Meet Anahita Dalmia | CEO, Creative Producer, Story-builder, story-teller

We had the good fortune of connecting with Anahita Dalmia and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Anahita, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?

Even though pursuing an artistic career was a hard choice, I firmly believe it was the correct one because while a number of other professions make it possible to live or easier to live, art makes life worth living. And I know my creative contributions have added tremendous joy and meaning in people’s lives.
I’ll be honest, there’s a number of factors that made it challenging. One of the main ones is that such a small percentage of artistic endeavours succeed. I once read an article that really resonated with me about that and the idea behind it was that many other professions are both single user and need based. That means, one doctor cannot serve the entire population and everyone’s always going to pay for a doctor. Engineers, teachers and many other ‘practical’ professions are similarly aligned. You can be a very mediocre doctor and still be very successful because the need exists out there. On the other hand, everybody in the world could choose to watch the same couple of movies or read the same books (infact, they usually do.) If people have budget cuts, entertainment is one of the first sacrifices they make. On top of that, everyone is capable of artistic endeavours to some degree and has an opinion on it. You usually don’t have a very strong opinion on how well your doctor did your surgery – you don’t understand the technical nuance well enough, you just have to trust them. Everybody is capable of storytelling and using their imagination so they’re much harsher about the standards of artistic output. As a result, the number of successful artists is much smaller than the number of successful doctors or engineers. But I strongly felt I could contribute to building a new artistic space that could transform lives, so I pursued an artistic career anyway.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Alterea was founded on the philosophy of creating events where not only can people become part of the story, they can become the heroes. Our experiences integrate narratives and live actors with detail-rich backgrounds, creating entire worlds where the story changes every night depending on participant action. Our events are built to challenge and empower, getting people to step out of their shells, reawaken their imaginations, learn new things about themselves, and experience deep human connections.

It wasn’t an easy journey to find Alterea’s identity or to actualize my grand vision. Based on the desire to visit the worlds I saw in books and movies, I began creating experiences where people could be a part of a story. But I didn’t just want to create carousels at Disneyland that had disappointed me in the past. I wanted to create a living, breathing world where people’s actions contributed to an unfolding story and each had the opportunity to become the hero.
At 16 I created my first event, a carnival called Bizarre. It featured an interactive, Halloween-themed maze, as well as 80 stalls, student competitions, and a flash mob. Despite all this, Bizarre failed to achieve my vision of a living, breathing world.
So when I came to college, I tried again. As a sophomore, I was more successful. I recruited over 100 people and we created Alohomora, which brought the wizarding world of Harry Potter to life. This team, which included artists, engineers and game designers, was the beginning of my company, Alterea.
The next year we created Ascend, an ancient mythology experience which was a finalist for the 2020 SXSW Innovation Awards. This time, I couldn’t keep up with everything that was happening. Both teammates and players took ownership of the experience, taking actions I couldn’t have predicted and adding new elements to the world we incorporated into the story in real-time. We had finally realized my vision, creating a world where everyone could be the hero of the story.
And now, with a lot of the same team, I’m starting Alterea to specialize in such experiences.
During this journey, there were a number of hardships: I initially didn’t know people with the skill sets to actualize this type of event, I had no experience, I didn’t have the resources to do so, I didn’t understand the elements to create such an experience, no one believed that I could do it. There were two big takeaways: be resourceful and don’t give up. When people say it can’t be done, all they’re really saying is that they don’t know how to do it. So think outside the box: I recruited students at classes, got funding through the University and the Rotary, negotiated with people to get the venue for charity purposes and more. And everytime someone says no, ask someone else and everytime you fail, learn from the failure and try again.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
This is the best and worst question to ask me. I love exploring the city, so I have a lot of things I would like to show them – in and around Los Angeles. I want to preface with the fact I’m a history and experiential junkie. So that’s what a lot of my recommendations would be based around. I’d do two days in DTLA, simply because that’s the area I’m the most familiar with. It also just has a lot of character, where I feel like the history of the area is so prominent in the architecture and events. Here’s some of the must see’s on my itinerary over there:
– Clifton’s- Honestly, this is probably my favourite place in LA. It’s just a place of story and wonder. It’s a four story building with two wings on each floor and each with a different theme. Where else can you see a giant tree (that can hold aerialists), a ballroom and a tiki bar in one building? It has also incredible history as a huge place for artistic inspiration (regulars back in the day included Walt Disney, Ray Bradbury, Charlie Chaplin and more.) During the Great Depression the place also had a ‘pay what you can’ policy and an inclusive space, where people of all races and socio-economic backgrounds were welcome which is so forward thinking for the times. Today, if you look closely you can find everything from hidden Disney quotes to Blackbeard’s telescope to a 4.7 billion year old meteorite. I feel like I discover something new everytime I go.
– Olvera Street – I love the constant thrum of music, the little Mexican shops with colourful sombreros and maracas and they have the most amazing churros with chocolate, caramel and cream filling in a little shop down there. I also love the fact that it was the founding place of Los Angeles, houses one of its oldest houses and that The Lady Queen of Angels Church that Los Angeles was named after is only a hop, skip and jump away. I’d also do a quick stop in Union Station on this trip.
– The Last Bookstore – One, it’s absolutely lovely. Two, it’s the most instagrammed bookstore in the world and for good reason – I love the tunnel of books they have and all the whimsical decorations. Three, they have events like book readings and live music sometimes. Four, it’s in an old bank vault building and I adore the metaphorical value of having books in vaults.
– Grand Central Market – I love the neon there, the vast variety of food available and their events space which hosts everything from flea markets to magic shows. I would also do a quick trip to Angel’s Flight right across that to show people what the old LA transportation looked like.
– Old LA Theatres – Be it the Palace Theatre, The Orpheum, the United Artists Theatre or any other – the LA theatres are gorgeous, they’re like a world within themselves. One of them even has a daycare. I’d definitely catch a show in one of them if I could.
– Little Tokyo – the wishing tree is adorable, the ramen is fantastic and for all the anime fans out there, this place is unparalleled.
Hollywood also has a ton to see and here are some of my recommendations. I’d also probably spend two days in the area:
Magic Castle – if you can get in there, it’s a magical experience. I also personally love Erma, the ghost pianist who takes recommendations. She played me the Indian National Anthem once.
Yamashiro – built like an old Japanese Castle, this is arguably the most beautiful restaurant in the city. On top of that, it has a really cool history as one of the first buildings in Hollywood and a stunning view.
Hollywood Bowl – it’s beautiful and the shows are spectacular.
Griffith Park and Observatory – there’s a reason this is considered an LA icon, the views are gorgeous and there’s so much to explore.
Tam O Shanter – another Walt Disney approved themed restaurant, especially recommend it if you like Scottish culture.
Museum of Broken Relationships and Museum of Jurassic Technology – these are both very unusual museums, with rich stories that tend to evoke a lot of emotion – good and bad.
Beyond that:
3rd Street Promenade, the Santa Monica Pier and Venice Beach – I love the energy of these places, they’re so quintessentially LA with their palm trees, people working out and skateboarding and dancing and hanging out by the beach, there’s so much to do ranging from visiting video game arcades, the live music and art everywhere really brightens up the atmosphere.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I’m very grateful to my mother who actively made efforts to remove any roadblocks we encountered. But I would also like to call out to my friend Lillianne John. During the first event I ever did in highschool, she took full ownership of the project even when it seemed like it was on the brink of failure – and she played an enormous part in making it happen. She took control of operations, staying with me till 3am to make pitch decks, figuring out how to make a website, sending emails, and even writing affidavits. If I was the heart of the event, she was the brain. I absolutely could not have done it without her. She taught me so much about operations which has allowed me to accomplish every single project I have after my first one. And her investment in the project held me accountable to delivering what I had initially attempted to – it was her involvement that made the matter bigger than me. Made it worth fighting for. And she armoured me, supported me and accompanied me for every battle.

Website: www.altereainc.com

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anahitadalmia/