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

Hi ricky, what is the most important factor behind your success?
GRATITUDE! Gratitude in everything you do and in everything you are given. W/ that you will be able to not judge yourself/ compare yourself to other businesses, people, or things! And you will continue to show up W/ 100% pure effort in whatever you are working at. Having gratitude everyday for me is also a practice so its not something that magically popped up in the morning. The failures, the trials, all of those times I thought I wasn’t going to make it helped me see and feel gratitude differently.

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.
My mind is in a constant dance. My body is in a constant dance. My poor neighbors have to always experience a dancer dancing non stop because my art form is what I am. I am a dancer and forever will be. I got to where I am today, living in LA for over 10 years, by letting dance consume me and knowing that it did. Without having a passion for dance I had no intention in life. I have been in that place, through depression, through loss, where dance wasn’t my passion. Dance gave me intention to come back, to be back, and stay back in my skin of gratitude, love, and purity. All the things that make a human being incredible! I think that everyone should KNOW what their intention is, what they are passionate for, because we definitely all have one. We are brought to this world to expand and share our special passion. When we find it, we MUST be ready for “failure” but know there is no such thing as failure. It’s always stepping stone to live in our passion more fully and more present in our intention of life. No intention means complacency. And complacency always kills.

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?
We would start off early morning on a “basic” Runyon moment. As basic as it is its so close to my apartment and truly has the most stunning views of the city that sleeps the most vibrant humans in my opinion. From their I would take my bestie down to my favorite cafe in West Hollywood right on the Sunset Strip. To me Dialog Cafe has the best coffee in town, its strong, and their lattes are so tasty! Heaven in a cup at 100. The brisket breakfast burrito is what I would order for my bestie and the waffles and a matcha lemonade. It’s what I get every time! I know the best friend would vibe. From their we would take our lattes and take Sunset out to the ocean! This drive has to be one of my favorite drives to the beach! There are so many beautiful trees trailing the journey through the palisades and into Will Rodgers beach. This is where we’d park the car and enjoy some sun! Beaches in california are more so a quick moment for me since the water isn’t the kind of water you want to get into. So we’d make our way down towards the SAMO/ Venice area and maybe get some shopping down through About Kinney or Main St. Food. Always eating and probably looking for food is on the itinerary. As we make our way home we’d definitely stop at the WEHO dog park since Ryder my 9 year old labradoodle would most likely be enjoying the whole experience W/ us! For dinner since the bestie is in town I know we always love a good dinner feeling like a 9. So if we can find reservations to a place where we can dress up that would be ideal. If not a night at the house is always the way to go for me! Safe and away from the chaos. Just depends on how spent we are from all day! LA has so much to offer!

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?
You know waiting to writing this shoutout was perfect because I hope this article comes out this month because I want to shoutout all the gay men, who are figuring it out! Its hard to be us.. bigger shutout to the older generation of black gay men who have paved the way for me to prance around dance studios, on large stages in stadiums around the world and bars all across the world! Thank you to the gay men leading in the fitness industry who have created that lane for us men to thrive and have a voice to be heard.

Website: rickyjaime.com

Instagram: @ricky_jaime

Twitter: d8Ricky

Facebook: Facebook.com/d8ricky

Youtube: YouTube.com/haitsricky

Image Credits
Parker Burr Maxim Smirnov Jason Yokobosky Benjamin Holtrop

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