Celebrity Interview - How Luma Valen Found Her Voice: From Puerto Rico to Vogue and the New Single "Alive"

Greg Staffa 0:00

You're listening to the Staffa Corner Podcast, a Staffatarian look at entertainment and life. With your host, Greg Staffa. My guest this episode is recording artist, model, and creative visionary. Born in Puerto Rico, she first gained major attention through Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Search. Her debut single, Alive, dropped just last week. Luma Vellan, thank you for joining us today.

Luma Valen 0:46

Thank you so much. And I'm honored to be here at your podcast. And I can't wait to share so many things with you guys. Thank you again.

Greg Staffa 0:54

You have a very fascinating story. You've done a lot of things, a buckshot approach to life. You've done, but let's start with talking about growing up in Puerto Rico.

Roots In Puerto Rico

Luma Valen 1:05

Wow, Puerto Rico. So Puerto Rico is a beautiful place. I'm so happy I was born there. My background is full of culture. So from my mother's side, you know, we have the Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian mix. And, you know, from my mom's side, we have pretty accomplished people. I mean, they'd have like streets and parks and different things named after themselves. They help with the infrastructure and um we help with a lot of development there. That's how we ended up. I ended up in the United States. And then from my dad's side, I don't know a lot about his background, but I know that he has this like French-Polish influence. And they moved to Puerto Rico, his family in the late 1800s. So, and they're business, business people, you know, they have businesses. But growing up in Puerto Rico was run, you know, his great-grandfather had uh they they were in the milk industry and also they sold cattle and meat. So I grew up when I would go on the weekends to his side of the family. We were, you know, in the farm drinking fresh milk, you know, running around like kids, going on top of trees and eating fruits on the trees. So it was very different than what, you know, my daughter is growing up as, you know. Um, but we will also go like on three-wheelers all over the farm. And we were pretty wild kids, very active. I went to a private school there by some nuns from Italy and Spain. So the education was pretty advanced. I read my first novel when I was in first grade. It was The Little Prince, I still remember. And I mean, it was so advanced that I was already doing multiplication and division in second grade. So came to poor came to the United States because my dad, because of our background, was doing industrial development. And we come from a very, I would say the women in our family are very artistic and creative. And singing is something that we did since we were little. We sang a lot, we we memorized songs, and um, and it was really fun growing up in Puerto Rico. That's all I can say. I moved here when I was 11 years old though.

Moving To The U.S. Culture Shock

Greg Staffa 3:45

And what was that like coming to the USN? And we lived in Puerto Rico, you had the education and everything like that, but culturally, it must have been a little bit of a shock to you. What was that like adapting to your new environment?

Luma Valen 4:00

So I went to a school that everything was in English. All my classes were in English and my books were in English. And we had English grammar and we had also Spanish grammar at that time in my private school. I don't think they do that in Puerto Rico, you know, in all the schools. This is just this particular school I went to. Um, and I will say that it was in that sense a little bit easier for me, but culturally it was very hard because I grew up in a culture where we had a lot of time to spend with family. So the weekends was family, and we were constantly getting together. It was always music around, it was always a party. It was, and we had a lot of cousins. You know, I have, I think it's 32 cousins or 33. I mean, I may be off by a number or two. But growing up with our entire family was so much fun. It was about family, about food, about having fun and friends and sharing and dancing. And uh I had a pretty great childhood. That's that's what I can say. But I don't think it had to do, you know, when I grew up in Puerto Rico, which I find it different now, you know, Puerto Rico was the place or a place where you could have that type of life. And it didn't matter if you, you know, you were a millionaire or if you were not a millionaire, you were poor, because everybody could have a great life back then. I think things have changed a little bit down there. You know, there's a lot of things going on in Puerto Rico, but when I was growing up, I mean, everybody had time on the weekends to get together, which is not the case right now, you know. So it was really culturally shocking because when I came to the United States, people do go out, um, but I feel like the culture families were smaller here, and also people don't get together to party all the time here, you know. Uh it's it's just a little bit different. And it took me a little, also, we used to go horseback riding a lot on the weekends, and you know, or we would go to the beach, and we we were just doing a lot of activities, and we ended up moving to Atlanta, Georgia in the south. There's no beach. I think there's horses there, but you know, we were so new that we didn't know, we were just learning. And also I was learning to to speak English because I didn't know how to speak English well, even though I understood it and grammatically I knew what was correct and what was wrong. But I needed to speak it the way I'm actually speaking to you right now. So it was very difficult for I would say about three, four years. And then I got used to it. But the way, the way people do things here is a little bit different than the way I grew up, but I feel like I've become like a I I'm I'm both American and Latin, you know, in a way, because I learned to I just I I came here when I was 11

Education, Family, And Identity

Luma Valen 7:20

years old. So I just learned. I just learned how people did things here.

Greg Staffa 7:24

Now you mentioned you had as a daughter. How important is it to keep some of that culture with your kids as they grow up here in the US?

Luma Valen 7:34

Oh wow. So, you know, um I became a designer and I ended up moving to New York because I just this is, I mean, my that story is a long story, but it just the opportunities, there were so many opportunities for me here, and the doors were like wide open for me at that time. And I, you know, when you live here in the USA, for example, and you get accepted into a particular school, let's say you're living in Atlanta, and now you get the opportunity to study in New York or in Los Angeles, right? You, you know, children here, they move to where the opportunity is, right? So for a better education and so they can pursue their career, whatever their dreams are. And so at that time, I wanted to go to FIT because I got a full scholarship there. Um, but I was also accepted, not with a full scholarship to FIBM. I don't know why, but I ended up going there because I just loved the energy there. I wasn't really ever a hundred percent font, fond of New York City just because it was, I loved the city, but I felt like it was just such a it felt like a uh it felt a little scary to me, to be honest with you. A little scary at the time when I was young. And and I didn't, I I didn't want to be in New York City by myself. And I felt like, you know, in LA, people were very friendly, very open, and I also loved the weather there, and the energy was so incredible. And I just wanted to live there. I wanted to try it. I knew that I could always come back to New York City, which I ended up in New York City because there was the company I ended up working with there

Chasing Opportunity In LA And New York

Luma Valen 9:30

would bring me to New York City all the time for work. And then eventually they ended up moving me here, and then all the companies that I would get offers from were from New York City. I was really good at what I did. So I ended up here, but it wasn't my favorite place to be. Now I love it, but I still don't live in the city. So as you can see, I like to be around nature and trees and and in a more peaceful setting.

Greg Staffa 10:01

I think a lot of that has to do with the culture that you grew up in, that environment, and then going to New York can seem quite overwhelming to kind of the senses that you are used to. So your big claim to fame, your first initial at least claim to fame, was a sports illustrated swimsuit search. What led to you being involved in that?

Luma Valen 10:23

So, you know, Sports Illustrated started this SA swim search, and I had just, you know, at that time I had had my I had my daughter already, and I, after I had my daughter, I had, you know, I lost one of the main veins in my leg, and they had to put a stand in one of my arteries, and I was 175 pounds before getting pregnant. I was 125, but it wasn't because I was actually pigging out and eating so much. My body was actually so swollen

Sports Illustrated Story And Health Struggle

Luma Valen 10:57

because I wasn't circulating blood properly. And I was having a hard time walking, even after I had had my daughter. And that's uh something that my mother-in-law noticed. She was like, You can't even walk. And I said, I know, I'm so tired. I don't know what's wrong with me. And she's like, You're so swollen. This is not normal. And so I went to a doctor and they told me that I had lost one of my, you know, there's like two veins running through your legs. I lost one of them, and they had one of my arteries, wasn't doing well. There was a lot of things going on. So after that, I decided that I felt so sick all the time. I I wanted to cry. I'm like going back to it right now because I couldn't do anything. And I just wanted to run after my daughter. So basically I started working out, and the only time that I had was like five, five o'clock in the morning, 5:30 in the morning. And I did it every day, almost seven days a week for two years. And so by the time Sai Sun came, I had this incredible body and this incredible story, and I wanted to share it, you know, like how your body can heal itself, how you can do it too, even when you don't even feel like doing it. Because I used to cry in the mornings and be like, I hate this. But I would still do it, you know, I would still go and do it. And after like three months, um I started to like it, you know, because I started to feel better. My body felt better, I felt more energized. And so when I shared that story, I got featured in their IG. And the next thing I'm in their website. And and I I I just thought, like, oh my God. And all I wanted to do was share because I had gone through such a hard time. I wanted other women that were going through something similar, like me. It could have been depression or, you know, weight gain or a disease or whatever it is, to to know that they could they could get out of it, that they could do it too. And um, that was pretty, pretty amazing. I never expected that. I mean, I didn't do it to to win. I just wanted to share with people. And we were going through the pandemic, and a lot of people were depressed, a lot of people were going through things. So I wanted to share that in a time where people were going through so much and they needed an inspiration. And I thought that this would help them.

Greg Staffa 13:29

Tell us a little bit more about getting into modeling, then it's one thing to do the sports illustrated, but you really took off as the model. Tell us a little bit about what led to that.

Luma Valen 13:40

So that's what I wanted to share. So, what happened is that one of the girls, um, she was already signed with state management, and I ran into her. I was walking in New York City at that time. We were living in the city, and she ran into me. She's like, Oh my god, oh my god. She's like, I've been following you, and you're so amazing. You inspired me. And oh, I just want to tell you that I look at all your posts and da-da-da-da. And she's like, You should be a model, you should be doing this, you should be doing that. And and then she invited me to this event that she was having where her agent was going to be there. And next thing, you know, I'm getting signed with state management. And one thing led to another to castings, to covers, to editorials, campaigns, you know. But that's basically how it happened. It was just it actually came from one of the people that was following me on Instagram, running into them in the street and them making an introduction.

Greg Staffa 14:48

Wow.

Luma Valen 14:48

And the world is so small. Like, I just it surprises me every day how you don't know how something is gonna happen. And I wasn't even looking into modeling, it just happened. And I was really open to it because I said, wow, you know, this would be amazing because now I have a daughter, I'm not a design director anymore. And you know, we're in the pandemic, and how awesome I can be a model, you know, like it was amazing.

Greg Staffa 15:20

No, I I think anyone listening has been to like a grocery store and seen, you know, glamour magazine or Vogue or or any of

From IG Feature To Modeling Career

Greg Staffa 15:30

those magazines that you've graced the covers on and and been in. But what goes into it is that when you get an offer for like a Vogue, they reach out to you and say, We want you to to wear this, we want you to advertise this. How is that approached? Uh, what kind of information are you given? And do you have much of a choice? I mean, if if Vogue says, We want you in this lingerie, is that something that you have to consider? Is that something that you have to reflect and say, is this something I want to be a part of?

Luma Valen 16:03

Or I think that it's not necessarily vogue. It's uh the client. You know, if there's a client that wants the editorial in vogue, then they hire the model, then now you're in vogue, you know. Or for like, you know, most of the times you have clients that want their clothes showcased in a magazine or something. Now, for the covers, some of the covers that I've done, a lot of the times have been a photographer, there's they want to shoot a cover, and I ended up meeting them through somebody. And now, um, because now, you know, once you're once you become a model, you're going to different events, you're meeting different people, and and they meet you and they like you and they love your story, and now you're on the cover of glamour. Almost everything that I have done so far has happened in a very organic way. And it's been very magical, but basically, like most of the time when you're asked to do like an editorial, it's usually a client who likes, who wants to have you in that editorial.

Greg Staffa 17:26

And when they're working on the editorial, do they know that they're trying to get the editorial in vogue? Or are they working on an editorial and then trapping it around?

Luma Valen 17:38

They know. Like they know they might have like they they might want the editorial in vogue, or they might like them know, like, I want to either in vogue or in this. Yeah. Or they might just say, I want it, it's for vogue. For like the one I did for vogue, it was for vogue. Like that's what they they knew that it was for vogue. And the dresses that I was trying on, and uh for that particular editorial, they were for a designer from France. And I mean, these dresses are couture dresses, like they're they start at $20,000, and one of them was $40,000, a blue one that I had on. So they're

Inside Editorials, Vogue, And Couture

Luma Valen 18:20

very expensive. So it was a different uh spread for Couture Fashion Week, Paris Couture Fashion Week. And and I was a model and it was incredible. That was one of my dreams come true. I mean, when they told me that I was gonna be in vogue, I was shocked. I I don't, I just it was amazing. It was such a I don't even I a lot of these things I don't even know how to feel because when they happen, I'm like, wow, I just said I'm gonna be in vogue and it happened like a month later, you know.

Greg Staffa 19:01

You kind of hinted at it, but what was it like being the little girl from Puerto Rico to one day walk down a grocery store aisle or by a newsstand and see, you know, because usually they have not just one vogue, it's like a whole line of vogue just to catch your eye. What was it like seeing that?

Luma Valen 19:23

You know, I I mean I would love to tell you that I always like I saw that and I saw myself in these magazines because I've listened to so many people's interviews, and and that that wasn't my case. I I think that I just when I was growing up, especially when I was growing up, Vogue was very exclusive to particular type of look. And the girls, you know, like all of them were like perfect, you know, it was Christy Turlington, Claudia Schiffer, and they were all like all of them were Caucasian. And I, you know, even though um, you know, I I just didn't see, I didn't see any girls from Puerto Rico and Vogue. Yeah, I just didn't, you know. And I it never even crossed my mind because I wasn't a demographic that that wasn't in many magazines anyway at that time. So to me, it was something really out there, like, oh, to be in vogue, you have to be this way and you have to be born here or look this you know, particular way, or be of this race, or whatever that demographic was. And um, to be in vogue when it happened to me and to see myself, I I was shocked. I was completely shocked and and I realized, wow, we really the world has really changed, you know, in in in a very incredible way. And I and I think it's in a beautiful way because I think that even though they're still there, you know, modeling has a lot of regimens and you know, there is measurements, you know, and the agencies are very strict, there is a lot of new girls that are modeling that would not have been in this industry before, you know, and so being able to represent the Latin culture uh in vogue, it's it's amazing and to say that. And uh, and I think it uh I feel very honored to have been part of it. And I I look forward to doing Vogue again, to be honest with you, and I think I'm gonna do it. So I'm just waiting for that moment.

Greg Staffa 22:06

Not only are you a lovely model, but you're also a classically trained violinist. Where did you learn to play the violin? And how did that become a passion of yours?

Luma Valen 22:19

So I always love music, like I told you ever since I was a little. I love singing. Actually, we have a lot of singers in our family, and they're not professional singers, but they sing so beautiful. And I'm just one of them. You know, it just runs in our family. Music runs in our family, we love it. So violin came along. I wanted to learn how to play the guitar, and my father

Representation And Seeing Herself In Magazines

Luma Valen 22:45

has suggested the violin because he thought that it would help me in the future with anything else musically. And so I was 11 years old when I started, and I did it for six, seven years, and then it wasn't something that I wanted to pursue, but I became very good very fast because I had to practice every day. Like this was like a rule that we had in the house, and I practiced an hour a day. And um, I was young, so learning the violin was something very easy for me, and I also love music. So later on, I got very interested in writing songs, um, which I don't think I could have done without having been classically trained. And I became a first violinist in my orchestra. So I just and it's playing an instrument to me is so important if you're gonna go into music because you really understand the note, how music works, crescendo's, and you know, the main parts, the the different, the feeling behind the music, you know, because music without words and without you know a singer behind it, it actually has a lot of feeling and emotion. And to understand music and then be able to write and then sing and put a melody on it can be even more powerful when once you understand music.

Greg Staffa 24:20

That's very true. I I know directors like Steven Spielberg have played a scene in front of an audience without music, and then he plays the same scene again with music, and just shows the power that music has to add to a creative entity like a film or TV or or something like that. So not only do you play music, you're a singer. Your debut single, Alive, just dropped last week, I believe.

Luma Valen 24:51

So I've been writing for many years now. I've had uh a lot of interests, you know, in my life and all artistic, you know. And Alive is an anthem to friendship.

Classical Violin And Songwriting Craft

Luma Valen 25:06

I actually have a very good friend that wanted, you know, he he did a movie, uh, it was a short film that won won, I think, 48 awards. And I did an event at my house, and I said, Hey, you know, I wanted to share this with you. It's a song that I wrote. It's called Love, because the the short film was called Better Love. And so I was like, Oh, I want to share it. And he heard the song, it wasn't a live, and a live came about because he was the one who told me, he's like, What are you doing with this music? It's amazing. And I said, No, you know, I'm I'm not gonna do that right now. He calls me like two days later, he's like, What do you mean you're gonna not do this right now? He's like, I can't get this music out of my head, and one thing led to the other. I, you know, it was funny because before I showed this song to him, I had a dream that I want a Grammy, which just sounds really uh out there, but I kind of dismissed it because at that time I wasn't even thinking about music. And I didn't, you know, I was like, I want a Grammy in my dream. This is so weird. And then my friend had a dream that I was, I had another dream that I was in a concert with thousands of people. Then after I showed that to my friend, my my friend started having these dreams too. Not the Grammy one, but like that I'm in a concert or that this is happening. And then uh I had another friend who I had not spoken, you know, like we stayed in touch on in Facebook, but I had not spoken to them maybe in three or four years. And she calls me out of nowhere and she's like, I had a dream about you, that you were in a concert and there was thousands of people listening to your music. Are you doing music? And that's when I realized, okay, there's something here. And this is within a spam of like two, three weeks, all these dreams, right? So I said, you know what? I gave my music to this person and they thought that I should be doing something. She's like, Can you send me some of it? And I send it to them, and then they send it to Umberto. She apparently she had this contact, which I didn't know about. And she calls me a couple of days later and says, Oh, Umberto wants to meet you. I'm like, What? I'm like, I'm not gonna go over there, you know. And um, I'm outside in my backyard and a falcon, you know, there's like two, two, there's a little the little falcon and then the big ones, it like falls in front of me and opens its wings as I'm saying no. And I and it looked at me and it flew away, and that's just my spirit animal. And I was I just thought that this was just like surreal, the whole thing. And I I just said, okay, I'm gonna go. That's all I said, I'm going. So I'm in the airplane, and

Writing Alive And The Dreams That Pushed It

Luma Valen 28:12

I wrote alive in the airplane. I wrote alive in the airplane on my way to Los Angeles to meet Umberto, and I said, Okay, this is a gift to you. I wrote it in the airplane, and a live came from a situation with a friend where they actually, you know, they needed some help. And it just came back to me like that feeling of having like a really good friendship and support system, and how friends are so important. You know, sometimes we focus so much on romantic relationships, and even in this era, people are like, Oh, I need to find someone, I need to get married, I need to do this. But like, if we just realize how lucky we are right now, like we have our friends, we have our family, and these are the people who make us feel so alive. And when we if we lost one of those friends, that's when we realized that they're so important in our lives. And it was an anthem to friendship, and it just came to me, and and it was so beautiful. And I and when I finished writing it in the hotel room, I was like, Oh my god. I was so shocked. This is such a great song. And I had come with all these other songs, and I said, No, this is the song, this is the song that we're gonna do first, and that's how our life came about. It's a really exciting story to tell.

Greg Staffa 29:40

What has the reception been like for you?

Luma Valen 29:43

Actually, it's been what four days now? It's it's been amazing. I mean, right now, you know, one of the things that management wanted to do, they wanted to see what the organic reaction was gonna be. And we are very happy with it. we are going to do you know actually marketing and promotion because we want people to be exposed to us so they can hear it but there's been a lot of uh a lot of people listening to the song it's really well received and we're very excited and i and all the comments that I get I'm like wow I just I need to put this on repeat people are calling me emailing me they love the song and it's everything that I hope for because I think that all of the songs in this EP and then later on in the album are to make either people you know they're all reflect grow feel great about themselves sing to it dance it's to create a really good feeling inside of them I do have songs that are a little bit deeper but at the end of the day it's they're more of a healing process type of song and you'll get to see what I mean once they're released and they're all really thought like there a lot of them are from my personal experience and I realized why I had to release the songs later on

Release Reception And Musical Vision

Luma Valen 31:15

and I'm very excited to share them with you and with everyone and you know this is this is for you guys this this music is for for all of you it's for you to really enjoy great music that is also wholesome and you can put it around your children and you're not gonna feel like oh my God let me turn this off you know now did the the music aspect of it plus the modeling aspect of it did that form what form to be your your company that you run? So Luma Balin Entertainment was so you know my my my name is very long my birth name and I wanted to call myself Luma Balin and I came up with a name I it just I was meditating and it just came to me and I wrote it down and I said Luma Balin you know and it wasn't immediate like Ballon but like it had to do with uh valor in Spanish means valor which is to have courage and I was like Balin Ballin is beautiful and I was like Luma light you know balan it's Luma Balin and so I wanted to call Luma Valen Entertainment because everything that I want to do with Luma Balan entertainment is to create a new era of frequency of enlightenment through music that is makes you feel good makes you feel alive makes you feel like you want to dance to it makes you feel like you want to sing to it and still very it has messaging and it's really good music too like I wanted to stay away from like just doing synthetic electronic stuff. I wanted to use real violins pianists real instruments because you know instruments when people play music the way that we used to listen to music is different than you know something that you make in the computer it's not the same. And you feel it when you're listening to it it feels different. And also when you sing along to a music you know songs are mantras so when you're singing along to a song and you're saying negative things you are putting that it's like food for your body you're putting negative things in your body when you sing things that are you know positive or they have a higher frequency you're putting that into your body and into your environment so I wanted to and I am creating music that is is full

Building Luma Balan Entertainment

Luma Valen 34:10

of great mantras and great things to sing along to.

Greg Staffa 34:14

Now finally not only are you a model a singer and a businesswoman but you also are very supportive of some charities and I just wanted to give you a chance to give those a shout out I know you're active with Alex Lemonade Stand Foundation and Foster Love. Tell us a little bit about what got you involved in those organizations.

Luma Valen 34:38

So you know the Alex Lemonade Foundation is a foundation for children that have cancer and I I love children you know when we were very little my mom used to she used to take us to an orphanage um to give gifts uh during the holidays to to to children that didn't have anything they didn't have parents they didn't have christmas tree they didn't have anything so I remember this little girl my first little girl that I I gifted her directly her eyes they they just lit up she had so much joy and you know I remember the holidays Christmas like we had a tree full of toys and I thought wow this little girl she's happy just for one toy you know and she didn't have any parents I mean I saw where they slept and how their home looked and that stayed with me I must have been like I don't know seven or eight years old and so ever since then you know I wanted to get involved in like any charity and having to do with children because you know children are the future and I say that because whatever we expose them to and we and how we care for them whether they have the privilege to have a mother and a father that can take care of them and and love them or whether they are orphans or whether they are sick they are still the future and we all matter and I think if we focus on the children I think that the world can be a better place because they are but the world would be 10 20 years from now.

Greg Staffa 36:34

You're single alive just drop anywhere I assume you can buy music from so anywhere online.

Luma Valen 36:41

Yes you can they're all all the platforms Amazon iTunes Apple Music Spotify uh D Sur I mean name it's there I'll put a link to a couple of those I'll put a link to the charities that you're actively involved in and your own social media but

Music As Mantra And Positive Frequency

Luma Valen 37:00

Lima Vellant thank you so much for coming on I look forward to seeing what the future has for you thank you so much for your time and I'm very honored again and I'm sure we'll cross paths again.

Greg Staffa 37:12

Looking forward to it thank you.

Luma Valen 37:15

Take care