Puerto Rican Native Alia Álvarez is a professional photographer within the Reggaetón industry. Stuck choosing between her passion and a predetermined career, she decided to ditch the gloves and pursue her lifelong dream of becoming an accomplished photographer. Fast forward two years, Alia is now working with Reggaetón artist, Mora. Now recognized as his official photographer, traveling alongside him and his crew and occasionally, other famous singers. Living in a man’s world is the daily struggle for any woman walking the Earth, but to push through a male dominated industry and make your own space is even tougher. So how does the icon behind the icons do it?
I met with the 22-year-old a few months ago to discuss what does it feel like to work in such a male dominated industry (to say the least), what her passions are, challenges, and her hopes for the future. For a couple of hours, we sat by the beach surrounded by her friends while drinking sangria-in-a-pouch and talked about her personal experience within the industry and what it feels like working for with friends in such a fast-paced environment. Having been her friend for a while, I have seen how hard she has poured herself into her work. However, she had never shared with me her personal opinion of what it is like working with men, for men, surrounded by men, in a male-run industry where the atmosphere rarely looks female friendly.
For two years, Alia has been working for the upcoming artist, Mora, who has sung with Bad Bunny, Jhay Cortez, Myke Towers, and many more, even topping the charts. Because of their close relationship since high school, Mora was already aware of Alia’s artistic talents and decided to bring her on right after she dropped out of la Universidad de Puerto Rico – Recinto de Mayaguez, where she had been studying to be a veterinarian for almost three years. Before the famous artists and music videos, her photography was mostly focused working on local brands, personal creative exploration, and small casual events. But now thanks to Mora, Alia is fully invested in the Reggaetón industry. So, what exactly does Ms. Álvarez do? As Mora’s official photographer, she travels to wherever she is needed to do essentially one or more of three things: behind the scenes, content creation, and cover events.
When Alia shoots behind the scenes, she shoots everything that happens behind the music videos, interviews, photoshoots, etc. When she is needed to create content, she and Mora work together to create content for his Instagram page and YouTube channel. Lastly, when she is covering events, she lets her vision drive her and shoots other artists and celebrities while working with other industry creatives. In these events, she shoots content of and for the actual events, taking pictures of all of the invited artists, event commotion, and all the chaos that develops in the event itself. These types of shoots tend to be her favorites, because they grant her complete freedom for creative expression. One of her more memorable event shootings was during a trip with Mora and several other artists to Colombia. For one month, Alia spent her time shooting Mora, Eladio Carrion, and Joyce Santana all while partying and travelling. Nevertheless, it was this trip and these kinds that really give her an exclusive look of what it is like to be a woman in the world of Reggaetón.
Gaslighting. Mansplaining. Lack of respect featuring some unprofessional flirting. Even an occasional ass grabbing. These are just some of the condition’s women go through when in contact with toxic masculinity in the workplace. And while we have all fallen victim to this, Alia has found herself more vulnerable and susceptible to these unwelcome experiences around Reggaetoneros. Blessed to have a good team, Alia has felt protected from all sorts of unwanted approaches and treatment yet assures me that she has felt uncomfortable more than once. “Many times, I’m at an event and they’ll think I’m a groupie or someone’s date. They think it until someone tells them that I am actually a photographer for the event and it’s frustrating because why don’t they think I’m a professional myself? why can’t I be a professional by myself? Why do I need a man to defend me?” Álvarez said. Something all of us girls have had to ask ourselves more than one once.
The tension and frustration she feels is further fueled by being the only woman in the room. Working in a room full of men can be frustrating, it can cause anxiety and a lot of self -doubt. Having little space for femininity, Alia tells me that she, more often than not, feels exasperated working in the Reggaetón industry knowing she is one of the few women there. Confused by self-doubt, Alia more than once has asked herself why she is the only female in the room. “I get very frustrated when I see I am the only girl because I start to doubt why I got there in the first place. Why are all the opportunities given to men? All the photographers are men and it feels like they’re all in a gang. I get intimidated and start to doubt my talent. I feel like I’m on the outside looking in.” (Álvarez). Even when she does meet other female photographers, which she tells me is very rare, she still feels excluded as they do not work directly with her.
Nevertheless, those same doubts are what keep her going. After hearing about all of her moments of frustration and self-doubt and understanding her overall disappointment, I asked her if those moments ever drove her to think about quitting. She immediately stopped me in my tracks. The photographer, dedicatedly and confidently, told me that she does not allow herself to think that way. When she finds herself insecure in moments of uncertainty, she reassures herself that quitting is not an option: “I can’t allow myself to give up. I gave up veterinary for this. Now I just have to find my space within photography, not Reggaetón.” (Álvarez). Wanting to create her own artistic space, Alia was in search of female creatives to help her express her own creative direction.
In search for her girl gang, Alia feels more than blessed to have found her dream team apart from Mora and the Reggaetón industry. With Natalia Garcia, model, Tiffany Cox, makeup artist, and Patricia Alfonso, professional stylist, Alia has found her niche in a safe place full of strength, love, and femininity. Allowing her creative talents to take first place, Alia has been able to further her personal work with these girls by her side, exploring further into creative direction and different aesthetics. Instead of feeling creatively blocked, Alia is now able to create more photoshoots based on surrealism, fantasia, dreamy vibes, all while featuring a feminine glow, something that the men she had and still works with were and are not up to do with her. “When I work with the girls, I feel more comfortable, and it reflects into my work. You can just feel the feminine energy when you work with women.” (Álvarez). Feeling empowered, strong, and secure of herself, Alia tells me that her outcome is now even better than before. While she still gets frustrated time to time due to the lack of equal opportunity in the room, Alia now has her own wolf pack to fall back on when she needs a boost of creativity and strength.
Still working in the male industry has made her push herself to find her own edge and make room for her work within the industry. For her future within the industry, she is hopeful and anticipates future possibilities where she’ll have more space to work on creative direction, music videos, and eventually as a director.
Working towards a better future and a renowned career, Alia hopes one day she’ll be working alongside those who inspire her: Tim Walker, David LaChapelle, and Renell Medrano. Ms. Álvarez even sees herself working for big time publications like Elle, Vogue, Paper, Rolling Stones, and many others, taking pictures for famous artists all over the world. Some of these artists she fantasizes of working with include Bad Bunny, Dua Lipa, Billie Elish, Travis Scott, SZA, amongst many others that exude the same energy, she wants to put into her work.
Moving to the future, Alia feels more than blessed to have the support system she has had. Loved by her family and friends, the young photographer has felt mountains of support for her projects from her home, family, and friends in and out of the industry. “I was scared after dropping my veterinary track because taking photos is a lottery, maybe I won’t win. But I have felt so much support that I always come back stronger.” (Álvarez).
That is the message she wants to leave for younger girls, to not let the fear and insecurity intimidate you out of where you want to be. While wrapping up the interview, sitting in beach chairs surrounded by friends, Alia laughs that she might sound cliché, but tells me that if she could tell any little girl something, it would be to follow your dream and always do things with a good heart. “With endeavor, humility, passion, and love, you can accomplish anything.” (Álvarez).
Last modified: July 6, 2021
