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

Hi Tokeli, any advice for those thinking about whether to keep going or to give up?
Movement is energy. The expenditure of energy outwards has a reciprocal agreement with the Universe. If I keep going, I don’t know what will happen, but SOMETHING will happen. Whether I learn from a negative feedback and adjust course, or feel the Love coming back to me in waves of acceptance and recognition, if I pay attention, I can see that I actually MUST keep going. This is the stuff of Life.

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 have lived a life of artistic expression in all manner of sight, sound, touch and spirit. I have been a professional musical theatre actress, director, writer, television development executive, award winning jazz singer and bandleader, professional painter and collage artist, and nonprofit arts administrator. This goes way back. My mother was an actress. My father was a painter/sculptor. My grandfather was in the Rudolph Valentino movie, “The Son of the Sheik.” His father and mother were famous vaudevillians, Pork Chops Evers and Violette Curtis. I feel like all my training, blessings from my ancestors, Guides, friends, colleagues, every cello and voice teacher, every choreographer, director, collaborator–they have all been my teachers. They have all been my inspiration, whether I could see it directly in front of me or not. Everything I’ve been through in life has led me to this moment now. This place where I am at now is where I help other artists by running a nonprofit arts organization and gallery and help them to have the opportunity to show their own artistic expressions to the 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?
Historic Grand Avenue in downtown Escondido, California is a place of art, culture and history. Let me tell you why: we have many artists (authors, musicians, painters, you name it) living here. We have galleries and the California Center for the Arts. We have the Children’s Discovery Museum. We have a nationally registered Historic District with historic homes (I happen to live in a Victorian house built in 1895, which is why I moved here). We have an archeological center and the Safari Park nearby. We sit on Native American land and have a 56% Latino/Hispanic HPI Index. We are cultural, we are artistic and we are historic. This is a daytripper’s paradise for walking, shopping, and restaurant and bar hopping.

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 dedicate my energy in this question series to the work of Dr. Maxwell Maltz, MD, FICS, author of PSYCHO-CYBERNETICS, and to my new but dear friend, Elijah Rosenberg, who brought this book to my attention.

Website: www.escondidoartassociation.org

Instagram: escondidoartassoc

Youtube: @escondidoartassociation

Image Credits
Robert Grant Peggy Stokes

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