Mysticism w/ Stephanie

“Spiritual growth” and “liberation”, while buzz phrases within the media, have always been at the core of self care. How these goals are  manifested varies for every individual. Recently gaining interest in these objectives myself, I’ve come to learn that our paths require risk-taking, patience and compassion. Reminders continue to present themselves in the form of lessons, social media posts, ads and even in people. One of those people is my fellow creative, Stephanie Pinzon.

Originally from Washington Heights, Pinzon moved to San Diego and then Los Angeles in pursuit of a new scene and work in fashion design. She’d always planned to migrate to California, but it wasn’t until she took the risk that she realized: this would be the place where her dreams come true. Always a believer in the mystic and metaphysical, Pinzon discusses how her strong yet liberal foundation is what sparked a lot of her interests. Fashion design, in addition to cosmology and sexual healing, have become her passions and she elaborates on how all of this happened almost back to back.

“Growing up Dominican was fun: someone’s grandma was always cooking and there was always a celebration.” Laughter and loud noises often filled the spaces in the neighborhood that she calls home. Salsa and the scent of traditional dishes roared from the windows of almost every home. She described New York as a very smell-centric place: pleasant smells like mofongo and awful ones like hot trash.

Several of the electric city’s characteristics fought for center stage whether it was the bright lights in Time Square or extremely talented street performers. For Pinzon, one of the more exciting and significant parts of her childhood was exploring cosmology with her mother. “You know when Walter Mercado came on, you had to shut up.” She was seven years old when she started watching “Primer Impacto” on Univision, learning about people’s traits, their character and some of  the unknown details about life. Some years later, she began having vivid dreams and her mother encouraged her to write them down.

This continued into her young adulthood as she made her way through the fashion industry as a Retail Team Lead, Fashion Week - Mercedes Benz Show Intern and a budding, local designer. Both her intuition and creativity gained momentum, leading her to research about the metaphysical, sexual health, their similarities and differences. “My dreams have always been lifelike to the point where I would wake up like, ‘did that already happen or was that a dream?’.”

Now, with plans to explore sexual health, as a career, Pinzon is making the kind of connections that matter. She recently posed nude for two local photographers in Los Angeles in an effort to embrace sexual liberation, better connect with herself and her future clients. “Sexual liberation isn't about being promiscuous, it's about feeling empowered to take control of YOUR sex life, to live YOUR best sexual life. As long as you're staying safe and not hurting yourself and/or others, do whatever is best for you, not what’s best for others!” Pinzon also touches on taboos and why they’re so hard for society to abandon.

“Sexual taboos have a lot to do with how we're raised - how our parents/guardians spoke about sex, how our sex ed classes in elementary/middle school spoke on it, how open to sex the communities we were raised in were and how they treated those who were sexually liberated. Of course, religion is also a huge factor! Taboos matter so that we can overcome them and face them. If we can unlearn our belief system around sex, then we'll be able to face how deeply-rooted our taboos are and start to unleash the power of being able to vibe with one another on a more intimate level.”

There’s a level of intimacy that true interactions require. Through clothing design, sexual liberation and cosmology, Pinzon is pushing the envelope on what it means to exist and heal in a confining world. We owe it to ourselves as women of color to heal and be bold all at once. As a proud creative, open and sexually liberated Black Latina, Pinzon looks forward to the opportunities crossing her path, especially the ones that challenge her to think outside of her own box.