Meet Sofia Ramirez Hernandez | Endurance Arthlete

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sofia Ramirez Hernandez and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sofia, alright, let’s jump in with a deep one – what’s you’re definition for success?
I believe success is maintaining a level of self-worth and empathy where no matter what happens, I still believe that I am worthy of safety, rest, joy, and love, as is everyone else. I have had numerous challenges along the way as a student, employee, athlete, and artist and many times those challenges got me to give in in defeat, and start to believe lies like, “I can’t,” or “I don’t deserve to.” I’ve had to learn self-grace in order to see my perceived failures and challenges as practice, and that has felt like a major key in my success thus far.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I’m particularly proud that I have pieced together my own career (and I’m still shaping it!) in youth and family programing. I’ve used my experience in organizing and fundraising for the KCAD student printmaking club “Collective Pressure,” in working with students from infancy through high school, in after-school program administration, in bartending and slicing pizza and deli meats, in drawing every day, and in running long distance for fun to get to the position I am lucky to be in now: Program Director of No Surrender Running Club. I’m entering my second year of this dream gig, where I get to shape and manage the programming for this rad, free, all-ages movement club. Intergenerational friendships and social movement make my job incredibly fulfilling, not to mention witnessing so many of my community members dream up and tackle some incredible challenges. Personally and artistically, I am also committed to my non-negotiable daily practice, “Sofía Draws Every Day,” which is now over ten years old. I enjoy sharing this sort of visual diary with the public in exhibits, art markets, zines, stickers, and my instagram account. Like with anything else, some days are easy, and some days are hard; some drawings are mundane, and some are fabulous.
Currently, I’m finding a lot of joy in working hard on dreaming up the futures of both No Surrender Running Club and Sofía Draws Every Day.

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?
First stop: The Stray and the panadería at Supermercado México. Breakfast: Noble Restaurant, El Desayuno Loco buffet, Mexo, El Globo, Real Food Cafe. A treat: the Horrock’s candy aisle, Tsitsiki Ice Cream & Snacks, Café Boba. Dinner: Chez Olga, Tacos el Cuñado on Burton, Mega Tacos, Mr. Burger. A hike at Palmer Park or Ken-O-Sha, and a bike ride at Millennium Park. A concert and/or the cactus room at Frederik Meijer Gardens, the Concerts Under The Stars series at the GRPM, and finally bowling AND karaoke at Spectrum Entertainment Complex

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
No Surrender Running Club, Girls Rock! Grand Rapids, Grandville Avenue Arts & Humanities, Creative Mornings GR, Saugatuck Center for the Arts, Ox-Bow School of Art, Grafik House, Dinderbeck, Collective Pressure, The Breakfast Anytime Club, Cultura Collective, Steffanie Rosalez, Carla Ramírez, all of my students and campers, Sleepy Pie, and Eulalia!

Website: www.sofiadrawseveryday.com

Instagram: @sofiadrawseveryday

Facebook: Sofia Draws

Other: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7XEWgnLGXA&t=44s

Image Credits
Tomás Calvo