Meet Mafer Chica Parrales | Artist, Content Creator and Art Historian

We had the good fortune of connecting with Mafer Chica Parrales and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Mafer, we’d love to start by asking you about lessons learned. Is there a lesson you can share with us?
That just because things don’t look or follow the exact path you had imagined, that doesn’t mean you haven’t achieved success and that you shouldn’t feel proud of yourself and how far you have come.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I am an Ecuadorian artist and art historian – born and raised! I grew up in Guayaquil, Ecuador, and immigrated with my family to the United States at the age of 18, in 2016. I speak Spanish and English fluently.

I started taking classes at Mt. San Antonio College and working full-time to cover my school expenses and help my family with rent and our household needs. I majored in Art History, Animation, and Studio Arts and finally graduated and completed my three associate degrees in 2024!

Something that was especially rough for me was not only immigrating, navigating culture shock, and having to balance going to school, working and supporting my family, but also building a support network from scratch: having to navigate adulthood on my own, making new friends, and being so far away from my friends and family – missing milestones, celebrating birthdays, special occasions and holidays from afar. Those years came with lots of tears, struggle, loneliness, but more than anything, strength.

What I have learned in this journey so far is that it is okay to ask for help – therapy has been essential to keeping my sanity throughout these years, lol – and that leaning in your support network is key to overcoming challenges. We are not meant to do everything alone, and the hard things in life feel a little bit lighter when you have someone you can trust to help you carry the load.

That just because you aren’t where you wanted to be in life, doesn’t mean you can’t tell your own stories. As an aspiring character designer and storyboard artist, and as I get closer to my thirties, sometimes I feel like I am not quite where I hoped I’d be – still trying to figure out my career and find a way into the art industry without any connections. But then I remember that just because I am not working at a studio yet, that doesn’t stop me from taking advantage of social media and my resources at hand to share more about my background, my stories, the things I have gone through, and to show the world more about my culture and upbringing.

I’d love for people to know more about how beautiful and rich Ecuadorian culture is – from our daily lives, our regions, our music, art and legends – and how much we have to share with the world, as small of a country as we are.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
If my best friend was visiting, I’d take them to visit all the local amusement parks! Disneyland, Disney California Adventure, Universal Studios.

I am also a HUGE fan of museums, as an art historian, so the Getty Villa (my favorite place in the world) would definitely be on the list. It’s a gorgeous museum in Pacific Palisades modeled after the Villa dei Papiri in Herculeaneum, which was destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. It has an amazing collection of both Greek and Roman art pieces, and gardens.

I’d also take them for a day-trip checking out the Flower Fields in Carlsbad, and visiting La Jolla Cove and Balboa Park in San Diego! We’d stop by North Italia in Irvine on the way back. My favorite matcha spot is Hideout Cafe in Rowland Heights – they have the best matcha drinks and dishes!

Other MUST SEE spots are The Last Bookstore in LA, Kinokuniya – a bookstore and stationery shop in Little Tokyo, the Griffith Observatory, the California Science Center, the Natural History Museum, the Exposition Rose Garden.

Old Town Temecula is gorgeous as well! One of my favorite shops there is the Old Town Spice & Tea Merchants. You can get loose leaf teas, herbs and spices to your heart’s content.

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?
I’d like to thank my family, my girls at Our Vibes Media, and my dear friends: Caroline, Sara, Kenia, Yefri, Liz, and Jackie – for their infinite love and support, for always reminding me of what I am capable of, for being my cheerleaders, and for not being afraid of giving me a reality check when I need it.

Website: https://maferchica.com

Instagram: @mchicaparrales

Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/mchicaparrales/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@maferchicaparrales

Image Credits
Nicole Godinez Photography