Episode #10: Being a Part-Time Artist with Mexican-American Illustrator Marlene Vega

Episode Summary:

In this episode, I'm chatting with self-proclaimed "part-time" Mexican-American artist Marlene Vega! Marlene actually has a master's degree in physics, but found her way back into art after graduation. She started off painting watercolor pieces just three years ago as a hobby and now has an amazing online shop and over 95,000 Instagram followers. She shares her artistic career online while having a day job, and she's the perfect inspiration for anyone who is just starting out or feeling a little stuck in their career right now.

Keep on listening to hear us talk about why she decided not to go to art school, how she got comfortable making video content as an introvert, and how she deals with the feeling of being “behind.”

Episode Links

⚡️ Connect with the Community: Join the Discord or Patreon

🍊 Host Links: Follow Fabiola on Instagram, Youtube, & TikTok

🎨 Guest Links: Follow Marlene on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok or her Shop

Scroll for Transcript

💬

Scroll for Transcript 💬

• Click to View Transcript (auto-generated):

  00:00:10:08 - 00:00:30:02

  Fabiola Lara

  Hey, friends. Welcome back to [Draws in Spanish]. If you're new here, I'm your host, Fabiola Lara. I'm an illustrator and podcaster based in Philadelphia. On this show, a chat with Latinx, digital artists to discuss everything from their identity and culture to their creative process. And work. Today I've got a little news. If you didn't listen to the bonus episode, you may have missed that.

  00:00:30:02 - 00:00:52:02

  Fabiola Lara

  I've opened the [Draws in Spanish] Discord to the public so you can join right now for free. It's a chill digital space where you can hang out regularly and chat between episodes. Lately, I've been hosting weekly, hour long co-working sessions for anyone who wants to join over on the Discord. So if you want to be a part of that, head to DrawsInSpanish.com/chat or click the link in the show notes.

  00:00:52:14 - 00:01:14:01

  Fabiola Lara

  I've also created a hotline for the show, so if you have any questions for me about topics and themes that we cover on the show, you can leave me a question at 305-985-3729 and I'll get back to you on a mini episode. Today I'm chatting with a Puerto Rican web based digital performance artist Amalia Soto, more widely known as Molly Soda.

  00:01:14:01 - 00:01:44:23

  Fabiola Lara

  Molly rose to fame in the late 2000, early 2010s on Tumblr and was a huge IT girl who openly shared about her life online at a time when that was truly rare. She continues to explore the concepts of being a girl on the Internet today and the performative nature of Internet culture through her video pieces. She's created videos like Inbox Full, where she reads all her Tumblr inbox messages over 10 hours, and her latest piece is this thing on where she cleans her digital room on a collaborative live stream.

  00:01:45:11 - 00:02:05:16

  Fabiola Lara

  Although her work may appear cute on face value, it actually confronts a lot of the more dark themes involved with showing up online. Keep on listening to hear us talk about her relationship with her Boricua identity, how she feels about the evolution of performing online, and the nostalgia involved with working with such a fast paced medium such as the Internet.

  00:02:05:24 - 00:02:09:11

  Fabiola Lara

  Okay, let's get into today's show.

  00:02:13:20 - 00:02:17:15

  Fabiola Lara

  Welcome to the show, Molly. Thanks for being here. I really appreciate it.

  00:02:17:22 - 00:02:18:24

  Molly Soda

  Thanks for having me.

  00:02:19:09 - 00:02:42:03

  Fabiola Lara

  Yay! I'm so excited to have you here. You are famous in my eyes. Famous forever in my eyes. So I'm thrilled to have you here. One of the first things I want to talk about, so I'm not sure how familiar you are with the show, but I like to talk to people about their culture and their work because I feel like a lot of the times it kind of goes a little bit unsaid or unspoken.

  00:02:42:06 - 00:03:01:24

  Fabiola Lara

  So I want to kind of get into it a little bit here with you, because I remember when I realized that you were Latina, that you're Puerto Rican. I was like, Oh my gosh, I've never known this. And it's cool, right? I'm like, okay, cool brownie points or whatever you want to call it, right? I was like, Oh, cool, that's nice.

  00:03:02:20 - 00:03:11:01

  Fabiola Lara

  But you never really address it, which is totally fine. But now I'm like, Can we address it? Can we talk about it a little bit more?

  00:03:11:08 - 00:03:14:22

  Molly Soda

  Yeah. I also feel like I don't get asked about it very often.

  00:03:16:17 - 00:03:26:15

  Fabiola Lara

  Which is weird though, because according to your Wikipedia, which I love that you have a Wikipedia. You were born in Puerto Rico. So there's like, I mean, that's kind of big.

  00:03:26:17 - 00:03:56:02

  Molly Soda

  Yeah, it's funny. It's it's always been like, Yeah, I was born there. Both my parents are from there. We my parents are college professors, so we moved to the US when I was pretty young, like three or four for their jobs and know teaching jobs. And so and when you're a college professor, you're kind of sent wherever you get a good job.

  00:03:56:03 - 00:04:04:07

  Molly Soda

  So we moved to Indiana and, you know, family in Indiana, no ties to Indiana at all.

  00:04:04:11 - 00:04:05:13

  Fabiola Lara

  Cultural mecca.

  00:04:05:16 - 00:04:06:17

  Molly Soda

  Yeah, very.

  00:04:07:12 - 00:04:22:16

  Fabiola Lara

  Weird. I guess I forgot that word we shouldn't. Is it messed up? I'm going to leave it. But yeah, that's a big dramatic change from Puerto Rico. So just to confirm, your parents are Puerto Rican, like, culturally, they they didn't just, like, move there.

  00:04:22:19 - 00:04:49:04

  Molly Soda

  No, they both grew up there. My dad, it's interesting. My dad grew up there like I'd never lived in the US prior to us moving. My mom. Her parents were also professors, so she spent some time in the US, like in childhood, like in Oakland and in New York at some point and then went to college in the US as well.

  00:04:49:05 - 00:04:53:19

  Molly Soda

  So like my actually it's interesting. My mom doesn't have an accent at all and my dad does.

  00:04:54:00 - 00:05:14:16

  Fabiola Lara

  Got it. Oh, fascinating. I love this. I feel like that's like a perfect just like a weird mixture, right? Because it's like your family is Puerto Rican, but also very much. And then I mean, of course, Puerto Rico has a very difficult relationship with the U.S. as it is. Right. And then seeing it in your own family is kind of interesting.

  00:05:15:01 - 00:05:22:02

  Fabiola Lara

  So how was it like for you? I mean, I don't know how old you were. Maybe you could clarify, but how was it like for you to move to Indiana?

  00:05:23:11 - 00:05:52:23

  Molly Soda

  So we initially moved to Fort Worth, Texas, actually when I was four, three or four. That's where I learned to speak English. And so my parents were like, Oh, you were always saying, how do you and y'all, which is cute, but I don't remember. And I remember being really excited to move to the US because I really wanted to experience Snow and I really wanted to live in a house with stairs.

  00:05:53:04 - 00:05:57:18

  Molly Soda

  I don't know why. Like stairs were a big deal to me, but it just wasn't a thing.

  00:05:58:06 - 00:05:59:07

  Fabiola Lara

  Because movies.

  00:05:59:08 - 00:06:07:15

  Molly Soda

  Yeah. So the thing about stairwells and when we moved to Texas, neither of those things happened. No, I was about.

  00:06:07:15 - 00:06:10:17

  Fabiola Lara

  To say it's like ranch style homes and like a desert.

  00:06:12:01 - 00:06:19:18

  Molly Soda

  So I was very disappointed. But then we only lived there for a year and then we moved to Indiana, where we were. Both of my dreams were realized.

  00:06:20:03 - 00:06:25:11

  Fabiola Lara

  Yes. I'm so happy. I'm so glad to go to experience. And was that everything you hoped for?

  00:06:25:18 - 00:06:50:21

  Molly Soda

  It was interesting. You know, so little. I think it would have been a lot different had I been even just a couple years older. But for me, it was a huge shock or anything. By that means like I hadn't really built strong friendships or anything. I think if I had been maybe in grade school, they would have been it would have felt a little bit different.

  00:06:50:21 - 00:07:13:17

  Molly Soda

  So for me, it wasn't it wasn't that big of a shock. I think it was harder for my parents, honestly. And yeah, so my parents were always made a lot of observations about like Midwestern culture or they're always talking about like personal space bubbles and like this sort of niceties of Midwestern culture.

  00:07:14:01 - 00:07:26:23

  Fabiola Lara

  How culturally diverse was Bloomington, Indiana, for you while you were there? Because it is a college town, so I'm assuming there's like a mix of people, but also it's the Midwest, which has kind of this connotation of being, you know, American white.

  00:07:27:09 - 00:08:03:21

  Molly Soda

  Yeah, it's interesting because, you know, Indiana, very red state, pretty conservative can feel most Southern in certain parts. I mean, Bloomington is like southern central Indiana, I think because of the college. Yeah, there was maybe a more diverse range of people like so it wasn't super sort of Midwest American way. I mean, it was but it also wasn't only that it probably would have been different had I grown up in like a smaller town or, I mean, Bloomington Small, but like a smaller town without that sort of draw.

  00:08:03:24 - 00:08:24:15

  Molly Soda

  So and I would say, like my friends sort of ranged from like all sorts of different backgrounds because of the college, obviously, like a bunch of people from all over the world were being brought there. And it was really funny because my parents would make friends with every Spanish speaking person in the university. Like, yeah, like they had to like my parents.

  00:08:24:15 - 00:08:50:24

  Molly Soda

  Yeah, my parents would just be friends. And my dad was in the Spanish department. To be fair, he's Spanish professor, so obviously. But they were very trying to get really involved. And just like finding community, other Puerto Ricans or just other people from speaking countries. So that was like always. And I had like those friends, like I had like my parents, friends, children, friends that were like also.

  00:08:50:24 - 00:08:51:08

  Fabiola Lara

  Default.

  00:08:51:09 - 00:09:18:15

  Molly Soda

  Friends. Yeah. Like I had this friend, Angela, which, like, I don't even know what she's up to anymore. I would I like I would love to see her again. But the thing is, college professors befriend other college professors, and then those college professors move because they get other jobs. So it was always very like there'd be like these people in my life that were really present for a certain amount of time, and then they would get a job in Australia or.

  00:09:19:08 - 00:09:21:20

  Fabiola Lara

  This is like chapters of your life that would dramatically.

  00:09:21:20 - 00:09:22:24

  Molly Soda

  Change exactly.

  00:09:22:24 - 00:09:24:10

  Fabiola Lara

  The cast of people in your.

  00:09:24:10 - 00:09:25:04

  Molly Soda

  Life. Yeah.

  00:09:25:14 - 00:09:48:00

  Fabiola Lara

  Interesting. Did you ever feel like you were rejecting kind of this Latin American culture that that your family had? Or did you feel like totally at ease with it, or what was that really? What was your relationship like with being Puerto Rican as a as a teenager? Like in your adolescence? Because I feel like it can be very convoluted and confusing.

  00:09:48:19 - 00:10:31:11

  Molly Soda

  Yeah, I think it is confusing. I think for me also, like, you know, I don't think that someone would look at me and think that I'm working necessarily. Even those people can look many different ways. So for me, it was also like I was like, well, I like can seamlessly embed into a midwestern American teenage culture, right? Like, it's really easy for me to look, sorry, my cat is stretching, has been sleeping, but I think I was always like proud of being Puerto Rican and like it was a part of my identity, but also at the same time I didn't like, wear it upfront.

  00:10:31:12 - 00:10:57:10

  Molly Soda

  If anything, it's always been like sort of personal to me or like private or just like between me and my family also, because I couldn't share that I didn't grow up with any other real Puerto Rican friends. Aside from Angela, who moved away probably when I was like 13 or something, I didn't have a lot of people to share kind of some of these cultural things with A lot of my friends.

  00:10:57:10 - 00:11:24:03

  Molly Soda

  My friends were from all over, but we didn't. I just didn't like if I'd grown up in New York, for example, or Orlando or Chicago, where there is like larger pockets of Puerto Rican people, I probably probably would have been a very different experience for me. Or maybe I would have felt more in touch with that. But I think I always felt like it was a part of me, but it wasn't like at the forefront, and I still feel that way in some ways.

  00:11:24:18 - 00:11:46:23

  Fabiola Lara

  Yeah, like the importance of it is questionable. Questionable to your identity. Like it's significant, but it's not necessarily the biggest point, right? When you go to explain who you are and as a part of your identity. I love that because I felt similarly and that's kind of why I wanted to make the show is because it's like to me it's like, oh yeah, I'm Chilean.

  00:11:47:03 - 00:12:08:19

  Fabiola Lara

  Like like, like you. I feel like I can blend right into American culture. I grew up in Florida and yeah, I could just blend in. And that was to my advantage in many ways, because being outspokenly Latina came with some. I mean, was it cool? Like, not really, You know, like what was cool then was just being like, what?

  00:12:08:23 - 00:12:11:20

  Fabiola Lara

  WHITE So it wasn't to my advantage.

  00:12:11:23 - 00:12:12:17

  Molly Soda

  Yeah, you.

  00:12:12:17 - 00:12:45:19

  Fabiola Lara

  Know, it's not like I rejected it, but I also didn't feel the need to embrace it actively, which is kind of what I'm hearing, hearing you say. And but this is kind of amazing because in your adolescence you are so Tumblr famous. I mean, I know it was later on maybe in college, but still, like you rose to fame in that sense and then became kind of like a you know, like an icon of of like being like, you know, if I were just looking at you, I would be like, oh, this is just like, what a cool white girl online looks like.

  00:12:46:05 - 00:12:53:20

  Fabiola Lara

  But then you weren't, you know, And that's like even better because you made it even more cool or something.

  00:12:53:23 - 00:13:19:24

  Molly Soda

  Yeah, it's funny too, that I chose the name Molly Soda, which doesn't have like a Malia. So it has like, some you're like, okay, where is she from? Right? But like, Molly Soda you're like, Yeah, it's completely devoid of any personality. And it wasn't my intention. It I mean, it was my username, but it wasn't like necessarily my intention to, like, ever go by that for ever.

  00:13:20:21 - 00:13:23:22

  Molly Soda

  So it's funny how many people actually call me Molly now.

  00:13:23:22 - 00:13:28:23

  Fabiola Lara

  How do you feel about it now? Like you know about having picked that pseudonym?

  00:13:29:02 - 00:13:59:05

  Molly Soda

  Yeah, I feel fine about it. I mean, it made sense. It was just a username initially, but I was also really into and there were some conceptual reasons behind it. Like at the time when I made the username, which was around 2009, so I would have been a sophomore or junior in college. I was really into Lydia Lunch of Teenage Jesus in the Jerks and just like downtown eighties New York, same school girl.

  00:13:59:05 - 00:14:06:13

  Molly Soda

  And I was like, Oh, I want to be. I was really just like, I was like, Oh, Lydia, Lunch. Like Molly showed up. Like, I don't know, it like, made sense and like my.

  00:14:06:13 - 00:14:07:21

  Fabiola Lara

  Character that could match.

  00:14:07:21 - 00:14:26:00

  Molly Soda

  Yeah, Yeah. And then also I was like, thinking about sort of like scene Queens or like MySpace era teen queens and sort of how they always had these kind of like usernames style names or like MySpace style names. So I was thinking about this sort of.

  00:14:26:02 - 00:14:27:21

  Fabiola Lara

  Alter ego name personas.

  00:14:27:22 - 00:14:34:17

  Molly Soda

  Yeah. And so that's where it started. But I didn't know that it would take on sort of a life of its own.

  00:14:34:23 - 00:14:51:02

  Fabiola Lara

  I mean, yeah, when we're in high school and in college, I don't think anyone's thinking like that far ahead. I want to talk a little bit more about your artwork. I know that in the work that you do now as a digital performance artist, we're going to call it, I know you're interested in how like we present ourselves online.

  00:14:52:08 - 00:15:01:10

  Fabiola Lara

  How do you feel about podcasts? Do they feel more or less genuine? How do you feel about podcasting coming into kind of the sphere of online digital media?

  00:15:02:11 - 00:15:06:21

  Molly Soda

  That's interesting. I've never been asked to talk about podcasts on the podcast.

  00:15:07:19 - 00:15:13:12

  Fabiola Lara

  I'm just like, you're like, you know, you think a lot about the Internet. So why.

  00:15:13:16 - 00:15:14:22

  Molly Soda

  You say genuine.

  00:15:15:11 - 00:15:22:15

  Fabiola Lara

  Yet is a few more or less genuine? Because I know that we're talking about performing, but performing doesn't necessarily mean it's just disingenuous.

  00:15:22:15 - 00:15:35:08

  Molly Soda

  But no, I don't think that a podcast feels more genuine by any means. I think that there is perhaps less control. There's more control on your side because you're this is your podcast.

  00:15:35:10 - 00:15:37:13

  Fabiola Lara

  So the master.

  00:15:37:16 - 00:16:03:12

  Molly Soda

  As a as a guy, I don't think that it feels more genuine other than the fact that perhaps I'm giving up some of that control in my answers or in my presentation. But at the same time, I think we're doing that in general online all the time. Like whenever you post something, it's kind of out of your hands, right?

  00:16:03:15 - 00:16:32:15

  Molly Soda

  You're kind of like subject to other people's personal feelings and ways of interpreting you. But I think ultimately it's pretty hard to control a narrative or to control how you're going to be perceived. So I think the podcast can fall into that as well. I don't want me appearing on our podcast feel supplementary to it's an interview, right?

  00:16:32:15 - 00:16:50:01

  Molly Soda

  So like it's it's, it's press in a weird way, or at least this format is where I think maybe like if I were hosting one and just like babbling or rambling, maybe that would feel more performative.

  00:16:50:10 - 00:16:59:20

  Fabiola Lara

  Yeah. Yeah, I feel like that definitely could be an interesting space for you to explore now that you have it already and that in some ways you have already with YouTube.

  00:17:00:03 - 00:17:06:19

  Molly Soda

  Yeah, and a lot of YouTube videos are podcasts or like, I've seen that a lot now.

  00:17:07:05 - 00:17:10:02

  Fabiola Lara

  Yes, this, this one will be as.

  00:17:10:02 - 00:17:12:16

  Molly Soda

  Low six by iTunes.

  00:17:12:23 - 00:17:31:02

  Fabiola Lara

  So how you do and plug for my YouTube channel and also your YouTube channel. But okay, there's a lot of places we can go. So my mind always like freaks out for a second But you're you were saying like, yeah, we're always performing online. Like just being online is performance is kind of what you're what you're getting at.

  00:17:32:05 - 00:17:51:03

  Fabiola Lara

  And there's a quote here that you said in an interview We're always performing. What changes is, is the size of the audience, which is like a really fascinating way to look at it, because I never I mean, we all we all think about follower counts, but I never think about how they are what I'm thinking about actively. Right.

  00:17:51:18 - 00:18:23:20

  Fabiola Lara

  So do you think that this is like question a lot of artists are always thinking about their follower accounts, like I don't have enough followers or like, no one will hire me because I don't have followers. Do you think as like a performance artist in a sense, Like if you don't have followers, is it not performance? Like, I kind of feel like a little bit like philosophical with this in the sense of like if a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make it sound like does that ever play into your own work?

  00:18:23:20 - 00:18:31:11

  Fabiola Lara

  Like if you were to lose all of your followers for some reason, like, would you still be doing this kind of work? How would it impact it? Let's talk.

  00:18:31:11 - 00:18:34:11

  Molly Soda

  About if I were to lose all of my followers, like if I was.

  00:18:34:13 - 00:18:36:21

  Fabiola Lara

  Like dramatically like a dramatic loss.

  00:18:37:02 - 00:18:40:16

  Molly Soda

  I mean, I've been losing I lose followers every time I post. Pretty much at this point.

  00:18:41:20 - 00:18:43:20

  Fabiola Lara

  Of the nature of the Internet, of course.

  00:18:44:10 - 00:19:06:21

  Molly Soda

  And aging and relevancy and all these factors, you know, But if I okay, let's say I had zero followers, right? Like, I like entertaining this idea. Let's say I have a burner account. It's private. I have zero followers, but I'm still documenting my life or documenting myself in some way. I'm still performing. You know why? Because there's a camera and go.

  00:19:07:07 - 00:19:30:07

  Molly Soda

  And the second that the camera comes out, no matter which camera it is like cam, my like vlogging camera, my phone, whatever it is, it still performance is just the way that whenever I catch my glimpse in the mirror, I post, I change my face. My face literally changes when I make my selfie face when I look in the mirror.

  00:19:30:24 - 00:20:00:12

  Molly Soda

  And I didn't even realize I did that until other people pointed out they're like, You change like your mouth, like you like post. I think it's at this juncture, the awareness of the reflection or the self being reflected or the self being documented feels, even though there may never be anyone that sets eyes upon that image or whatever it may be, it's still or is being mediated by the lens, in my opinion.

  00:20:01:06 - 00:20:21:13

  Fabiola Lara

  Or you're still putting on for the camera. Exactly whether or not someone's watching it. Yeah. Lovely. Yes, I can totally understand that. And it kind of reminds me of and I'm wondering if you've seen this like kids like, you know, under five who watch YouTube and then they like record YouTube videos on their parents phones. And those videos don't go anywhere.

  00:20:21:13 - 00:20:30:18

  Fabiola Lara

  It just like the parents have them and they're just like, like unsubscribe. Like they're doing it. They're performing YouTube videos so early on.

  00:20:30:20 - 00:20:43:04

  Molly Soda

  Yeah, exactly. Like you you just soak in sort of all of this information and or like you hear back certain things that that you see.

  00:20:43:14 - 00:21:01:07

  Fabiola Lara

  100% and it's so kind of normalized. Which leads me into my next question. I know that your work is really all about you in a way, but also a reflection of kind of the way the Internet is now. So why do you think girls and the Internet are so important.

  00:21:01:15 - 00:21:36:09

  Molly Soda

  That girls are the Internet? You know, for me, anyway, I think that young women and girls dictate so much of culture and what is popular, but they're also always infantilize and take it not taken seriously online or in general. But I'm think I'm specifically thinking about like online trends and like they're the most marketed to, the most sold to, but they're also seen as vapid, shallow, only caring about things that aren't actually important.

  00:21:36:15 - 00:22:12:12

  Molly Soda

  I'm really interested in online girls spaces, for better or for worse. You know, some of the like, I don't like I'm not like celebrating everything that's happening with in popular online girl trends, but I'm interested in them and I'm interested in what they mean in a broader context and also the connections between them. To me, there was something that felt sort of rebellious or transgressive or like special or like I was like living multiple lives and like I was super interesting and cool when I was online as a teenager.

  00:22:12:12 - 00:22:25:13

  Molly Soda

  And then as I got older, I was like, Oh, everyone, everyone's on this. Like people that look like the girls that I went to high school with that I thought were like cooler and prettier than me are now online and like, they're influencers now. Like it's not me.

  00:22:25:14 - 00:22:30:19

  Fabiola Lara

  It's like a fascinating way to think about it. Yes. Before I was very like all.

  00:22:31:00 - 00:22:32:09

  Molly Soda

  It was old enough.

  00:22:32:19 - 00:22:41:01

  Fabiola Lara

  To be online and then everyone got online and then it became a regular popularity contest instead of a weirdo popularity contest.

  00:22:41:01 - 00:23:02:05

  Molly Soda

  And there's still weirdo popularity contest. You also realize, just this is funny to say, it's like being, you know, being the all girl in the Midwest who moved to New York and realizes that there's a lot of other people that dress and look like you and like like the same shit as you. And then it's the same thing online.

  00:23:02:05 - 00:23:06:00

  Molly Soda

  It's like you're like, Oh, we're all actually the same.

  00:23:06:12 - 00:23:24:01

  Fabiola Lara

  Yeah, There's actually a lot of me. Like, nothing that I experience. Was that unique? How do you feel about Tumblr looking back? Because that was like kind of a really big moment for you in your like, let's say like art career, right? Because it's kind of what pushed this persona of Molly. So it out to that to like the mainstream, let's say, or to the people.

  00:23:24:07 - 00:23:44:15

  Fabiola Lara

  So how do you feel about Tumblr in hindsight now before we keep going with this conversation, I just wanted to interrupt to let you know that you can now watch this episode on YouTube. Just subscribe to my channel at YouTube.com slash favorite that draws if you want to listen and watch the extended version of this episode with Molly, that means an extra 20 to 30 minutes of this interview.

  00:23:44:20 - 00:24:12:17

  Fabiola Lara

  Then head over to Patreon by joining the patriarchy and you get access to extended episodes, monthly personal podcast episodes from me and the opportunity to submit questions for future guests if you want to be a part of all that and so much more, become a patron for jobs in Spanish by heading to Patria Ecom slash drawers in Spanish while I'm added shout out to my current patrons Adrienne Lauren, Theresa, Holly and Marie for supporting this show.

  00:24:12:17 - 00:24:21:20

  Fabiola Lara

  You are all my favorites. Thank you so much for being early supporters of the show. It means so much to me. Okay, that's enough. Come in the Patreon. Let's get back into today's episode.

  00:24:22:21 - 00:24:29:01

  Molly Soda

  I still use Tumblr. I love it. Tumblr is back in my opinion, but everyone.

  00:24:29:01 - 00:24:34:20

  Fabiola Lara

  Says Tumblr is back. No one who's no one's interacting with each other. I feel like just posting.

  00:24:34:23 - 00:24:54:04

  Molly Soda

  I'm I'm very much on Tumblr, but I don't know anyone that I'm following. Like I'll, they'll be like suggestions to follow and I'll just click like follow follows. I'll, I'll just follow like anyone because I want to get more people on my feed because everyone that I used to follow is like, no, maybe they're they deleted their Tumblr.

  00:24:54:05 - 00:25:28:14

  Molly Soda

  They're not on it anymore. We've lost touch, whatever. That's current Tumblr. But to talk about like Tumblr as a whole or like my trajectory with it, I mean, I think of Tumblr really fondly. I obviously it wasn't without its issues, surely, but like it's where I really was able to meet other artists have like a sense of community online that felt bigger than maybe what I had been limited to on like LiveJournal or MySpace or some of these younger platforms.

  00:25:28:14 - 00:25:53:13

  Molly Soda

  And I think what was so fun about Tumblr too, is just that it was unlike any other platform that I used. So it was I'd gone from doing all these sort of more diaristic blogging through traditional diary blogging platforms to something that felt more like, Oh, all the stuff that I've saved to my desktop I can just upload here or like it's like more of a moodboard and it can be a blog, but it can be all these other things and you're still able to customize.

  00:25:53:13 - 00:25:57:12

  Molly Soda

  And like finding other people is interesting because.

  00:25:57:12 - 00:26:06:00

  Fabiola Lara

  MySpace like, put us all in this little like it was hard to customize. They wanted their profile to look a certain way, and then Tumblr came and you could kind of do whatever you wanted.

  00:26:06:04 - 00:26:26:13

  Molly Soda

  Yeah, Tumblr had a little more room with like, themes. I would. I always say that Tumblr was the last sort of customizable platform before we started moving into like the more like Instagram and Facebook and Twitter, Twitter of it all, TikTok now. But it was kind of the last place where you could add a little bit of flair to the interface.

  00:26:26:13 - 00:26:52:17

  Molly Soda

  But yeah, I remember Tumblr really fondly and it was really interesting because when I started my Tumblr, I didn't know what where it would go. I remember starting it and having some intentions with it. Like I was like, Oh, I'm going to be so excited when I get my first 500 followers. Like, I wanted 500 followers. I remember I was like, I'm going to throw a party when I get 500 Tumblr followers, because to me, that was like the pinnacle of success, right?

  00:26:53:04 - 00:26:55:08

  Fabiola Lara

  And and follower counts weren't even public.

  00:26:55:11 - 00:27:26:07

  Molly Soda

  They weren't public. They're private. Nikolai So you could lie, but I would never do that. Would I tell a lie? No. So and I remember my Tumblr really like gaining popularity pretty steadily for a minute, but like, it really blew up in like 2010, 2011, 2012, where people were like signing me from Tumblr and like adding me on Facebook and like finding me on these other platforms and being like, and it started like growing out of control.

  00:27:26:07 - 00:27:51:00

  Molly Soda

  And I remember it'd like surpassed 500 followers and I was sort of like, Oh, I didn't even recognize that I had made 500. Like, like it wasn't like, momentous anymore to me because, like, it was moving so quickly and I was really shocked. And it's so interesting because I was popular on Tumblr, right? But I probably most have ever had 60,000 followers on Tumblr.

  00:27:51:16 - 00:28:18:19

  Molly Soda

  Think about how small potatoes 60,000 followers is now like 60,000 followers on Instagram, whatever, 60,000 on Tik Tok. You're not even on anyone's radar, like 60,000 on YouTube. You might not you're probably not even getting like sponsorships, you know? So, like, it's so interesting how I was like, so big and within a community, like a niche, you know, I wasn't like the biggest Tumblr user by any means.

  00:28:18:19 - 00:28:23:10

  Molly Soda

  I'm sure there were other girls that were more popular than me, but like, I can't.

  00:28:23:10 - 00:28:24:00

  Fabiola Lara

  Think of one.

  00:28:24:14 - 00:28:50:09

  Molly Soda

  Yeah, but that's because we're like, in the same knee, you know? We're like, you know, people will do these like Tik Tok videos that where they talk about our early Tumblr, but they're talking about all these girls and I'm like, I don't know who these girls are. And I'm like, this is this is like Normie Tumblr. Like, I'm like, I don't know what like, like, I don't think Tumblr was for Normie people, but it was like less weird than what I think me and like my peers were doing on Tumblr, if that makes sense.

  00:28:51:03 - 00:29:07:03

  Fabiola Lara

  Yeah, no, I totally get it. And I also think like, yeah, nowadays 60,000 seems like a drop in the bucket I think is a thing. I don't know. I wanted to say it, but at the time, like how many users were on the internet? Probably a lot less and today.

  00:29:07:08 - 00:29:18:21

  Molly Soda

  A lot less but still like it. So I guess Tumblr was just such actually not that popular of a website that it felt or I don't know how pop, I don't know like how many users they had. It was pretty.

  00:29:18:21 - 00:29:22:07

  Fabiola Lara

  Popular like before Instagram came on, like we were all using Tumblr.

  00:29:22:07 - 00:29:22:23

  Molly Soda

  That's true.

  00:29:22:24 - 00:29:35:18

  Fabiola Lara

  That's like an Instagram came on in 2010 and it probably didn't catch like where you had like where you started, like using it for people outside of just your friends until like, what, 2011 or 12 when you started grew?

  00:29:35:19 - 00:29:47:06

  Molly Soda

  I think I got my Instagram in like maybe 2012 or 2013 and it was a joke. Like I would post like a picture of my flight and like with the Calvin and filter on it and be like at work.

  00:29:47:12 - 00:29:56:00

  Fabiola Lara

  And this is just like a for my ten close friends who follow me, you know, like it wasn't, it wasn't for like a huge public audience.

  00:29:56:13 - 00:29:57:06

  Molly Soda

  Exactly.

  00:29:57:07 - 00:30:17:10

  Fabiola Lara

  Which is fascinating to think about it. But so yeah, I feel like still Tumblr. Tumblr was the place to be. How do you feel about the fact that it was like, okay, this is me now assuming. Okay, so you correct me if I'm wrong here, but I feel like what took off from your blog, from your Tumblr was like photos of you I feel like were always in my feed.

  00:30:17:10 - 00:30:33:23

  Fabiola Lara

  How does that feel looking back? I know we were just talking about aging and relevancy and all that kind of stuff. So like now that you have some distance from it, how do you feel about having been kind of like the product of yourself? I don't know. You know, like performing like that at that age.

  00:30:33:24 - 00:30:58:08

  Molly Soda

  I feel fine about it. I've always used my like ness in my work. And I think that the funnest thing about it for me is that I've always just felt like an avatar or like a digital like when I take a selfie and I posted to the Internet, I enter the sea of other girls selfies, right? Like, which is great.

  00:30:58:17 - 00:31:05:15

  Molly Soda

  Yeah, I love it. Like, I love the like it's both like me, but it's also feels anonymous and flat. Like I can describe.

  00:31:05:15 - 00:31:06:13

  Fabiola Lara

  It at the same time.

  00:31:06:13 - 00:31:25:08

  Molly Soda

  Exactly. I'm like, I like that there are so many iterations of me and so many entry points, and I like that I can be like saved to someone's desktop and forgotten or printed out or hung up on a wall or deleted or.

  00:31:25:10 - 00:31:33:17

  Fabiola Lara

  Yeah, like people pinning you like in, in their blogs as part of their identity and like Pinterest. It's like very fascinating to think about.

  00:31:33:19 - 00:32:15:16

  Molly Soda

  I like being sort of not avoid, but I think that there's something appealing about that for me that feels both like me but also anonymous. Like I remember I had this, I think about this all the time. And on MySpace, my bio just said, I want to tell you everything and nothing at the same time. And I wrote this in high school, but I actually find that very relevant to like how I've lived my life online and so I kind of enjoy I think there is a point in time and I, I think that this is very natural.

  00:32:15:24 - 00:32:32:16

  Molly Soda

  I think that we become embarrassed of a most recent self. We think like who I was like a couple of years ago, humiliating. And maybe as we get older, we don't feel that way as much. I definitely don't feel that way as much. But like when you're when you're out of high school and you feel like your high school self, you're like, oh, cringe.

  00:32:32:16 - 00:32:34:20

  Molly Soda

  Like you.

  00:32:35:02 - 00:32:35:10

  Fabiola Lara

  Like.

  00:32:35:10 - 00:33:09:18

  Molly Soda

  I didn't know what I was doing. And then like, once you get enough distance from that, you're like, Oh, actually, like I looked cool or like, I wasn't a cool stuff or like, I'm nostalgic for these things again, right? And I think there was a period of time after the height of Tumblr where things were waning and I was sort of like, Oh, I'm sad that people only know me from Tumblr or like, they only think about Tumblr me and they don't know about all this other stuff that I'm doing now or like Tumblr me is so cringe like you like I was so chaotic and like for a while now I look at Tumblr

  00:33:09:18 - 00:33:18:09

  Molly Soda

  me like very fondly and like, I love her, but like, there's always that weird chunk of time where you want to, like, distance yourself from the most recent version of yourself.

  00:33:18:20 - 00:33:20:19

  Fabiola Lara

  Yes. Where you want to, like, delete it all.

  00:33:20:23 - 00:33:26:07

  Molly Soda

  Yeah. And I, I never let myself delete anything. I mean, I, I try not to, but I guess.

  00:33:26:11 - 00:33:31:08

  Fabiola Lara

  I love that you're doing that. That you committed to that because I deleted MySpace. Me and I wish I could have her back.

  00:33:31:09 - 00:33:39:01

  Molly Soda

  Oh, I wish I could have MySpace. I mean, I deleted my MySpace the day I lost my virginity and then wrote it in your LiveJournal and.

  00:33:40:02 - 00:33:41:02

  Fabiola Lara

  You're like, It's a.

  00:33:41:02 - 00:33:44:01

  Molly Soda

  New me. Yeah. I was like, Oh, okay.

  00:33:44:01 - 00:33:51:01

  Fabiola Lara

  She's a virgin. Delete that. So good. That's so good.

  00:33:52:18 - 00:34:12:07

  Molly Soda

  And that's fine. You're like, I need a dramatic change. I'll take that like a I regret, you know, I would love to see it, but it's fine. But I think we are really quick to delete and I think like and maybe I'm just like a sticker who likes to like, like, see that stuff later or like, experience that later.

  00:34:12:07 - 00:34:21:20

  Molly Soda

  But I just want to I'm, I'm very I want to keep it all, even if it feels painful in the moment to keep it. I know I'll care about it later.

  00:34:22:11 - 00:34:45:15

  Fabiola Lara

  Yes, I know. You just said like you see yourself as kind of like an avatar. Like when people are experiencing your photos and consuming, let's say, your Tumblr and even your work today. Right? Because it's like a persona of you. How do you feel about the 3D avatars that exist now that have like entire personas and like lives, fake lives?

  00:34:45:15 - 00:34:48:06

  Fabiola Lara

  I don't know. You know what I'm talking about? I don't.

  00:34:48:06 - 00:34:49:17

  Molly Soda

  Have like, Kayla.

  00:34:49:21 - 00:34:55:07

  Fabiola Lara

  Yes, exactly. Like, how do you feel about that? Because in some sense, they're like, faking it.

  00:34:55:07 - 00:35:13:21

  Molly Soda

  Are they not? I mean, what are they thinking? I don't know. No one's thinking anything, right? Like, I don't know. We're but I we're real and fake. Like, you know, to me, the avatar stuff in some ways, I think is smart. I mean, there are there are artists that I there's an artist that I'm thinking of that I really like.

  00:35:13:21 - 00:35:39:11

  Molly Soda

  Who is this avatar, La Avedon, and has always sort of interested as avatars. So I think that that is sort of pre the Avatar influencer, but yeah, like the little Mikayla of the world, I find it kind of interesting. I mean, it's really funny because I know one of the people that created her and he had early on I was like really broke.

  00:35:39:11 - 00:35:59:08

  Molly Soda

  I was living in Detroit and he texted me and he was like, I'll pay you like 100 bucks if you send me some selfies. I'm working on this little view, like, explain the little Mikayla avatar thing. She I think the initial thing with her was that she was going to release music like she was going to start this very interactive 3D avatar and then release music.

  00:35:59:13 - 00:36:20:01

  Molly Soda

  I think she maybe did, but I'm not quite sure she he was like, Oh, send me a selfie and I'll like Photoshop. We'll look at it with the Avatar. Right? And so one of her earliest posts, Instagram is like us at Coney Island is like a selfie of me and her. But then all these people became really obsessed.

  00:36:20:01 - 00:36:41:03

  Molly Soda

  This is actually so funny to me, this obsession with whether or not she was real. All these people online became really obsessed with the fact that whether little Mikayla was real or not real. What does that mean? I don't know. Do they mean like, is she like, do they mean is there an actual person that looks like her behind her?

  00:36:41:03 - 00:36:44:13

  Molly Soda

  Like, is she? I'm not really sure, but there were all.

  00:36:44:13 - 00:36:46:11

  Fabiola Lara

  These or my question was lol Mikayla.

  00:36:46:16 - 00:37:09:08

  Molly Soda

  No, I never had any questions about it and people saw that picture of me with her and thought that I had created her. So there were a lot of people messaging me all the time being like, Is she real? Like, did you make her like there are YouTube conspiracy videos going around about it. It was a whole thing.

  00:37:09:08 - 00:37:32:03

  Molly Soda

  And I was getting this influx of people thinking that I had created this avatar, some that were upset with me about it and some that were curious. And whenever I did not, I think it's public knowledge now who did. But but I don't think that I think it's kind of interesting. I mean, I don't I don't think like I don't see any issues with it.

  00:37:32:03 - 00:37:54:11

  Fabiola Lara

  I just wanted to get your opinion on it. I always found it. My only concern with well, McKayla was like, well, Mikayla, I think she was I think she was meant to be a girl, but whatever her gender or not, I don't know. I kind of was like in someone exploiting girl culture, Internet girl culture who's not an Internet girl who doesn't know the ups and downs of being an Internet girl.

  00:37:54:12 - 00:37:55:15

  Molly Soda

  That's true.

  00:37:55:22 - 00:37:59:07

  Fabiola Lara

  Like how nice to be able to opt in to being a girl online.

  00:37:59:08 - 00:38:02:19

  Molly Soda

  Yes, yes, yes. That's a really good point.

  00:38:02:19 - 00:38:04:11

  Fabiola Lara

  I lose it for profit. Let's say.

  00:38:04:11 - 00:38:17:02

  Molly Soda

  Amazon. For profit. Yeah. I mean, I wish I had thought of it, you know, like I wish I was a fake and the influencer making some money and not having to put myself out there to do it.

  00:38:17:16 - 00:38:39:01

  Fabiola Lara

  I don't know about you, but I always still think not so much now, but like and I didn't then but I think about it now is like how predatory men can be online and like when you're a teenage girl putting yourself out there, you kind of open up your eyes, open up yourself to that. And in some sense, right, whether you welcome it or not, just by being online and being who you want to be online, you welcome Creeps.

  00:38:39:15 - 00:38:43:14

  Fabiola Lara

  But little Mikayla like I don't know they can't stalker.

  00:38:43:18 - 00:38:50:10

  Molly Soda

  Yeah it's it is a safety I mean maybe we should all be we should be the avatars.

  00:38:50:10 - 00:39:16:01

  Fabiola Lara

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. And the other thing that you had mentioned was like this concept of being nostalgic for, like previous versions of yourself. And I know you have this desktop dump project that I find fascinating because I think with digital media we like move so quickly that we forget and we don't care to forget, right? So can you tell me more about this project and how you feel about the desktop as a private space?

  00:39:16:11 - 00:39:27:21

  Fabiola Lara

  Because it's something I never really thought about actively, but sometimes I find screenshot old screenshots of like my computer in college. I'm like, Oh yeah, I wish I could open that folder right now and like, see what I had in there.

  00:39:28:03 - 00:39:36:13

  Molly Soda

  Yeah. And I also, you don't realize how much interfaces change over time because it's so constantly sort of updating and seamlessly.

  00:39:36:16 - 00:39:37:20

  Fabiola Lara

  And out of control.

  00:39:38:02 - 00:39:38:19

  Molly Soda

  Absolutely.

  00:39:38:19 - 00:39:39:12

  Fabiola Lara

  How to update.

  00:39:39:12 - 00:40:03:21

  Molly Soda

  It. You don't even think about interfaces at all, which I find really interesting. I like thinking about that and have I mean I, I'm like addicted to saving everything and archiving everything and the practice of that. And so the desktop dump came about during the pandemic very beginning of the pandemic. I think I made my first one in May of 2020, and I don't really advertise them.

  00:40:03:21 - 00:40:38:16

  Molly Soda

  I don't really talk about them very much. They're sort of like hidden on my website, like you have to kind of scroll and like click on the right image and then you'll get brought to the desktop dump page. But basically what they are is that I love desktops. I like using interfaces in my work. I like playing with those spaces on the computer and the desktop for me has always been kind of the last untouched space of sort of private space that that the Internet doesn't see.

  00:40:38:17 - 00:40:54:18

  Molly Soda

  Like, you know how thrilling it is when like you have like a guest speaker or someone's giving a presentation and they're like plugging their computer into the projector here and then like you get a glimpse of their desktop and you get to see like a little bit of insight into who they are.

  00:40:55:20 - 00:40:58:02

  Fabiola Lara

  And if they're smart, they put everything in one folder.

  00:40:58:03 - 00:40:58:19

  Molly Soda

  Totally.

  00:40:59:05 - 00:41:00:00

  Fabiola Lara

  Like nothing.

  00:41:00:00 - 00:41:19:17

  Molly Soda

  Yeah, there's something really intimate about the desktop space because it is sort of this weird dumping ground and I am a I save everything. I scroll and I save things. And whenever I'm working on a project, generally instead of making a folder for that project, it just goes onto the desktop. It's a map, you know, but it's a beauty.

  00:41:19:18 - 00:41:20:02

  Molly Soda

  Easy.

  00:41:20:10 - 00:41:29:17

  Fabiola Lara

  Like that's, that's like amazing because in a in this day and age, we rely so much on the cloud that you could really get by without saving anything.

  00:41:29:22 - 00:41:31:05

  Molly Soda

  Oh, I've never used the cloud.

  00:41:31:05 - 00:41:39:20

  Fabiola Lara

  So that was my next question was how do you, how, what's your relationship with the cloud? Do you have any cloud storage happening? This is all hard drive.

  00:41:39:20 - 00:42:06:17

  Molly Soda

  I use Dropbox and I use Google Drive mostly for stuff that I want to share with people or like what might want access to. I have a lot of hard drives. I have multiple computers, like it's kind of a match. I'm not very organized. If I like had more money or more time, maybe I would like hire someone to help me deal with my file organization.

  00:42:06:17 - 00:42:10:22

  Molly Soda

  But I, I try to sometimes, but I just like it's a mess.

  00:42:11:04 - 00:42:13:24

  Fabiola Lara

  Especially when you've been creating stuff.

  00:42:14:01 - 00:42:38:19

  Molly Soda

  For so long. Yeah. And it's a lot of it's a lot of files because I'm mostly working in a digital environment, so I'm not really working so much with physical stuff, which is nice because I don't have to store everything that I but I'm doing, I'm drowning in files. I love my files. So anyway, but yeah, it's all saved to the desktop a lot.

  00:42:39:03 - 00:43:07:06

  Molly Soda

  And then eventually I'll go and clean it up and try and sort, you know, put everything away. And I decided I was like, Oh, I've been interesting practice too. And when I decide that it's time for me to clean my desktop, I'll just upload everything online and make it public and make these sort of like desktop collages, essentially, because it's not like I'm I'm not necessarily just giving you the files, but I'm trying to arrange them in a way that feels visually pleasing to me.

  00:43:07:06 - 00:43:29:07

  Molly Soda

  And so on my website I make sort of a separate page for each desktop dump and I don't do them every month. Sometimes it's just too whenever I get to it. So like there's actually a desktop dump that I started for the computer that I'm on right now, and I started it probably last month and haven't finished it because there's so many files and it takes me like hours upon hours to do these, depending on how many files I end up gathering.

  00:43:29:07 - 00:43:48:09

  Molly Soda

  But I think the process of making it public is really interesting because I start to think about the desktop space that was once untouched. I start to curate a little bit or I start to be like, you know, if I know that I'm going to make a desktop dump or something, I'm like, Oh, should I save this here?

  00:43:48:09 - 00:44:05:09

  Molly Soda

  Maybe I should put in a folder. Now there's too much stuff you start curating the minute that you make something public. And even that sometimes is like so semipublic it's not really like people aren't really like looking at them that often, but it's interesting to see how that that changes things.

  00:44:05:16 - 00:44:16:14

  Fabiola Lara

  The relationship. Yeah, the minute you make something public, you're already starting to perform, even if it's, again, just the camera. On a like technical level, what are you using to create the client?

  00:44:16:18 - 00:44:47:08

  Molly Soda

  So it's pretty straightforward. I use a website called Hot Glue. I mean, I'm not really a coder. I have like some limited agency knowledge, but I'm not like I'm not a programmer by any means. I usually hire developers to help me on projects, but Hot Glue is cool because it's basically a website that lets you build websites and you can just kind of drag and drop and move stuff around.

  00:44:47:08 - 00:45:19:04

  Molly Soda

  So it's really, really, it's how I built my website. I love it. I tell everyone about it to use it if they don't want code. So it's just like a it's just part of hot glue. I just like upload and can move stuff around and there's some limitations with it, but it's it works for this project. I think the only scary thing about it is obviously as it is scary to post anything online is that you don't have like it could shut down tomorrow, you know what I mean?

  00:45:19:04 - 00:45:33:18

  Molly Soda

  And so that's my one worry is like, oh, I should have it would be better if I hardcoded this right. It would be better if I had this saved. And maybe one day I'll I'll go back and do that. But obviously I'm more visual than I am.

  00:45:33:18 - 00:45:40:10

  Fabiola Lara

  Like yeah, it's often it's not doesn't sound like the most exciting thing to go do. No, hindsight is actually like backtracking, right?

  00:45:40:10 - 00:45:41:14

  Molly Soda

  You're like, Yeah, yeah.

  00:45:42:09 - 00:45:42:23

  Fabiola Lara

  It's here.

  00:45:43:07 - 00:45:44:13

  Molly Soda

  Yeah.

  00:45:44:13 - 00:45:56:01

  Fabiola Lara

  Okay. That's fascinating. I love to hear how you're putting these things together because all the platforms that I feel like, like Squarespace, like if you use Squarespace, it would like, kill the whole vibe.

  00:45:57:11 - 00:45:59:11

  Molly Soda

  Yeah, cause it's very template based, but it's just.

  00:45:59:11 - 00:46:02:05

  Fabiola Lara

  Like a template and you're so not template it online.

  00:46:02:05 - 00:46:04:08

  Molly Soda

  I'm so anti Tumblr.

  00:46:04:17 - 00:46:08:06

  Fabiola Lara

  Which has to be hard these days because every new app is a template.

  00:46:08:12 - 00:46:10:13

  Molly Soda

  I know, I know, I know.

  00:46:10:21 - 00:46:39:01

  Fabiola Lara

  Okay. Something I want to talk about a little bit is I've had a lot of artists on the shows who are like illustrators or graphic designers, so they sell their work, their finished work. It's like an illustration or they sell their service of being a graphic designer. How are you selling your digital work or valuing your digital work as a digital artist and I just said digital like a million times, but I am curious about this because it's such a new space.

  00:46:39:01 - 00:46:43:05

  Fabiola Lara

  Still, even though online media has existed for a while now.

  00:46:43:23 - 00:46:52:21

  Molly Soda

  I mean, I feel like that's like I don't I don't want to dance around anything because I feel like you're also asking a lot of to use maybe.

  00:46:52:21 - 00:46:55:24

  Fabiola Lara

  I mean, NFT is one way people are selling their work. And yeah.

  00:46:55:24 - 00:47:26:10

  Molly Soda

  I don't, I don't do I see I don't personally I do on a piece. I'm only done one run which was with a website called Pharell File that I really respect and like their curation, which is why I wanted to do it with them. But like normally as it's not really my vibe, but for me, I as a digital artist or like an artist that works primarily non physically, I didn't even really conceive of the fact that I could sell my work online.

  00:47:26:13 - 00:47:32:06

  Molly Soda

  I always kind of saw that or that I could sell digital work in general.

  00:47:32:06 - 00:47:46:15

  Fabiola Lara

  I'm just fascinated to talk about it because it feels like it's constantly changing. Like the way that you could potentially capitalize off your work is what's more interesting to me. It's because it's so obvious with traditional art and services.

  00:47:46:23 - 00:48:06:11

  Molly Soda

  I don't make a ton of money off of selling my work. Like if I'm being upfront, I don't rely on that income at all. I actually wasn't even I didn't even conceive of being able to sell my work until around 2013 when I sold my first video feed at an auction. It was like to sell it at Phillips Auction House.

  00:48:06:11 - 00:48:26:20

  Molly Soda

  It was like the Tumblr auction, the first ever digital art auction, which is curated by Lindsay Howard, who has helped me a lot in my career. She I remember she reached out to me and was like, Oh, I'm doing this digital art auction. I failed auction house with Tumblr and like, do you have like a piece that you would want to sell?

  00:48:26:20 - 00:48:37:06

  Molly Soda

  And I was like, What? I was like, I could sell a video. Like, how? Like, what do you mean? And she sort of explained it to me and I was like, Wow. Like it really, like, blew my mind.

  00:48:37:13 - 00:48:46:15

  Fabiola Lara

  Do you sell, though? I don't know much about this. That's why I'm asking. Do you sell that literal file isn't viewable by only that person who buys it? Like, is it up to them?

  00:48:46:23 - 00:49:07:18

  Molly Soda

  So for the Tumblr one, actually, you give I gave them a USB. Generally speaking, the way that you sell these things is I sell everything on a USB B and there's a certificate of authenticity, which is really what people are buying, right? A signed certificate. The way that one buys an NFT, you're also kind of just buying the certificate of authenticity.

  00:49:08:20 - 00:49:10:03

  Fabiola Lara

  Same with artwork, right?

  00:49:10:03 - 00:49:39:02

  Molly Soda

  Yeah. Essentially that one that I made for the Phillips auction was a one of one. So only that person has it. I don't think I even have a copy of it, probably just because of the passport drives. And I wasn't really thinking about that stuff. It's fine. In general, I make it a point that everything that I sell that's nonphysical has to remain online.

  00:49:39:02 - 00:50:01:20

  Molly Soda

  Really, the person buying it is buying the right to show it or just honestly, just supporting me. Obviously, it's different when I sell to an institution because they're going to do some preservation. They're going to be able to show it in their shows or they might be able to lend it out to other institutions. So there's that's kind of my ideal is to have like the institutional support.

  00:50:01:21 - 00:50:27:00

  Molly Soda

  Those are the people whose hands I want, like the video content and or the non physical work content. And because they're going to be able to actually take care of it or give, you know, this is unstable stuff, right? Like file formats change, things are not supported. If you make things for a web, you want to do them on like the interface, like you do like the Google Chrome from 2021 because that's when the work was made.

  00:50:27:00 - 00:50:50:07

  Molly Soda

  Like certain things like this have to be considered. And so that is always important to me to have it in the right hands, I guess, or the people that are going to be able to preserve it or archive it properly. And then there's the odd collector who likes to collect digital work prior to the NFT boom, but also is interested in collecting my kind of work.

  00:50:50:09 - 00:51:00:10

  Molly Soda

  But then another thing that's been really important for me as an artist, what I'm not precious about any of this stuff. Like everything it's posted online, no matter why.

  00:51:00:10 - 00:51:19:02

  Fabiola Lara

  I love that about you and your work, because I feel like artists are so precious about things and I don't want to be precious. And it's still be like it still happens to me out of like, I don't know, this weird bug in my brain that I want to get rid of. And so I'm really impressed by kind of your freedom.

  00:51:19:08 - 00:51:20:07

  Fabiola Lara

  I really, really am.

  00:51:21:06 - 00:51:51:00

  Molly Soda

  I think, like, this is one thing that really drives me crazy. There is like a weird preciousness about new media content online that I find very frustrating. And so I try to make everything accessible as much as I can. And then in terms of like selling my work, you know, the average Molly soda enjoy or does it have I don't want say span the feels fucked up like honestly.

  00:51:51:21 - 00:51:52:12

  Fabiola Lara

  Subscriber.

  00:51:53:04 - 00:52:17:19

  Molly Soda

  No I don't like that either. I have someone like said fan the other day and I was like I hate that like it's so like it puts me like in a in a position of like power that I don't enjoy or like there's something about it I don't know. But then I'll, I'll say like I'm a fan of like people that I think like being able to.

  00:52:17:19 - 00:52:48:07

  Molly Soda

  Yeah, I guess it's like I feel weird having a, having fans, but I'm cool with being a fan. I guess basically the average person that follows me probably doesn't have collect your money, right? And so it's always been really important for me to make products or like little staying that people can collect or buy of mine. Like, you know, I started off making a lot of beans or cheap prints or like more like random merch or like shirts.

  00:52:48:18 - 00:52:51:21

  Molly Soda

  I have like tarot cards that I made, like there is.

  00:52:52:17 - 00:52:54:02

  Fabiola Lara

  Available in stock now.

  00:52:54:02 - 00:53:15:07

  Molly Soda

  Available in stock now. Yeah And even to me, like, yeah, it's like I always try and keep it as cheap as humanly possible. Like my jeans were always like five bucks and like I try and make everything myself if I can or like cheaply produced. And that's always been important for me to have that available. And it's not even for money.

  00:53:15:07 - 00:53:22:05

  Molly Soda

  Like I don't make that much money off of any of the stuff. If anything, I'm like, I want to break even and be able to get my stuff out there.

  00:53:22:08 - 00:53:39:17

  Fabiola Lara

  I definitely appreciate that. I feel like it makes a lot of sense, especially because of the kind of digital work that you're doing. People who are fans get to consume it for free most of the time and people who want to own it for whatever, or whether it's an institution or just a person who loves to collect art, then they can do that.

  00:53:39:24 - 00:53:47:17

  Fabiola Lara

  So I definitely think that's cool that you're playing to kind of both and opening up your options. But can you talk about this new streaming platform that you're working on?

  00:53:48:07 - 00:54:13:19

  Molly Soda

  Oh yeah. Oh, we had a stream last night actually. So this we don't know what, but where do we know who's are we? Okay, so I've been working on this this project slash streaming platform called Is this Thing on. And I'm doing it with an artist named Christopher Clary, an artist named Sierra Rosberg, and another artist named Bhavik Singh.

  00:54:13:20 - 00:54:42:13

  Molly Soda

  And basically we got together and started kind of thinking about how a streaming platform, basically a lot of us, we've all done sort of like various things with streaming platforms. Chris Christie does stuff on the camping website called Chatter Bay. I've done stuff on like YouTube and various other sort of one off streams, and Sarah has done sort of like these VR streams also on YouTube, but other various platforms.

  00:54:42:24 - 00:55:08:19

  Molly Soda

  And so we were just thinking about how streaming platforms kind of like silo groups of artists or people from each other, like there's like Twitch, which is for like mostly gaming, there's like YouTube and then there's like the sex cam websites and how these things are kind of like how it would be interesting to bring people together to have our own sort of rules and terms of service just give artists more control.

  00:55:08:22 - 00:55:28:02

  Molly Soda

  And so we've been working on this project. We don't really know what's going to happen in funding. So we've been like with grants and various things, we've been sort of going through these things this season. So we started at like season zero where we started screaming on like existing platforms. It's been a lot of research, it's been a lot of research and development.

  00:55:28:08 - 00:55:56:08

  Molly Soda

  And then last night we streamed from our rooms on the actual website itself, which is thing that too, but anyone can go to it and it's basically set up like a web ring. So we each have rooms and then you can like click through to each other's rooms and we'll all kind of stream at the same time. So we've been doing these like events where we all stream in our separate rooms, but then you can kind of like hang out together.

  00:55:57:06 - 00:56:18:03

  Fabiola Lara

  Fascinating. I love this because, yeah, streaming is, it's really fun, but also it's hard to control. The mechanics of it are weird sometimes. It's also weird to be the only person like like being the host can be kind of weird. Not sharing the space feels very like front and center if you want it to be a different experience.

  00:56:18:03 - 00:56:27:05

  Fabiola Lara

  It sounds like you guys are creating something like that. I love it. Everyone go check out thing That tube and the last quickfire questions. Molly Favorite Puerto Rican food.

  00:56:28:02 - 00:56:55:03

  Molly Soda

  Okay, this is like I don't even know if this is Puerto Rican. My mom makes this thing called on the Papas, which is basically like a Puerto Rican shepherd's pie. I think it's like just her family that made it like, I don't know that it's like a traditional Puerto Rican dish, but it's basically just like mashed potatoes, ground beef with, like, olives and like Puerto Rican seasoning, like sulfate, though, and stuff on and all that.

  00:56:55:18 - 00:57:01:06

  Molly Soda

  And then another layer it. So it's like, you know, just like not good for you at all, but it's like, so delicious.

  00:57:01:06 - 00:57:15:01

  Fabiola Lara

  Sounds good. I feel like every country, Latin American country has a version of this. So I would bet you that it is Puerto Rican. I feel like every I really do. I've had like a different shepherd's pie and every like, so many different kinds of shepherd's pie exist.

  00:57:15:03 - 00:57:20:09

  Molly Soda

  It's so comforting to me. I also just like Shepherd's Pie is one of my favorite foods. So like when American.

  00:57:20:12 - 00:57:21:06

  Fabiola Lara

  And Puerto Rican.

  00:57:21:08 - 00:57:25:15

  Molly Soda

  Yeah, I like all of that. And, like, all of them are good. Any iteration is good to me.

  00:57:25:15 - 00:57:38:15

  Fabiola Lara

  I'm a big potato head, so I like most potato products. Favorite saying is they're like a Puerto Rican saying or slang or anything that you feel passionate about. But, you know, it.

  00:57:38:16 - 00:57:41:19

  Molly Soda

  Can be I know.

  00:57:41:19 - 00:57:43:06

  Fabiola Lara

  Some people's parents, like, have certain.

  00:57:43:06 - 00:57:46:10

  Molly Soda

  Sayings, what is my handshake?

  00:57:46:14 - 00:57:48:18

  Fabiola Lara

  And they're like, Yeah, I still use it to this day.

  00:57:49:02 - 00:58:02:10

  Molly Soda

  I mean, there's like Puerto Rican. Well, like Puerto Rican Spanish is different then. I mean, every country Spanish is like a little bit different. But there are certain words that I like and Puerto Rican Spanish like. I love that we call busses. Agua.

  00:58:03:17 - 00:58:04:19

  Fabiola Lara

  Yeah. Guavas. Yes.

  00:58:04:19 - 00:58:09:14

  Molly Soda

  Yeah. Guava and then trashcans are stuff icon, which I find really funny. Oh, I.

  00:58:09:14 - 00:58:10:02

  Fabiola Lara

  Haven't heard that.

  00:58:10:02 - 00:58:32:19

  Molly Soda

  One. Yeah. Stuff like on it's really two that I think of all the time. I don't know. I can't think of a saying off the top of my head. I feel like my parents were, there's so many words that I didn't realize were like bad words growing up that my parents would like say to me and my sister like little nicknames that I was like, Oh, this means something else.

  00:58:33:15 - 00:58:43:09

  Fabiola Lara

  Okay, lovely. And then, is there anything about Puerto Rican culture? Maybe you can just be in your household that you wish was like more a part of American culture?

  00:58:43:23 - 00:59:08:01

  Molly Soda

  Oh, that's a good question. I think for me, I mean, I think that Puerto Ricans just like have I don't know. I think that there's just like a nice energy. I love that, you know, Christmas is like a month long in Puerto Rico. So I'd be into that just maybe like a more time of like, you know, Three Kings Day rolls around.

  00:59:08:01 - 00:59:16:08

  Molly Soda

  No one knows what the fuck you're talking about now. It's like the the day and people storm the capital. Like, that's not this generation six. I observe. Okay.

  00:59:17:09 - 00:59:22:02

  Fabiola Lara

  I remember like January six, 86, Three Kings. They stormed the Capitol. All right.

  00:59:22:24 - 00:59:40:11

  Molly Soda

  So I like that I that yeah, culturally I love the like, just more leisure time. Obviously I'm not Catholic. I didn't grow up Catholic. But Puerto Rico is very Catholic, so it sort of makes sense. And like, I don't necessarily need element for sure, but like.

  00:59:40:11 - 00:59:42:09

  Fabiola Lara

  You know, trying to keep the Christ in Christmas.

  00:59:42:22 - 01:00:10:14

  Molly Soda

  I'm not. But I also like do love like, you know I think like the Saints are really cool. I think like my parents, I didn't grow up religious at all, but like I love like every town in Puerto Rico has its own sea and its own like, celebration. For that to and like my parents have, like all these wonderful, like, wooden saints in their house, like I do like some of that Catholic vibe, but maybe not like maybe more culturally then actually.

  01:00:11:05 - 01:00:22:02

  Fabiola Lara

  Yes. Like as a tradition, not so much in energy, like Catholic guilt energy. Okay, so more Catholicism in the US gets.

  01:00:23:21 - 01:00:26:12

  Molly Soda

  Missing it.

  01:00:26:18 - 01:00:27:09

  Fabiola Lara

  Completely.

  01:00:27:18 - 01:00:28:04

  Molly Soda

  Okay.

  01:00:28:11 - 01:00:36:06

  Fabiola Lara

  That's it. That's all I have for you. Thank you so much for your time and your energy and your honesty and your openness. I really loved it.

  01:00:36:13 - 01:00:38:05

  Molly Soda

  Thanks for having some fun.

  01:00:38:17 - 01:00:55:17

  Fabiola Lara

  Okay, friends, that's all I have for you today. I hope you enjoyed my conversation with video performance artist Molly Soda. Be sure to follow her work on Tumblr or Instagram. All leave everything linked in the show notes. Now, before you go, I have to remind you to subscribe to the show. If you like this episode, it's free and really helps me keep making the show for you.

  01:00:55:17 - 01:01:15:12

  Fabiola Lara

  So please remember to subscribe if you want to connect with other Latinx artists in our [Draws in Spanish] community, then join the free discord at DrawsInSpanish.com/chat. And if you'd like to listen to the extended version of this episode for even more chit chat with Molly, then head to Patreon.com/DrawsInSpanish to get access.

  01:01:15:21 - 01:01:30:11

  Fabiola Lara

  That's all I have for you. See you next Tuesday. Thanks for listening. I'll see you in The Discord bye!