is a beautiful string instrument that comes from West Africa. There he was, like an angel, plucking these strings and singing in a language I did not understand but I didn’t need to understand. I just knew I was making the right decision to leave the city.
I continued to travel and work with graphic design and photography. For a second there, I thought I would get myself into documentary photography but I just felt very strange about that. I didn’t feel like I was helping the world, I was only continuing to show and remind people of the suffering. I longed to do something with more impact.
All of that, all of those experiences and skills, even encounters in between have lead me to where I am right now. I created a project with my partner, Gabriel Alvarez, titled “The Jungle Journal”. It is a print journal covering topics around travel along with articles centered on cultural and environmental preservation. Our first edition covered Latin America, and our second volume which we are just releasing is based in East Africa. A lot of the heart and soul of this project comes from the desire to get to the root of a lot of the issues we see in the world. Issues where we typically only see the surface. I also wanted to remind the world where we come from, our roots, getting back in touch with ourselves and the earth. I wanted to help inspire people to take it upon themselves to change the ways they live and think in this world and not wait on something bigger than them or outside of themselves.
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?
I think if I am honest with myself, it has not been a smooth road. Carving your own path comes with its drawbacks. I remember there was resistance from my close loved ones when it came to following my heart and not choosing to take a typical career path. I definitely think this came from a place of love and concern because it is very difficult to see how something can work out when you’ve never seen it done before. Security is the main concern which comes from people like our parents. They want us to be secure and stable which the normal route provides— the 9-5, the corporate path. But I just couldn’t and I remember I didn’t get full 100% support with that decision but I had to just keep going forward and make it happen for myself.
As far as with the Jungle Journal, I think when I reflect back on the creation of this whole project, it was birthed out of struggle. We came up with the idea for the journal in that first month of lockdown during the pandemic. I was one of those things that was like, well, sh*t, there’s a level of fear and panic that’s sweeping the world like we’ve never seen or felt before—it felt like the end of the world in some ways. It made me question to myself, “what are you going to do with your life? “And this whole idea became clearer of creating The Jungle Journal… So from the beginning, I knew what I was getting myself into and that it was going to require a lot of hard work, dedication, and self-motivation. That first year really was that, not letting ourselves give-up on this dream and continue feeding this labor of love that we both felt the world really needs. It took a lot of mental stamina to make it all happen.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I do a little bit of everything at the moment — I am a creator. I write. I photograph. I interview. I design. I creative direct. And if storytelling is medicine — I am a medicine woman too. I specialize in storytelling. Stories move me. And it doesn’t need to be anything super elaborate, it can be simple — a conversation with a stranger for example. It’s all about connecting. It is witnessing someone bear their soul. It’s actually really spiritual for me. An act of seeing beyond form. It’s a really sacred space for me, storytelling. I think in the end that is what I am most proud of, getting to witness someone share their story. Getting to be a forever student of humanity.
What I would say sets me apart from others is my story — I truly feel like I was born to be doing what I am doing. Being able to see the world from such a different perspective because of where I grew up and how I never forgot that. I believe being from a border taught me how to be a bridge. It also showed me what extremes and dogmas look like but without having to take them on. Really, the border raised me to bridge cultures. This has led me to bridge stories, bridge messages, bridge what needs to be communicated and what needs to be shared and told. And just being open to many different perspectives. I think this is what sets me apart from others.
What do you like and dislike about the city?
Austin is such a special place to me. What I perceive to be an amazing thing about Austin is the access to nature. Like the greenbelt is right there in the middle of the city basically. If you want to engage with it, you can and it’s not too far, also barton springs and all of these amazing accesses, you can go on hikes and amazing trails and have that contact with the earth that is so important and necessary. Another thing I would say that I love about Austin is the freedom to be who you are and that openness to express it. I think that was very important for me after leaving the Rio Grande Valley, I was able to get to explore all of these unexpressed parts of myself and always feel welcomed to do a plot twist if need be.
Some things I do not like about the city are gentrification, the housing market, and TRAFFIC!
Pricing:
- 21.00 For a print magazine
- 10.00 for a canvas bag
- T-shirt 20$
Contact Info:
- Email: contact@itsthejunglejournal.com
- Website: www.itsthejunglejournal.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/the_jungle_journal_
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/the_jungle_journal_
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfClvOTBE4sNz08ahlnd6Cw
Image Credits
Gabriel Alvarez Lorenzo, Sara Elisa Lopez
