We’re looking forward to introducing you to Rachel Aquino. Check out our conversation below.
Rachel, a huge thanks to you for investing the time to share your wisdom with those who are seeking it. We think it’s so important for us to share stories with our neighbors, friends and community because knowledge multiples when we share with each other. Let’s jump in: What makes you lose track of time—and find yourself again?
When I’m dancing or performing, time dissolves completely. My body moves before my mind can catch up, and I drop into this state of total presence where nothing exists but sensation, rhythm, and breath. It’s like I’m both fully inside myself and entirely beyond myself. My awareness sharpens, yet I stop thinking altogether. Every gesture feels honest, instinctive. That flow pulls me into a kind of moving meditation, where I lose track of minutes and return to something more essential and true to myself, unfiltered and alive. When it’s hard to access myself, dance becomes the bridge back to my life force energy
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Hello beautiful people. It’s Spicy Gobou. For my new and dearest friends, I’m a multidisciplinary artist based in Amsterdam; I’ve relocated to this lovely city from Austin, Texas to devote myself to my craft full time. My craft intersects the world of fashion, art, performance, and the ether. I express my inner world through a variety of mediums: Dance, Performance, Photo, Artistic Direction, and Fashion.
Dreams, movement, and identity are elements at the center of my practice and undying curiosities. It will continue to inform my work in new ways and new languages.
After graduating with my BA and 3 years in the Fine Arts & Non-profit industry, I’m pursuing my first creative study at The Jean School in Denim City. My heart is so full. I feel curious, inspired, and expansive in this new paradigm. Relocating across the world and returning to my hearts center and my voice has been the most vulnerable act of trust and belief I’ve placed with myself. I feel blessed to extend my hand to share it all with others. Thank you for witnessing me.
Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. What breaks the bonds between people—and what restores them?
What breaks the bonds between people is usually silence. The kind that comes from fear, pride, or pain left unspoken. When we stop being honest about what we feel, or when we turn away instead of leaning in, the thread between us begins to fray. Disconnection often grows in the spaces where vulnerability used to live.
What restores those bonds is presence. Real, heart-open presence. Listening without needing to fix, speaking from truth instead of defense, allowing tenderness to re-enter the room. Connection comes back when we let ourselves be seen again, and when we choose to see the other with compassion instead of judgment. That’s where healing happens: in the simple, human act of returning to each other.
What did suffering teach you that success never could?
Suffering taught me how to sit with myself when there’s nothing to prove. How to hold pain without trying to rush it away. It stripped away the noise and made me listen to what’s real beneath the surface. It taught me how much endurance my spirit truly holds when tested, and how pain can become a teacher if I let it. I never knew how much I could change in such beautiful, unexpected ways in response to tragedy, loss, death, and departure. Success can affirm you, but suffering changes you.
It showed me the depth of my own resilience and the quiet strength that only reveals itself when everything else falls away. It has been a test of how fully I could stay with myself through the most uncomfortable, aching moments without turning away. Suffering became the soil where new parts of myself took root. Softer and wiser.
So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. What would your closest friends say really matters to you?
My closest friends would probably say that what matters most to me is authenticity, living, creating, and loving from a place that feels real. They’d say I care deeply about connection, the kind that allows people to be seen in their fullness. They know I’m guided by meaning more than by achievement, and that beauty, art, and emotional honesty are my languages of understanding the world. They’d tell you I’m devoted to growth, to tenderness, to turning even pain into something expressive and alive. More than anything, they’d say I’m always seeking truth: in myself, in others, and in the spaces between us.
Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. Are you doing what you were born to do—or what you were told to do?
I’m doing what I was born to do. Though it took unlearning a lot of what I was told to get here. For a long time, I followed the path that felt safe, that earned approval, that made sense to others. But my spirit always pulled me toward something wilder, more soulful, more true. Now, I’m choosing creation over convention, and alignment over expectation. What I do now feels like breathing. it’s not about what I should be, it’s about remembering who I already am and letting that guide everything I create, share, and become.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://spicy-gobou.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spicygobou/
Image Credits
Photo 1 (with wings)
Photographer: @judovisuals
Performers: Spicy Gobou and Baby Snakes
Photo 2 (with piercings):
Photography: Spicy Gobou
Hair and Makeup: @jadeandalon_
Model and Jewelry: @shopclosetofskeletons
Photo 3 (with ripples)
Studio: @suite650
Photographer: Spicy Gobou
Models: @stephbenavides & @jesseself
Stylist: orphicfacility
Hair & Makeup Artists: @velitadivina & @paprika.mov
Producer: @pngisselle
Photo 4 (with spinning effect):
Artistic Direction: Spicy Gobou
Photography: Spicy Gobou
Al: Spicy Gobou
Styling: @kathcleen
Hair and Makeup: @velitadivina & @paprika.mov
3D design & Animation: @five_star_flag
Gobou Dollar bill graphic design: @club3mica
Model: @mackenziepanganibann
PA: @club3mica, @dh3f_,@prestonrphoto
Producers: @dh3f_@prestonrphoto
Studio: @suite650
