Daniela Araujo, one of Guyana’s fastest rising creative voices, dares to speak words of inspiration and share her experiences on her life in Guyana.
When I first saw Daniela Araujo she was wrapped in the flag of Guyana (the Golden Arrowhead) in a series of photographs by Director Jones.
I met Daniela Araujo the model and like some of you, I am now learning about the woman…
I invited Daniela Araujo to be interviewed for our “Hooked to the 592” to coincide with her one year speaking anniversary and Heritage Month 2021.
The following interview was conducted via WhatsApp Text and Voice.
Gyaff: Where did you grow up and what do love most about that place?
Daniela Araujo: I was born and raised in Caneville (East Bank Demerara) and there is nothing I really love about this place, honestly. I just live here because it’s where my home is.
Caneville is a very dangerous place. You have to always be watching yourself here.
Gyaff: When did you find your voice and how is it benefitting you?
Daniela Araujo: I found my voice… a very long time ago, but it’s just that I never used it. I started using it last year (2020), when I did my first performance… at the “One Guyana Concert”.
Ever since then, I have been performing all over. It benefits me financially, it benefits me mentally… Because poetry is now an escape for me.
Gyaff: Tell me about your journey into modelling, spoken word and being an emerging influencer?
Daniela Araujo: So… Back in 2017 I joined my first pageant, which was the first ever, Miss Teen Yarrowkabra. I won that pageant. That was the first time I ever walked in heels.
It always makes me feel so confident. So I was like “this is what I want to do.”
So I joined modelling and I started off with Image Model Management and I had been there for like three years, before I stopped.
Since leaving Image, I have been on my own, I have been apart of many fashion shows… And yeah…
Spoken word came after that (modelling) actually.
I was listening to a song one time and I related so much to the song… and felt so much more than I wanted to feel from the song. I even felt that the song needed more.
So I did a piece and I realised that me writing, people aren’t always going to understand how my poetry is supposed to sound or how l want it to sound.
So I was like, the only way people will understand it, the way I want them to… It’s if I say it.
I started recording on my phone and I posted it on my WhatsApp Status and my friends, they were like “Daniela this is good, you have an amazing voice, you should start doing this (Spoken word)”… and like spoken words was never really a thing.
To me, I was like, I don’t even know what y’all talking about.
But then one day, one of my friends, you know… the Ministry was looking for a spoken word artist and my friend was like ” listen, I got this friend, she knows to write and she knows to do spoken word poetry.
So she called me and I was like what am I gonna do, what am I supposed to do, I don’t know what I have to go up on stage and do… I don’t think I am ready.
And she encouraged me to do it, I did it and that’s how I am where I am and I do hope that I could continue to perform and continue to inspire, not only other young upcoming artists, but Guyana in a whole, because that is what I have been doing… All my performances are very inspirational and very uplifting to all Guyanese and I am very grateful that I was given the opportunity to do that and still… I still am given the opportunity to do that.
Gyaff: Which of your performances to date, most impacted your life and how?
Daniela Araujo: It would definitely be my first performance… It would definitely be my first performance… at the ‘One Guyana Concert’ because that’s where I got my break. After that… that is when people started paying attention to spoken word poetry.
I remember a recent interview and the man was like “when I saw you come out on stage, I didn’t know what spoken word poetry was, it was only after hearing your performance when I actually, you know, got knowledge of what spoken word poetry is and that is when I started to see other spoken word artists coming out.” He was like, I had no idea that spoken word poetry was a thing… and so that first performance there, gave me my break.
A lot of people… after that my name was all over the place, because I opened the concert and it was over 500,000 I think views or something like that, but that was definitely the performance that most impacted my life because of the exposure that it gave, the support that I gained and the other opportunities that that one performance has you know, opened for me… the other doors that that one performance has opened for me.
Gyaff: Tell me about how you are coping during this pandemic and what have you learned about yourself during this period?
Daniela Araujo: This pandemic as definitely affected a lot of people, me as a creative, I think the pandemic is what made me discover my talent. Made me discover a lot of things about myself that I didn’t know and this pandemic as definitely taught me to be grateful… that is one of the biggest things that I am really, really grateful for… it taught me how to be grateful for the little things, because we often take a lot of things for granted and this pandemic as definitely opened my eyes to a lot of things and as taught me to appreciate the more simpler things and with gratitude comes happiness.
Because once you are satisfied and you are grateful for the little things that you have, you automatically become happy.
So with gratitude comes happiness and this pandemic as much as it’s affected a lot of people, for me, it has made me a better person. Because I realised that I was taking alot for granted, I realised that I wasn’t paying attention to myself, I realised that I was so busy getting involved in so many other things that I didn’t take the time to be with myself and this pandemic forced me to do that and I am so glad that it did that.
Gyaff: Where do you go when you feel the need to be alone with you?
Daniela Araujo: Honestly, I like to go to the seawall right… So like when I am having a bad day or sometimes I just wanna write… and home is not home for me… I go to the sea… I don’t know there is just something about the seawall that is just…
The seawall for me is like, I go there by myself all the time. I go there, I let my mind be free and sometimes I write, sometimes I just look at the water, I just feel the breeze… It’s amazing.
The seawall is such a beautiful… that’s my go to place. I love that place… when I wanna be alone, when I wanna write and when I wanna think about certain things and dig deeper into certain things and into myself, that’s where I go, like the seawall it’s beautiful.
