Meet Marialejandra Araujo | Journalist & Ukulele Enthusiastic

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

Hi Marialejandra, where are your from? We’d love to hear about how your background has played a role in who you are today?
My name is Marialejandra Araujo. I’m from Venezuela but had to leave my home country due to the still ongoing dictatorship that rules Venezuela. It wasn’t easy, but I believe the process of leaving everything behind –including family, friends, possessions, and basically a complete life of its own– has helped me become what I am today: A woman with a steady music-related job, able to support me and my family; a woman with goals, a woman that fights every single day to accomplish those goals no matter what. A woman that’s happy about changes and receives them with a smile on her face. Change is inevitable, and sometimes that change comes directly to your face. Either you embrace it and go along with it, or you reject it and stay in your comfort zone without growing… And life is about growing!
I’m grateful for everything that has happened in my life, good or bad, because I think I’ve grown a lot thanks to those experiences.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Everything started back in 2018 when I left my home country. As a journalist, I was working on a news page writing about politics and immigration facts in the United States, but something was missing. Sure, I had a steady job, but something in my soul was missing: music. I decided to buy an ukulele because at that time was what I could afford, and started learning by myself between writing about politics. I watched a lot of tutorials on YouTube and started creating my first learning videos to post on Instagram right after some friends made fun of me saying that the ukulele was going to be left hanging on a wall forever. I have a background in music since I paid for my college studies by playing the violin in the college orchestra. Still, it wasn’t easy to learn a new instrument from scratch, with different notes, in a different language! But I did it and started creating more and more videos showing the process. I didn’t show my face at first, but then the confidence came and allowed me to show more action, excitement, and energy. The energy I show in my videos is what people love the most. I love when I get messages about them getting inspired to do more, to play more, to practice more, thanks to watching my ukulele videos.
Some years passed and I started working as a video editor/writer/designer at UKELIKETHEPROS, a music company owned by Terry Carter. I was able to learn more and more by working on the daily ukulele content.
Then I started to use a different name on social media: “MariWay”, and the meaning is simple: My own way of doing things. I want to show people that we can play whatever we want to play on the ukulele, leaving behind the common thought about the ukulele being just a “Hawaiian toy instrument”.

As a goal, I want to learn more techniques, I want to perform, I want to play the ukulele with others, and entertain them with music and energy. I love to inspire new ukulele players and I also love to inspire women! A lot of ukulele performers are men, so I love to bring on the feminine side of the ukulele world!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’m all about experiences with friends rather than actual places… So I’d say that the best times are spent with the people you love. Instead of creating a complete itinerary of things to do in a day, I would recommend hanging out with your friends, talking, laughing, and having quality time with your loved ones. Those are the experiences you’ll treasure the most, and, trust me, you’ll always remember a good talk with a loved one rather than a trip to the movies.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Some names come to my mind when I think about the gratefulness they deserve: My little family, mom and aunt, who always have supported me no matter what; my partner in crime, Alex, who’s been on the same journey along with me and has helped me every time I need a had, or a leg –haha; A friend named Bernadette, who encouraged me to start learning to play Ukulele back when I didn’t even know what an ukulele really was, and then helped me get a steady job by simply recommending my work to the person that has now become part of my family: Terry Carter. This guy is also on this list since he has trusted me for more than 4 years, we’ve been working together building up a company that started from scratch with only one goal: to be the best one out there! To all of them, THANK YOU! I am where I am thanks to you.

Website: https://linktr.ee/itsmariway

Instagram: @itsmariway

Facebook: itsmariway

Youtube: itsmariway

Other: TikTok: @itsmariway

Image Credits
All photos are taken by myself or by friends, so you’re free to use them 🙂