Meet Alice Gonzalez-Trejo: Illustrator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Alice Gonzalez-Trejo and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Alice, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
I think life is all about risk. My entire career path has been a huge risk. Training to be an artist can be very expensive, frustrating, and even disheartening at times. Art Schools has helped a lot, but it has never been cheap. That itself was a risk, an investment, though I don’t regret going. I think I did at first, doubting myself because I would compare myself to others, couldn’t keep up with the workload, and afraid of failure. Now, however, I understand that the risk I have chosen has helped me push beyond what I thought I could do, and has given me the courage to continue following this path.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I think what makes my creative process unique is my ability to merge the physical world in a digital format, whether through the use of traditional materials (pencils, paint, charcoal, etc) or collaging physical objects (trash, newspaper clippings, receipts, etc). Seeing how these things influence each other, and being able to work it into a digital space is interesting. Getting to where I am was not easy, and I think I still have a long way to go. A lot of my hurdles have been related to my own self confidence. I’m very lucky and blessed to have supportive parents and friends who have picked me up whenever I fell, and who encouraged me to start walking, then pushed me to run by myself. Two lessons I had to learn was how to know when to push myself, and when to pull back. It was slightly easier to learn the first lesson. Of course to succeed I needed to push myself, but sometimes I would push myself too hard and would crash and burn. Now I like to think I know when to pull back so I don’t hurt myself. I just want the world to know that I am proud of myself, and I will continue to try to make everyone else proud.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
First I would take them to the delicious restaurants in Little Tokyo, then take them to get some choco bananas from the panaderias for a light desert. We’d visit the Griffith Observatory, and look over L.A. If I was the fitness type, I’d take them on hikes, maybe even to the Hollywood sign. Obviously take a pit stop at the nearest Pollo Campero, and hit the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and buy them some cheesy souvenirs. Some days we’ll explore the city for spots even I don’t know, because there’s always something new around the corner.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My mother deserves the biggest shoutout. I wouldn’t even be here without her. She has crossed rivers and deserts to come to this country and after all the hardships, has built herself an impressive life in America. She is one of the most ambitious person I have ever known, and has given me the love and courage to follow through with my own ambitions. Every time I start to feel overwhelmed, I just remember her and get a burst of energy, and I feel like I can overcome anything!

Website: alienemployee.com

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Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTx_RIlabGqsf0Cv160uHGQ