The Story Behind Yalmie

For most of my life, I felt like I was living in multiple worlds at once.

I was the dancer, expressive and emotional, telling stories through movement.
I was the student leader, organized, responsible, and supporting others.
I was the first generation daughter, driven, aware of sacrifice, and determined to make something meaningful out of every opportunity.

For a long time, I did not know how those parts fit together. I just knew they were all me.

Yalmie was born out of that exact in between space, the place where creativity, leadership, and lived experience meet. But the name itself actually goes back much further than this website.

Original Yalmie Logo from 2009

Where Yalmie Started

Back in 2009, when I created my second channel on YouTube, I wanted to move away from using my real name online. I was young, creative, and just wanted a space to express myself freely without feeling watched or defined by expectations. So I came up with Yalmie, steming from my middle name Yamilex.

At the time, it was just a username. A creative alias. A small act of independence.

I did not realize then that it would grow into something bigger, a name that would come to represent the version of me that feels the most honest, expressive, and aligned. Over time, Yalmie stopped being something separate from me. It became the thread connecting all the different parts of who I am.

I Was Always Both

I grew up loving performance, dance, stage presence, expression. Movement was my first language. It taught me discipline, resilience, and how to communicate without speaking. But as I got older, my path also led me into higher education, where I found a different kind of purpose, supporting students, building community, and helping people feel seen and supported during some of the most formative years of their lives.

For a while, I felt like I had to choose.

Be the professional.
Or be the creative.

Be serious.
Or be expressive.

But the more I grew, the more I realized something important. The very things that made me a performer, empathy, presence, emotional awareness, confidence under pressure, were the same things that made me a strong leader.

I did not have two separate lives. I had one layered one.

When I Learned to Trust My Own Voice

One of the most defining shifts in my life did not come from a stage or a classroom. It came from a doctor’s office.

After nearly a year of knowing something in my body did not feel right, I kept speaking up, even when I felt dismissed. That persistence led to the discovery of precancer in my stomach. Catching it early changed everything.

That experience reshaped how I see purpose.

It reminded me that our voices matter. That intuition matters. That advocating for yourself can be life saving. It deepened my commitment to helping others feel empowered to speak up in medical spaces, in professional spaces, and in their personal lives.

That is where my advocacy work, Trust Your Gut, grew from. And it is a huge part of why this platform exists.

So What Is Yalmie

Yalmie is the intersection of

✨ creativity
✨ confidence
✨ advocacy
✨ leadership

It is a space where I share what I am learning, from dance studios to meeting rooms, from pageant stages to real life challenges. It is where I talk about confidence not as something you are born with, but something you build. Where I share creator life, personal growth, and the lessons that come from navigating multiple identities at once.

Most of all, it is about connection.

Connection between passion and purpose.
Between creativity and professionalism.
Between personal story and collective impact.

Why This Blog Exists

Social media shows snapshots. This blog is where I get to share the story behind them.

Here, you will find reflections on confidence, creativity, leadership, health advocacy, and the messy, meaningful process of becoming more fully yourself. My hope is that something you read here helps you feel more confident showing up as all of who you are, too.

Because you do not have to choose one version of yourself.

You are allowed to be layered.
You are allowed to be evolving.
You are allowed to take up space in every room you step into.

Welcome to Yalmie. 🌞