Meet Alicia Monsalve | Journalist, Writer & Publisher

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

Hi Alicia, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I had the need to publish my writings. I had helped many clients envision their own books through my advertising company. I knew the process but I didn’t have the courage to do it myself. The pandemic changed my perspective. I felt that I didn’t have any more time to loose. I published two books in less than six months. One of them is an illustrated book that I wrote, illustrated and designed during the first week of the lockdown. The other was born during zoom sessions with a group of women writers that I coached during the tedious first months of the lockdown. I did it to avoid desperation and sadness. Before I have been a serial media entrepreneur and I also went through the Founder Institute program in 2016. I had all the tools and training to make it happen, I just needed time and focus to produce books like an artisan with a computer taking advantage of on-demand platforms like Amazon. Being an immigrant means that you always have to fight your own insecurities and impostor syndrome. This time I was writing in Spanish, a language that makes me feel confident and able to express my feelings. I wanted to share this empowerment with other women going through similar experiences.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am a writer. I knew it since I was young girl. It is difficult for a writer to (or any artist) to talk about their own art. I think of writing stories as a way of survival. It is what keeps me wondering about life and engaged with a reality that is not very pleasant sometimes. It also makes me keep worlds and people alive even after they have long perished. I like to create spaces where others can express themselves. I had created newspapers, magazines and other media outlets. Nowadays my focus in on women writers and my own fiction work. I has not been easy because I had to emigrate two times, start over, go through a process of labor certification that took almost ten years. Loosing my country to a dictatorial regime, feeling displaced and uprooted. I think my husband and son have been my greatest emotional supporters, they encourage and inspire me. The biggest lesson was to learn how to make it happen by yourself (the punk way) that I learned from music bands while working as a Latin music journalist in Los Angeles. What I would like the world to know is that everybody has a story to tell and you will be amazed to listen or read those stories, specially coming from immigrants. I am worried about what is happening in America, I feel that intolerance is taking a big tall and we will suffer the consequences sooner or later. I know what is to loose a country because of polarization. I feel that sentiment eating out this society. It makes me fear and at the same time it makes me fuel my need to do something to counteract the forces that are pounding our civil rights and our social pact. Ediciones Aguamiel is a drop in the ocean but it is my drop.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I live in the North East of Miami Dade county in South Florida. I only have to look through my window to see the many blues of the Atlantic Ocean. I would ask my friend to chill out and relax and take a walk the next morning in the Sunny Isles Beach shoreline. Then we can talk about their preferences and plan for the week, or just relax at the beach and enjoy the warm waters. I would definitely recommend the Perez Art Museum and a exploration of the many flavors that make Miami a culinary destination. I will avoid regular tourist attractions and focus on more local hangouts like tasting wines while reading a great book at Paradis Books & Bread which was named one of the best bars in America. Other than that an itinerary will depend on the preferences of the host but there are plenty of ways to visit and enjoy (or hate) Miami.

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?
To all my fellow women writers that take part in the Laboratorio de Escritura “El libro que hay en ti”. To Hernán Vera and La tribu, the #newlatinoboom movement (newlatinoboom.com), and the Miami Book Fair.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/edicionesaguamiel/

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/EdicAguamiel

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EdicionesAguamiel/

Other: Some of the stories published by Ediciones Aguamiel are part of this podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/5cONzemK339IM3mWDoP0L7

Image Credits
Photo BW: Carlos Fuguet