Art & Life with Paulina Rios and Olivia Woods

Today we’d like to introduce you to Paulina Rios and Olivia Woods.

Paulina, Olivia, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
Paulina: I’m a first generation Chicanx born and raised in California up until 2014 when I packed up a suitcase and bought a one-way ticket to Arizona. I have never looked back or regretted that decision. I’ve dabbled in many different forms of art from pottery to painting to trying to start a band… but I ultimately dropped all those pretty quickly because they never kept my interest very long. Not that they weren’t fun but I was pretty mediocre or just straight up bad at all of those things. I never felt like I was meant to be a creator like I just didn’t feel like I had any useful talents- so I was just always a big supporter of my friends’ art. I was content being the dummy breaking her face from stage diving at every show or the first one lining up to buy their art. But eventually I wanted to make something, I didn’t know what, but I wanted to create. And so here we are now!

Olivia: I’m a born and raised Tempe weirdo. I played piano from the time I was three until I was thirteen. I was never REALLY good at it. I was also in art classes all throughout high school and was pretty good with charcoal/graphite but didn’t keep up with it after graduation. I enjoy creating and making things with my hands but I’m also not amazing at anything. I guess my creative talent is getting drunk and bullshitting with Paulina!

Can you give our readers some background on your art?
Paulina: I started listening to podcasts about a year ago and thought, “I could totally do this.” I became obsessed with the idea of having my own podcast so I would make endless lists with ideas for names and themes. When I finally came up with what I wanted to do, I bugged my friend until she agreed to do it. This is how Spooky Nerds was born. Spooky Nerds is a podcast fueled by alcohol about conspiracies, unsolved crimes, folklore, urban legends, and the unknowns of the world. It’s hosted by myself and one of my best friends, Olivia Woods. We typically record at her place in Phoenix with our own equipment that we were able to buy through a KickStarter. Olivia is the facts person and I’m the weird conspiracy person, it truly matches our personalities.

This whole thing stemmed from wanting to create something fun with a friend and I hope people can tell that we really do love and enjoy creating content for Spooky Nerds. We’re really bad at following through on things, to be honest, and I’m really proud that we’ve kept up with this. We’ve been doing it since March of this year now!

I hope that when people listen to our podcast they have a good time and know that, even though it’s fun podcast, we take it seriously and we put a lot of work into it. And that if anyone has been sitting on an idea for a while, they should totally go for it. We’ve found that our friends have been our number one supporter and that we honestly would not have been able to do this without them. And also, our moms.

Olivia: Paulina had been talking about starting a podcast for a while and one night at Casey’s the idea the Spooky Nerds just came to us and we ran with it. Like Paulina said, neither of us are very good at following through with things, so it feels good to still be doing it, and constantly learning how we can improve. I also really enjoy the research aspect and learning something new each week. Again, I’ll echo Paulina and say that if there’s something you’ve been wanting to do, go for it. And as always, support your friends and their artistic endeavors, as well as small/local businesses!

What responsibility, if any, do you think artists have to use their art to help alleviate problems faced by others? Has your art been affected by issues you’ve concerned about?
Paulina: Absolutely! With the modern technology that we have, it has never been easier to create and distribute your art. Our podcast has a huge focus on crime, not just local but global crime. We talk a lot about unsolved murders and they’re always incredibly eye opening. We’re constantly noticing the issues that affect an unsolved murder which is anything from mishandling of justice to media bias. Olivia and I make sure to project a clear stance on every issue and we feel that a small part of our job is to make sure that victims are not forgotten.

Olivia: I think that art is a great way to get people to see what today’s issues are and how they could potentially affect the individual. If you look at the Trump protest that happened last year, in some ways it doubled as an art show. People got really creative with their signs so they drew the attention of photographers. Hopefully some people who really weren’t aware or involved before saw the pictures and it motivated them to get involved in some way. At the same time, art is also a great escape from those issues. One of my favorite ways to relax is to sit on the couch with my cats and listen to my favorite podcasts.

What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
People can listen to our podcast on pretty much any listening platform or check out our website, spookynerds.com. We’re still trying to fund more better equipment and start making merch four our podcast. So, if you listen to and like our podcast, please support our Patreon! Patreon.com/spookynerds.

Contact Info:

• Website: spookynerds.com
• Email: spookynerdspodcast@gmail.com
• Instagram: @spookynerdspocast
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SpookyNerdsPodcast/

Image Credit:
Mary Berkstresser

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