MY STORY:
Born in the Dominican Republic in 1993, I consider my Latina heritage an integral part of my identity.
My family moved to New York City when I was just two years old, and then again to McAllen, Texas when I was seven. South Texas is where I then spent the rest of my childhood and teens.
Growing up, I was considered by most to be a bit of a... strange child.
... I really liked "Cats" the Musical... okay?
I was always very hyperactive and took every opportunity to climb on something or jump around.
sandals. the best training shoes.
Teachers and students alike used to call me "monkey girl," and even though I loved the nickname, many of them didn't really mean it as a compliment.
Luckily, my parents allowed me to explore different outlets for my energy in various extracurricular activities and sports! In my youth I did Baseball, karate, tennis, dance (mainly bellydance, hip-hop, and jazz), musical theater, and I loved to film and edit homemade movies.
My parents are the two best humans you could ever hope to meet. My dad is a doctor and avid long-distance cyclist. My mother is a business manager and incredible tennis player.
#PlatanoPower
I also have a little brother, someone whom without which I would have never had a villain to star in my movies growing up (true story).
That angry starfish grew up to become that ^
I graduated from an engineering magnet high school called the Science Academy of South Texas alongside a fantastic and incredibly nerdy class.
we literally took lightsabers to prom
I then decided to go from the hottest place ever to the second-hottest place ever and moved to Orlando, where I attended Full Sail Univeristy.
One day in class, some guy mentioned that there was a facility that hosted open gym nights for "parkour" on Saturdays. I was instantly intrigued, and went there the very next Saturday. The place turned out to be a cheerleading gym with just a springfloor, tumble track, and a couple of vault boxes and mats. Despite not knowing what to do or where to start, I quickly became addicted to hucking myself around and basically trying to do a front flip every night.
I soon became acquainted with the real local parkour practitioners, and began to tag along with them for training sessions, filming and editing video content for their social media channels.
That's where I met the crazy folks who taught me everything I know and later became my teammates. I have been a proud member of Team Rilla Hops ever since.
Our core team members. the definition of #squadgoals
After graduating from Full Sail with a Bachelor's of Science in Film, I spent the next couple of years working a series of degree-related and odd jobs. As I went from making soccer videos to selling dog food to editing for Marketing & Relations at Universal Orlando Resort, I took my parkour training more and more seriously with each day that passed.
My first glimmer of success that didn't involve sitting at a desk (or being in a pet store) occurred when I landed my very first gig- doing a parkour performance for ASICS in New York City!
a taste of what once seemed impossible
Some time after, I landed an ad campaign modeling and doing parkour for Adidas Stellasport SS16 in London!
doing the most authentic parkour pose *sarcasm*
As wonderful as those jobs were, I still consider my first big break to have been when I landed the principle role of "Princess Amoura" in the "Eighth Voyage of Sindbad" stunt show at Universal's Islands of Adventure. Once I became that princess, other show contracts and performance gigs seemed to almost fall into my lap.
The best part about the performance work that I did in Orlando was that it allowed me to utilize and grow my other passions along with my parkour, such as acting and dance.
Since then, I have gone on to travel around the world to train and have continued doing performance jobs for various clients. I have had the opportunity to do parkour for Cirque Du Soleil, appear on "TKO" with Kevin Hart, and compete on "Exatlón Estados Unidos" where I ended as the best female on my team and in third place as a semi-finalist!
During my time in Exatlón, I was anointed with a new nickname, "La Hormiga Atómica," which translates to the "Atomic Ant," based on the 1965 superhero cartoon "Atom Ant." The name immediately stuck and has now formed part of my identity. It's a badge of honor that I will continue to wear as I continue through my adventure in parkour and entertainment!
I would like to thank the fans for the memes
Not long after, I had the opportunity to chase contestants around in a cool costume as the Atomic Ant on FOX's "Ultimate Tag!"
After which, (surprisingly unrelated to parkour) I hosted a clip-based TV show called "TBD's The Link!"
Since then, I have transitioned into working as a stuntwoman full-time! I have had the opportunity to perform (mostly parkour-related) stunts for projects such as Doctor Strange in the "Multiverse of Madness," "The Horror of Dolores Roach," "Descendants: The Rise of Red," and more.
I also work as the project manager for my family's business- which is a multi-use sports facility called "Kiskeya Athletics" in South Texas that boasts one of the largest parkour gyms in the world, four indoor tennis courts, four studios, a fitness gym, and a multi-use gymnasium! It is my mother's passion project, and its been my honor to contribute what I could to help make it a reality along with our amazing team!
I co-designed the parkour gym, designed and furnished the fitness gym, designed the website, and currently manage the website, graphics, and social media.
I am absolutely, unequivocally blessed to be able to do what I love for a living and share in this passion with the most incredible community.
Parkour is something truly special, and I can't wait to see where it takes me next!
I guess the monkey girl got the last laugh!
