Episode 382

Fire in The Belly with Estreyah Uribe

Estreyah Uribe is an actor in Guadalajara, Mexico with indigenous heritage, specifically from the Wixárika tradition.

As a girl and young woman growing up in Sinaloa, she faced a lot of negative attention because of the way she looked, her indigenous features and brown skin standing out to the other students in the schools she attended.

As a child, she followed creative pursuits, feeling the fire in her belly. Perhaps she was in contact with the natural self-esteem that many children have. Over time and with the negative pressure, that fire became replaced with a knot.

She stopped caring about her looks, embracing others’ judgements that she was “ugly”, and becoming more judgemental of others in order to protect herself from their opinions.

Eventually she returned to the arts, getting involved in the theatre. She also took therapy, and formed a collective of indigenous actors in Mexico, and finally re-ignited that fire in her belly.