From Paris Opera to Body Art: Grace, Purpose, and the Art of Being the Muse

Welcome to another episode of Keeping It Real On Purpose, your weekly dose of live self-improvement to build a life that matters. And I'm your host, Edna White, your Life Purpose Coach. Today, let's be real. How many of us scroll through social media and they wonder, what's the perfect life? What's the perfect body? What's the perfect career? And secretly say and wonder, am I enough? What is my unique contribution? How do I even begin to stand out and build something real in the world that feels not fake? Today, we're smashing those illusions. We're talking to a woman who embodies authenticity, a global phenomenon who has literally been immortalized in art, and yet her journey is all about raw, real self-discovery. I'm absolutely thrilled to welcome Leticia Bufar-Ropay to the show. Welcome to the show, Leticia. Thanks for having me. You know, you are a international award model, a movement artist, which I'm dying to hear about. Now, a muse, trained at the Paris Opéra Ballet, you performed with, I know this, Cirque du Soleil. I know that, I've seen that on television a long time. Wow, that's amazing. Published five art books and you traveled 87 countries. Wow, you're a figure, creative, and the list goes on. I am just so excited to hear about you. So, you know, please tell us a little bit about how you show up in the world. How I show up in the world? I try to do my best to inspire and motivate others. That's my mission with my presence on social media. Yeah. And to do that, I create with photographers all over the world, based in my posing and my career, as I had professional ballet training and I've been performing, as you said, as an acrobat with aerial silks and hoops. So, I gather all the knowledge I have and now use them with photographers to create art. Wow, that's beautiful. You literally showed up in the world in a way few people will ever. Beyond the lights, the lenses, and the stage, how do you define showing up in the world, especially if the world is constantly trying to put you in a box or tell you who to be? Personally, I don't really care what other people are thinking. This is how I show up. I show up as what I feel like sharing, what I feel like doing, and we can't please everybody. So, I do me and if others are inspired and want to follow and want to be inspired by it, it's great. If they don't, it's still great. And that's how I live. That's right. So, not really caring about what anybody thinks. Your purpose is your purpose. It has nothing to do with anybody else, which is a great way to be. I mean, I do care about feedbacks from my fans and followers. I listen to feedbacks. It's really important to grow as a creative, but I would not, like a lot of content creators do at the moment, create to please the audience or post that because that's going to get engagement or that's going to get... I create what I feel creating. So, how do you maintain that integrity when the external pressure is so immense? How do you do that? Well, I have clear values of what I want to create, especially when I reach out to photographers, I have clear boundaries about what I do and what I don't do, the values and the goals I have for my photography. And I only shoot with them if they align with those values. And you stick to them, right? I do. They are so clear that as soon as I see that a Wow, that's so powerful. It's about showing up for yourself. That's great. No performance, none of that stuff. So, that's really great. You cultivated a six-figure creative career rooted in authenticity. How did it begin? Well, it began first with, like I said, when I was little with ballet and then with acrobatics, traveling the world and performing as an aerial acrobat. And at the moment, I am a full-time art model. So, the modeling started a bit like it was not planned. I had a photographer reaching out to me on my yoga Instagram. He's been looking a long time for a ballet dancer that could also do aerial hoop. And he found me and was thrilled to shoot with me. And I was like, okay, why not? So, I gave it a try. And then it did the snowball effect. When he started publishing the photos, a lot of photographers reached out to me. And that's how it started. Right. Okay. So, you can encourage some young people to kind of stay, you know, do what they love to do. I'm imagining that you love what you do. Oh, yeah. I love what I do. Yeah. But it was, like I said, not something I planned. So, I say be open to opportunities and reach out if people reach out, you know. That's cool. You've traveled 87 countries and you have a global following of 100,000 or more. And yet, you still create, you know, such great things. And it's a deep, you know, you have to be deep in yourself in order to do this. At points, do you get lonely? No. I actually enjoy being sometimes on my own. Because, I mean, all day when I travel, I am actually, like, not socializing, but I am with people. So, I'm in photo studios, I am talking with photographers all day. So, when I get my time alone, let's say, in my hotel room after everything, I am actually really enjoying it. I love my alone time. Yes. Oh, my goodness. I didn't realize that you were always talking. I didn't think about that. Yeah, I get like that too. But, yeah, you're right. You're always with somebody with that many places that you've gone and probably still going, you know. What is the difference in this world of likes and follows and your constant, you know, performance? How do you cultivate real connections? Well, I'm actually really engaged with my followers. Like, for me, they're not just followers. They're actually people. So, when people write me, I write back. So, I do build connections with the people that want to engage with me. And, yeah, I actually have a big support system from my family, from my friends. So, all that is really important too. Right. So, you're intentional about those relationships, kind of keeping those together. Really important. Very important. Is there any time that you're not validated at all? You know, being that you're so busy and maybe you need to say something. Is there any time that you're not validated or not heard? I don't think so. I always have somebody to listen to me when I need it. Okay. All right. You surround yourself with people that, you know, that can support you, you know, especially and I know every day is not a good day, but when you have those bad days, you have somebody there that can support you. I do. I do. That's great. Can you share one? I know you've had some monumental times. Can you share just maybe one, you know, extraordinary time that you did something for the first time? For the first time? Well, performing in front of 20,000 people was like one of my big thing. And when it was the first time, it was quite an event, quite an unforgettable moment. You got that right. Wow. Yeah. You can't forget that 20,000 people. Were you nervous? You know, how were you feeling? Extremely nervous. Yes. But also I had to be very focused because I was performing on silks at 90 feet up in the air. Oh, my gosh. You had to be focused on flying winches. And so, yeah, and it was an outdoor show. So it was rain or shine. It was wind. It was all kind of things that could go wrong. But every day we celebrated after the show that we made it and we were alive because it was quite an adventurous show. That is so good. I know you built your career on precision, grace and a lot of physical and emotional sacrifice, it sounds like. There must have been moments of intense pressure, you know, maybe even pain sometimes. How do you get through those times that maybe you feel like there's a failure or, you know, you're in pain or something? How do you get through those? Yeah, I think the hardest time were actually as a kid at the Paris Opera Ballet School. It was very, very difficult mentally because they basically tried to break you down. Right. The competition is so high. There are so many girls and every year they need to cut down. And so there is a lot of mental pressure. And actually, there is also a lot of physical pressure because you train a lot and you're a kid and you are growing and the teachers are not taking it easy on us. Right. So, yeah, in those moments, you just have to remember what the why, what's the goal. And my dream when I was a kid was to become a professional ballet dancer. So when you really want it, you just squeeze the teeth and go through the pain, the sacrifice. Yes. Yeah. What did those times, those unseen struggles that, you know, maybe we don't even know about, what did they help you do by evolving to yourself? How did they help that? Well, they helped a lot because, I mean, after training like that when you're a kid, it's hard to break me. I've been through. I'm like, go ahead, like, you can tell me what you want. I've heard it all. I've been through it. I've been told I was fat and bad and I would never make it since I was a kid. So, yeah. Yeah. It toughs you up. Yeah. I know it's not a straight line, right? It's not a straight line always. You know, we see the bronze statues and the magazine covers of you with your success. But one thing they don't say is what you went through. And I know as a girl, I would see things in the news. I was like, oh, I want to do that. I didn't know the backstory like you said. You had to sacrifice a lot. And I think that's important to share with the audience. Like, there's a sacrifice that goes with it. You just don't pop up and you become that person you want, like that professional like you are. You just don't pop up. There's work that you have to do. Can you share what that takes from your perspective? I mean, it's still daily work, meaning keeping the body in shape, keeping the mind in shape, like you said, with all the travels, all the back work because everybody sees the beautiful photos, see the Instagram stories with travels and it looks like this glamorous and cool life. But behind it, there is a lot of admin work, a lot of, there is a lot of admin, yeah, like in a way like planning, a lot of, you know, paperwork, accounting, all this not sexy stuff, which nobody thinks of. But I'm a one person business. So I do it all. Oh, my goodness. I was going to ask you that. Did you do everything? It's all on me. So I book all my flights, I book all my hotels, I do all the contracts, I do all the negotiations, I do all the social media, the marketing, the customer service, you call it. Oh, my goodness. So yeah, it's all on me. So it's a lot when you see just a beautiful photo and you're hard to understand everything that goes behind. Yeah, it really is. It really is. I mean, because I, you know, I remember as a kid saying that, and then I was like, when I did go towards doing it, I was like, this is a lot of work. This is a lot of work. It is. So you've been immortalized in bronze sculptures, published news, your work bridges the art and photography, you inspire others to create, but ultimately you are an ongoing work of art. So for someone listening right now who feels stuck, who feels like a blank canvas and doesn't know where to start creating their own purpose for life, what is the very first, most authentic movement or stroke they need to do to become their own life masterpiece? I would say come back to the things you enjoy, passions, going back to your passions and see how you can link your passions to your daily life. And if there is an opportunity that you could link your passions to your work, then it's the mastery when you can try to have your passion and your work be one. But don't forget about your passions. We can forget about them in the daily life with work, 9 to 5, kids, whatever people have. Take them away from what they truly enjoy doing, like their passion. Put that aside when you have other problems. But I think going back to really, really think, what do I like to do? What are my passions? What makes me happy? What are the little things that brings me joy? And trying to reimplement them in a way in the life. Yeah, that's good. And I know that my audience is always looking for ways to improve on things. And as I wanted to incorporate here, because you keep your body, you keep your body in tune. And could you share a little bit of like, that also is part of, you know, being your best self. Exactly. Movement is primordial to health, mental health and physical health. So keep moving. Don't sit down. Try to implement a bit of movement per day, go for a walk, do a little stretch. And then try to come back to your breath sometimes. Because this is why we are alive. Absolutely. We are too short on breath. Just taking a couple deep breaths can change the whole body tensions and aches and pains. Yes, exactly. And one last thing is, you've been in the limelight. Was there ever a time that you didn't want to be in the limelight? What do you mean by the limelight? Like, you know, being, you know, spotlight. Yeah. Spotlight. Yeah. So far, I'm happy like this. Maybe it's going, it may change. But so far, I'm, I'm good the way it is, as long as it's not pressuring me. Right. And I do it the way I do it. Right. It's good. You have command over it. That's wonderful. Yeah. I'm not creating your reality. I'm not told by some agent. I'm not told what I say or what I have to create. So yeah, you're creating your own reality. That's beautiful. So you're not going to have that, you know, bad moment or a bad, bad instance. But you know, that's really great. That's really, really great. So if there's, you know, one last thing that you have in your heart that you could tell my audience, no matter what they're going through, no matter what they're experiencing, share that with them today, and then share how we can follow you. I know I have all of the information which we've provided in the content. But just share how, what's your next adventure? My next adventure? Now I'm a bit transitioning from modeling. I'm still modeling, but I'm slowing down. And I'm starting to pass on my knowledge now to aspiring models. That's beautiful. Yes. To do what I've done. So I help them with the business side, because this is something nobody speaks about that I found when I started. You see the models, you see the Instagrams, you see this, they're like, how do you do this? How do you handle this? Right, right. So yeah, now I'm there to support aspiring models with that side of the modeling. That's right. Oh, that's beautiful. That is going to be powerful all in itself. Thank you again, Leticia. I really appreciate this. What an incredible conversation about sculpting a life and authenticity and purpose. And for you listening now, don't wait for someone else to make you a masterpiece. Do like Leticia did. Create your reality. You're already the canvas, the artist, and the art itself. You're on the move in action today. And take one small step, an authentic step towards defining your own purpose. One brushstroke at a time. This is Keeping It Real On Purpose. I'm your host, Edna White. And thank you, my amazing guest, Leticia, for being here today. 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