Today we’d like to introduce you to Ari Ramos.
Hi Ari, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I grew up in Boston, Massachusetts in the Dorchester neighborhood with a soft spirit and grounded vision for more from the life we were told to have. From a young age I mediated conflict, nurtured spaces I found myself in and led with grace. I wanted more for my writing; more experiences for supportive spaces and self actualization.
I did not realize how impactful my move to Orlando would be in finishing my first poetry compilation, “Tending to your Garden”. I have found more comfort in who I am, more wounds I have left to address, and more lives to uplift. I grew up fluid in every sense; my internal monologue and external devices always questioned the boundaries of gender because I knew what I liked outside of the confines of what was granted to me.
I am developing a program for young people that will provide them with the mentorship I looked for as a kid. All of the adults I knew worked all day and I was left to my own devices quite often. Though I learned what I could, I know that I would have had an easier time navigating the hard moments from my youth to young adulthood. My story can be told a number of ways but I will say that I often blended in until I stuck out. I read the room and understood what it needed and provided it. I continue to look for ways to heal, ease, nurture a space or individual because that is my strength.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The road is only smooth if you throw enough tar in the cracks. Only then, you spend more time covering the problem than really discovering why the problem showed up in the first place. I was comfortable when I left Boston in the way that it was not ideal, but I knew where everything was and how to get there. Coming to Florida showed me how to get back into discomfort and learn from it.
Among all the struggles, I was my biggest opposition. I kept myself from branching out and finding my community after I had my son at 21. I lost my home before he turned 1 in 2022 and had moved 3 times since then in hopes that something became permanent. I realized in February of 2024 that all of this movement would bring me from Boston, Massachusetts to Orlando, Florida.
I got real with who I wanted to be for me, for my family, for my community. I regained my voice and my strength. I am fluid how I express myself. In every sense of my live, I flow in through what feels right. I decide how I take shape on this earth and that can be confusing for some people. As humans in this time, we love boxes and identifiers so that we may put an answer to who and what exists around us.
There are no straight lines in nature, and so, there are no finite answers to how I exist.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I have always loved words. I also loved love. I have also said love four times already and it was my writing that made me realize there aren’t many other words in the English language to say describe a feeling we all to many different degrees. I found that there are so many ways to love a person, a thing, a moment and so I dedicated my first piece to identifying the ways we can express and experience love without ever actually using the word.
“Tending to Your Garden” follows a seasonal timeline of connection through tumult, introspection, understanding and reflection. There is love, and there is all of the things we say love is; and is not. This compilation invites those complexities to exist together and gently integrates the idea that what we see as love may be skewed and that it is okay to change, evolve, forgive and move forward. Not everything we go through is our fault, but it is all our responsibility to do something with our experience for the preservation of ourselves.
So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
I have a few projects at play:
1. “Tending to Your Garden” is in its final editing stages. I would love to collaborate with open mics, showrunners, and bookstores to talk more about the themes that deserve longer winded, open ended discussions
2. I am the CFO for Ripple Hauxs, an organization that centers BIPOC TransMasc and Non-Binary people through programming that upholds creative and physical wellness in Central Florida.
3. I am finishing a Self-Actualization Program for young people that will provide them leadership tools and self acceptance in order to unload the barriers placed around them through impressionism and other social influences.
If any of those projects peak your interest, I am more than happy to schedule some time to work together on implementing more programing or speaking engagements. Please reach out to arianna.ramos510@gmail.com
Contact Info:
- Website: https://ripplehauxs.com
- Instagram: @Auw.ki
- LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/ariramos
- Other: arianna.ramos510@gmail.com
