We had the good fortune of connecting with Jewelianna Ramos-Ortiz and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jewelianna, what role has risk played in your life or career?
The art of risk. I think risk is the single most important variable in making your dreams come true. All the greatest moments of my life have been after I took a calculated risk. I saved enough money to allow me to live without any income for 6 months and then moved out 4 hours away the day of my high school graduation. I worked endlessly for months at 2 things, my full time job and my dream hustle, missed out on a lot of “fun” stuff to keep going hard at both until my dream hustle was substantial enough to do it full time. What people see is, “she just dropped everything and did it, she’s so lucky.” What they didn’t see was all the things I did and sacrificed to make my risk a lot more calculated. But ultimately in my head I always remind myself, if I never try i’ll never know, and that the worst thing that can happen is that it doesn’t work out and I go back to doing what Im doing now and thats not that bad. If I ask the worst they can do is say no, and if I never ask the answer is always no. I find out how to make my risk have more possible positive outcomes than negative outcomes and then all thats left is to take it.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I am a professional kid, thats what my husband and best friend Chris always say we are. As martial artists, stunt performers and actors, we live to tell a story though our physical body. When we fight, tell a story of years of hard work, control, and discipline. When we do martial arts forms we tell a story like a pantomime we don’t use words to tell you whats happening we use our technique to show you an imaginary fight and how these moves would be used. In stunts we are using our skills to tell a part of a story where action, and risk are involved (and what good story doesn’t have that?) When acting you are tapping into another’s world, life and traumas to portray their story, in hopes to impact the audience. What I’m most proud of in those areas is my ability to adapt. No matter what is thrown at me I feel I have prepared the attributes required to take it on and pivot. Ultimately, what sets me apart is my belief in myself, I know and believe at my core that I can do ANYTHING, so thats exactly what I do.

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 I was to show my best friend around ATL we would start the morning watching the sunrise on stone mountain then grab some bubble coffee in the city and ride around the belt line on the electric scooters. Then, grab some Korean bao buns and Gu’s dumplings at Krog street market and check out all the street are by the Krog street tunnel. Pick up some Slutty vegan and go to Old Roswell Mill and hang out at the waterfall and have a small picnic. Then head home and get dressed to do dancing in Buckhead at Supply & Demand and finish off with some Waffle house because the night isn’t done until we’ve had a waffle!

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?
My influence to pursue my passions before anything else began early in life thanks to my smart, loving and incredibly hard working parents. Along came my martial arts instructors growing up reminding me I could do and be great at anything if I was was willing to be obsessed with getting just 1% better every chance I got. Reading books like the 7 spiritual laws of success by Deepak Chopra which changed my mental approach to every aspect of life. Josh Horwege when I came to Atlanta, showed me that when you lead with love anything is possible. But I believe the greatest shoutout I could give would be to my phenomenal husband, Justin Ortiz that loves, supports and teaches me everyday.

Instagram: instagram.com/Karate.Jewels

Facebook: facebook.com/jeweliannaramos

Youtube: https://youtu.be/WJ55utdcXhM

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