Meet Dell Simutia

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

Hi Dell, where are your from? We’d love to hear about how your background has played a role in who you are today?
I was born in Killeen, Texas, the youngest of four girls in my family, but I mostly grew up in Fort Moore, Georgia where my father was stationed when I was very young and settling in Columbus, Georgia as I got older. Between my father’s military life and my mother introducing me and my sisters into her Samoan culture, my life required a lot of movement—shifting me between spaces, never fully anchored to one place, but always carrying each one into the next.

I grew up learning that home isn’t always a place, but a feeling—presence and connection grounded in the people I was around rather than the setting itself. With that being said, each place I called home has shaped me gently. Being in a house full of strong-minded family and being part of diverse communities, I’ve become fluent in the language of observation—learning how to read the rooms I step into and understanding people as both extensions and reflections of myself. I believe curiosity has always been my compass, guiding how I show up and see the world.

I’ve come to view my life through a kind of autoethnographic lens, where I am both subject and witness. I trace the interconnectedness between my experiences and the world around me often, always asking: “What does this mean beyond me?”

My upbringing taught me the quiet strength of claiming space, and the sacredness that lies in presence. Everything I do—whether in care, in art, or in simply being—is rooted in a deep longing to understand self through others. I carry many lives within me, have walked through many worlds, and each has contributed to the woman I am—one committed to the slow and wholly work of becoming through the things that I choose to do.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
If I had to give my art a name, I’d call it a living archive—part memory, part reflection, all feeling.
There’s no neat beginning to my creative journey; no singular origin point I can trace, if I’m being honest. It’s always been there but has taken on many forms of expression. I can say that journaling and music were always my first mediums. In middle school, I began documenting my emotions through writing and visual media. Music, especially, always gave me a feeling unmatched—I admired how someone could physically curate a manifestation of feelings and thoughts into art. Although I didn’t have a name for it then, that response, over time, became the tip of the iceberg for how I understood myself through connection—the ability to translate feeling into form.

I believe for my art, it has never been about perfection or polish—I think it was moreso an act of preservation. I’ve always been moved by the need to immortalize a point in time through capturing an emotion—to take, what feels like, a fleeting feeling or moment and translate it into something tangible: a photo, a playlist, a pose. My art is an act of excavation, a means to turn inward and use the pieces I discover as a palette. Nonetheless, I often feel like my body is an oracle and my life is the canvas. Everything is a ritual of remembrance. A conversation with source. A discovery of womanhood.

Referring to myself as a muse came with time. Being in front of the camera had everything to do with embodiment for me—about allowing myself to be seen and interpreted. Modeling, especially in college, became less about beauty and more of a declaration. When I joined a modeling troupe on campus in undergrad, I wanted to debunk the idea—to myself—that confidence isn’t a prerequisite for expression. In truth, I was working through the fear of being perceived. The lens felt like an opportunity to meet myself with new eyes. In doing so, I alchemized a lot of grief, insecurity, and seriousness that I internalized over time.

After losing my mother in February of 2022, everything deepened for me. Grief became a collaborator in my creative process. Her memory, her essence, her life—before and as my mother—began showing up in everything I made. I started understanding my work not just as creative output, but as a form of veneration. And since moving to Atlanta in the summer of 2023, I’ve begun to take this art more seriously—not just as a passion, but as a practice. Even while balancing life as a full-time nursing student and working full-time in the hospital, I’ve found ways to make space for this process. I’ve stopped treating my art as a side quest and started honoring it as the main contribution to my storyline that it is.

What I want the world to know about my life and story is this: I’m not trying to be digestible. I am constantly trying to communicate and encapsulate this thing that I feel is incommunicable at times.

Matisse once said, “Feeling is an enemy only when one doesn’t know how to express it… If you don’t go to the limit, you only get approximations.” That’s always stuck with me.. I don’t want approximations. I want to go all the way in—to live and create with that kind of fullness and without urgency.

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?
If my best friend were visiting Atlanta for a week, I’d want them to experience the city the way I’ve grown to love it—through its culture, cozy third spaces, vast food options, and connection to nature. Since I’m still fairly new to the city myself, I’m constantly discovering gems, but I’ve already got a growing list of go-to spots that I’d be excited to share.

For a Sunny Day Out:
We’d kick things off with lunch at Cafe Sunflower, one of my favorite plant-based spots that offers soulful, nourishing meals. Then we’d take it easy with a walk through Cascade Springs Nature Preserve, letting the natural springs and peaceful trails set the tone for the day. Later, we’d unwind at Stereo Coffee, which is a coffee shop turned lounge that has great energy and music.

For Relaxed Vibes:
We’d start the day at JB’s Record Lounge to dig through vinyls. For dinner, we’d hit JINYA Ramen Bar—their vegan ramen is my favorite comfort dish I get all the time with my sister, Maliya. We’d end the night with drinks and dancing at Buteco, which also serves as a good studying spot during the day.

For the Holistic Experience:
We’d stop by The Vitamin Lady and Health Unlimited for herbs, teas, and wellness goods. Then we’d hike the East Palisades Trail and make our way to the Bamboo Forest—a quiet, almost magical forest that takes you completely out of Georgia.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
If I could offer a shoutout, it would be to the women who raised and watered me since day one. These women reminded me who I was before I even recognized it within myself. Ode to my mother and my sisters, who have been the blueprints of my becoming—each contributing to the foundations I stand on today.

My mother, who showed me what it meant to lead with grace and to stand firmly in my truth, even when the ground beneath me was shifting. She was love personified—the only person I can truly say made me understand what it means to unconditionally love and to see the full nakedness of another’s existence. My mother possessed a rare and sublime beauty in the way she received the world, and in everything she took in, she returned it with an incredible presence and spirit. She has been the main source and inspiration for much of my work, deeply influencing it through her legacy.

My sisters, both mirrors and mentors, have always reflected back to me parts of myself I was still learning to name. They’ve walked beside me in every chapter of my life—not only growing up together but growing with one another.
Everything I am is because of you.
Your influence is in my voice. Your attitude is in my demeanor. Your words live in my liberations. And your love has given me the world.

I also want to mention my chosen family. My soul sisters and best friends, Maliya, Madison, and Jada. As well as my brother and best friends, Abdul, Spencer, and Jordan. The backbones that kept me up and running at some of my most hardest moments since moving to Atlanta. Thank you for showing me that real unconditional love exists.

They deserve more than a shoutout, but nevertheless, I offer a lifetime of gratitude and deep appreciation—because this journey has never been mine alone.

Website: https://linkin.bio/innergsynergy

Instagram: @dellsimutia

Other: email: dellsconley@gmail.com

Image Credits
instagrams:

@meecheyes
@milesbently