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PAGES
FROMTHEEDITOR
A reflection on choosing refresh over resolution, and meeting yourself where you are as a new year begins
MEETBERNADETTE GIRVINS
CREATIVEPEOPLE, CREATIVEPLACES
Motherhood, culture, and slow fashion come together in a swimwear brand rooted in joy and vulnerability
One local farmer’s journey toward food integrity, family life, and a slower, more intentional way of living 29 COMMUNITYIN ACTION: HOSA
How one high school chapter is turning compassion, service, and leadership into real local impact.
Founder&Publisher
Wendy Bloom
Editor-in-Chief&
CreativeWingwoman
Kattie Muñiz
Writers
Ganna Abdin
Jahdai -Dream
Taylor Saulsberry
Boutique in Mt. Dora
Leadership Semiole’s 11
L O C A L B E V
E
B
Annual Leadership Summit th NAHREP Board Ivanhoe Village Pocket Park Ribbon Cutting Orlando Magic Black Business Summit NAHREP Event Opera Orlando’s Mozart Dinner
Women’s Exec Coouncil Installation Ceremony FL’s 9 District Black History Month Celebration th American Heart Association Go Red for Women Luncheon
I S I B E
FROM THE EDITOR
A REFRESH IS LIGHTER THAN A RESOLUTION. IT’S MORE FORGIVING, MORE DOABLE.
Curating a magazine is no small feat. Even one as intimate as ours. And truthfully, I get excited every month when it is time to think about the theme. I enjoy taking something familiar and shifting it just enough so it feels relevant, honest, and usable.
Not because the magazine is about me (it is definitely not) but because I always start with a simple question: What would I want to read right now?
Every time I sit down to shape the creative direction, one word keeps resurfacing: peace.
During our annual vision boarding session with my cousin and friends, I found myself thinking about the magazine and how clearly one word fit this moment. “Refresh” felt right; far more than “resolution.” Resolutions feel heavy. They carry pressure, expectations, and the quiet fear of failure. A refresh, on the other hand, feels lighter. More forgiving. More doable.
As you move through this issue, that is the spirit behind each story. This is not about reinvention, which can feel overwhelming, but about meeting yourself where you are and choosing what you want to carry forward from there.
Sometimes growth does not require a complete overhaul. Sometimes it just needs a breath and a gentle reset.
Oh! Also, this photo is of my son and me after completing our first half-marathon. He flew through it. I struggled a bit. But that day was not about speed; it was about meeting myself where I was and choosing to keep going. Standing there, holding that medal alongside my son, is a moment I am incredibly proud of. And this is the kind of energy I’m personally bringing into the new year.
Kattie Muniz
Editor-in-Chief & Creative Wingwoman
IN THIS ISSUE
January invites reflection not the kind that demands reinvention, but the kind that asks what is worth carrying forward. This issue explores creativity, culture, and community through stories rooted in intention, care, and connection. From the way we feed people, to the way we make art, to the environments we gather in, these pages spotlight individuals and spaces shaping Orlando with purpose rather than pressure.
FEATURES
& VOICES
“Why Reinvention Rarely Works, and What Actually Creates Change”
A thoughtful look at why real transformation lasts when it is built on alignment, not force and how growth becomes sustainable when we stop trying to become someone else.
Creative People, Creative Places: Evelin Andrade of Ir Al Sol
A portrait of motherhood, slow fashion, and cultural heritage and how one local designer creates swimwear rooted in vulnerability, joy, and Colombian identity.
Inside CHKN + BEER: The Immersive Music Experience Moving Orlando
Where DJs, rhythm, and community collide. A look at the underground energy redefining Orlando nightlife through sound, movement, and shared experience.
Bernadette Girvins: Building a Farm, and a More Honest Way to Eat
From first-generation farming to food integrity, this story follows a local entrepreneur building a life and a business grounded in care, responsibility, and connection to the land.
Community, Art, and Local Impact
From events to creative initiatives, this issue highlights the people and places proving that culture is not just consumed it is built together.
Curated with intention, creativity, and local pride by the BLÜV team.
“THE QUIET MOMENTS BRING ME THE MOST JOY EARLY MORNINGS, CARING FOR ANIMALS, COLLECTING EGGS, AND SIMPLY BEING OUTSIDE.”
Bernadette Girvins: Building a Farm, and a More Honest Way to Eat
By Ganna Abdin
Bernadette Girvins did not grow up planning to become a farmer. What she did know was that she wanted food she could trust She wanted food in which she knew where it came from; “I wanted food that felt honest and nourishing,” she shares. “And I realized the only way is to be part of the process myself.”
That decision became the starting point for Girvins Farm, a firstgeneration operation built with intention. What began as a personal conviction gradually turned into a working farm centered on animal care, food integrity, and community connection.
Leaving behind city and corporate life, Bernadette chose a direction that aligned more closely with her values and her family life The transition demanded more than a career shift. It required physical endurance, financial risk, and a willingness to learn in real time. She built the farm alongside her husband, with early financial support from her parents, who backed her decision to pursue a different path.
“The learning curve has been steep,” Bernadette says. “As a firstgeneration farmer, there’s no handbook and no safety net. You’re learning as you go, often through trial and error. Managing cash flow, weather, animals, time, and family life all at once has been challenging, especially in the early stages when everything felt fragile and uncertain.”
Over time, the work began to take shape. Customers returned. Systems improved. The land and routines became more familiar. What once felt fragile became functional, and meaningful.
“One of the biggest highlights has been watching the farm grow from a small idea into something real. Something that feeds families and brings people onto the land,” she says. “Seeing customers trust us with their food and return week after week is incredibly meaningful.”
Her days rarely follow a fixed script. Most mornings begin with animal care (feeding, checking water, and monitoring health) before shifting into whatever the farm requires that day: maintenance, baking, deliveries, customer communication, or planning. The work blends physical labor with business management, all structured around family life rather than separated from it.
The moments she values most are often the quietest ones.
“The quiet moments bring me the most joy early mornings, caring for animals, collecting eggs, and simply being outside,” she shares. “I also love sharing the farm with others, whether that’s through food, farm visits, or conversations that help people feel more connected to what they’re eating.”
She is also quick to clarify that farming is frequently misunderstood. The visible work is only part of the responsibility.
“Farming is as much mental and emotional work as it is physical,” Bernadette explains. “Every decision, from animal care to pricing, carries responsibility. There’s very little ‘off’ time, and the weight of caring for living things is something you carry with you constantly.”
“I’ve learned to respect limits, both my own and the land’s, and that doing things thoughtfully and intentionally matters more than doing them quickly.”
Looking ahead, her goals for the farm remain grounded and personal rather than expansive for its own sake.
“I want it to be a place that feeds people well, welcomes community, and supports our family for the long term. Without losing the heart of why we started.”
For those considering a similar path, her advice is direct and practical.
“Be financially prepared, especially if you’re not inheriting land or infrastructure,” she says. “Starting a farm from nothing is incredibly capital-intensive, and that was something I wasn’t fully prepared for in the beginning. Start small, plan carefully, and make sure you understand the financial realities alongside the romantic vision.”
For Bernadette, the work remains demanding, but deeply aligned. A daily practice of care, responsibility, and connection that began with a simple question about where food comes from, and grew into a life built around the answer.
The experience has reshaped how she thinks about growth and progress. Speed matters less than sustainability. Intention matters more than scale.
Inside CHKN + BEER, the Immersive Music Experience Moving Orlando Where DJs, Culture, and Community Collide
By Jahdai Dream
What may sound like a simple two-piece meal and a drink on the couch is, in reality, a dynamic cultural experience redefining Orlando’s nightlife. Meet CHKN + BEER.
CHKN + BEER is an immersive music experience proving the city’s creative scene is very much alive
Both resident and visiting DJs from across the country fly in to deliver sets for a crowd ready to be moved emotionally and physically by music. From the moment you step inside, the atmosphere signals this isn’t business as usual: purple-hazed lighting, a spinning disco ball, and a genre-blending soundtrack that moves seamlessly through techno, Afrobeat, house, hiphop, and more.
Tonight’s theme is rhythm and movement. And participation is fluid Some stand still, listening closely Others sway, nodding to familiar beats. Many let loose, bodies in motion, fully immersed. No matter how you choose to experience it, CHKN + BEER meets you exactly where you are.
At its core, CHKN + BEER exists to create immersive music environments spaces where art, culture, and connection collide. Each event is intentionally curated to feel intimate yet electric, familiar yet unexpected. The goal is not just a good night out, but a moment that lingers long after the music fades.
In a city often underestimated for its cultural depth, CHKN + BEER proves the scene is alive, evolving, and unapologetically expressive. This isn’t just a party. It’s a pulse. And Orlando is moving to it.
W h y R e i n v e n t i o n R a r e l y
W o r k s , A n d W h a t A c t u a l l y C r e a t e s C h a n g e
By Emily Green
LakesideYoga
Every January, the idea of reinvention is everywhere. New habits. New goals. A “ new you.”
The energy is intoxicating. It feels hopeful, motivating, full of promise. And yet, by February, many people are back where they started. Often feeling more discouraged than before.
It’s tempting to assume this happens because people lack motivation or discipline. But that explanation misses what’s really going on.
The problem isn’t effort.
The problem is how reinvention works.
Reinvention is built on the assumption that who you are isn’t enough that improvement requires becoming someone else. This puts us at odds with ourselves from the start.
Instead of allowing transformation to emerge from the inside out, we try to force it from the outside in. Measuring progress through achievement, approval, and external standards of “doing it right.”
That approach can create short bursts of effort. But it won’t ever last.
Why reinvention fails
Most attempts at reinvention rely, often unintentionally, on self-criticism to drive change. And here’s the confusing part: that strategy can work briefly.
Self-criticism can push action for a moment. It can create urgency, compliance, and short-term results.
But it always rebounds. Because self-criticism runs on shame, and shame is not a sustainable fuel source.
It burns hot, and then it burns you out, pulling you back into the same patterns you were trying to escape.
This is why reinvention so often leads to false starts and dashed hopes. Not because people aren’t capable of transformation, but because the inner conditions required for real change were never created.
Change fails not because people aim too high, but because they try to grow from a place that’s already at war with itself.
THIS ISN’T ABOUT BECOMING SOMEONE NEW. IT’S ABOUT BECOMING MORE OF YOURSELF.
What makes transformation last
The good news is lasting change is possible.
It begins by understanding what’s been driving you in the first place, not just your choices, but the unseen patterns shaping what you do, what you don’t do, and what keeps you stuck even when you don’t want to be
This is where reinvention misses the mark.
Real change doesn’t come from trying harder. It comes from shifting what’s happening underneath your effort.
The goal isn’t self-improvement for a season or two. It’s about creating the inner conditions where transformation takes root and continues to unfold from within.
This kind of transformation doesn’t come from information or insight alone. It comes from integration. When selfunderstanding, self-leadership, and self-compassion begin working together.
When you’re aligned with yourself instead of at odds with yourself, growth becomes the natural outcome of who you are and who you continue to become.
What creates lasting change isn’t more effort it’s a different starting point. Not force. Not pressure. And not trying to become someone else.
Three shifts that create lasting change
These three shifts move you out of the reinvention cycle and into real transformation. They guide you to work with what’s actually driving your patterns. So change can be supported instead of forced.
1. Identifying the patterns that drive you, not just the goals you set
Many people try to change their habits without ever looking at what’s been driving them underneath the surface.
Patterns like perfectionism, people-pleasing, overresponsibility, and chronic self-criticism aren’t flaws to fix. They’re adaptive coping strategies ways of staying safe, valued, or in control early in life.
When these patterns remain unseen, people often set goals that activate the very pressures that created the problem in the first place.
Transformation begins when you understand why you do what you do, and what you avoid without turning that awareness into another form of self-judgment.
2. Working with the nervous system, not against it
When growth is driven by pressure, criticism, or fear of not being enough, the nervous system doesn’t experience it as expansion, it experiences it as threat.
In that state, the body prioritizes protection over development. Even strong intentions struggle to hold when the system is braced, reactive, or constantly on alert.
This is why shame-based effort rebounds. It activates survival responses that pull people back into familiar patterns, no matter how much they want something different.
Transformation requires inner conditions of safety and regulation so new ways of living can actually be supported rather than resisted.
3. Shifting from self-criticism to self-leadership
Many people believe that growth requires being hard on themselves. That self-criticism is what keeps them disciplined and moving forward.
But criticism doesn’t create transformation.
It creates short-term compliance followed by backlash.
Self-leadership works differently. It’s the ability to guide yourself with honesty, self-trust, and compassion without abandoning your standards or ambition.
From this place, change stops feeling like a battle with yourself and becomes a natural force unleashed from within. Growth moves forward with clarity, momentum, and staying power.
CHANGE FAILS NOT BECAUSE PEOPLE AIM TOO HIGH, BUT BECAUSE THEY TRY TO GROW FROM A PLACE THAT’S ALREADY AT WAR WITH ITSELF.
This isn’t reinvention, it’s alignment
When self-awareness replaces self-criticism, and alignment replaces self-override, growth stops feeling forced. It becomes a natural expression of who you are and who you’re continuing to become.
If reinvention hasn’t worked for you, it’s not because you’re incapable of change. It’s because lasting transformation doesn’t come from force.
It comes from understanding and addressing what’s been driving you the inner work that makes lasting transformation possible.
This isn’t about becoming someone new It’s about becoming more of yourself.
Emily Green is a licensed psychotherapist who helps highachieving women eliminate burnout and live fulfilled, energized lives without sacrificing their success.
C r e a t i v e P e o p l e , C r e a t i v e P l
Evelin Andrade Creative Person,
Nurse, and Mother
By Taylor Saulsberry
Ir Al Sol is an independent swimsuit brand, one that encourages women to “ go to the sun”. The creative mind behind the brand, Eveline Andrade, is a bottle of sunshine herself! When she is not working as a nurse or practicing her fitness hobbies, she is designing for Ir Al Sol. One would think she would be exhausted, but she finds that the transition between work and Ir Al Sol is easy. She says, “It’s all built into the tapestry of my life.”
Evelin cites her earliest memories of being filled with safety and love. Growing up in Queens, New York, she recalls being surrounded by the love of the women in her life, her mother and grandmother, as they cooked in the kitchen. The bright colors of their dresses stay with her. This loving foundation inspired her first creation, her firstborn child. In a moment of reflection while sitting on the beach, holding her love in her arms, she realized her passion. This meeting of motherhood, creation, and passion created Ir Al Sol.
Today, her brand carries that same love, passion, and intentionality Each piece is customized to the wearer, as a part of Evelin’s commitment to slow fashion and intentional creation. Eleven down the bold patterns on the pieces themselves, there is an initial connection to her Colombian roots. She recalls the moment she realized that her family was immigrants to America, something she hadn’t considered in high school at the time. The emphasis on bright colors and patterns is a celebration of her culture and a beautiful tribute to the resilient courage it takes to immigrate to a new country.
A swimsuit brand from the home
Each piece starts at her drafting desk or in her sewing space at home. There are patterns and threads of every color. It’s clear from looking at her space how much love is poured into every piece. When discussing what drew her to making swimsuits, her love of the beach naturally came up. The beach is a place where women bare all. She said, “Whether it is a Tankini or Bikini, there is a level of vulnerability that accompanies swimsuits.”
Evelin understands how showing one’s body is often very nerve-racking. She herself has had moments where her body just didn’t feel right Or rather she didn’t feel at home in her body She
described having difficulty finding bathing suits that fit her body the way she wanted. Add in the changes that come with having children, and, understandably, she took matters into her own hands. Like the saying goes: Be The Change. Evelin took her combined love of the beach and her irritation with fast fashion and created something new. Working with her Aunts and Grandmothers she knew about sewing, but her partnership with her step-mom’s mami-based shop helped her to the next level with her business Those strong familial connections and memories run deep throughout Ir al Sol!
CHOOSE YOUR JOY AND FEED YOUR CREATIVITY.
A few words of advice
At the time of this interview, Florida was going through a cold phase, and with this in mind, I couldn’t help but ask: What places (other than the beach) allow you to creatively recharge? Her answer: A local park or any place I can watch people.
She recalled a memory of sitting in a rocking chair at a rest stop and watching people go about their days. It was a great reminder that stillness can be a healer. Evelin added that the sun itself can be a healer, as long as we wear our sunscreen! Evelin hopes that Ir Al Sol offers safe and relaxing support, just like the sun.
In my final moments with Evelin, I asked her if she had any advice for the creatives out there. In true Evelin fashion, she gave me all of that and more:
Choose your joy and feed your creativity. Don't overthink, it’s not all or nothing. Stay grounded and enjoy the journey.
herturn TO SPIN
Our Services
DJ Workshops for Women. Hands-on training that builds confidence behind the decks, from beat-matching to blending genres.
Private Lessons & Studio Sessions – Oneon-one experiences designed to meet you where you are At home, in-studio, or online
Community Events & Mentorship –Inclusive spaces to connect, perform, and grow within a supportive network of women DJs and creatives
One Small Step for Giving, One Giant Leap for Community
HEALTH OCCUPATIONS STUDENTS OF AMERICA: HOW ONE SMALL HIGH SCHOOL GROUP GIVES BACK
At the heart of our HOSA chapter is a simple belief: service comes first. While we prepare for the future of healthcare, we understand that compassion, generosity, and action matter just as much as knowledge. Our chapter is built on the idea that meaningful change begins with showing up for others, especially those who need support the most.
Throughout the year, our members dedicate their time and energy to charitable initiatives that uplift our community Whether through fundraising efforts, donation drives, or volunteering at local events, we work to address real needs and create tangible impact. Each act of service reflects our commitment to making healthcare more accessible, humane, and community-centered.
Charity also begins within our own walls. Our chapter strives to be a safe and supportive space where students look out for one another. By sharing resources, offering encouragement, and fostering inclusivity, we ensure that no member feels overlooked or alone. This culture of care strengthens our ability to serve others beyond our school.
We are proud to be a chapter driven by purpose rather than recognition Every project, every hour volunteered, and every dollar raised represents our dedication to giving back. For us, being future health professionals means leading with empathy and creating change one act of kindness at a time.
This year marks the beginning of our chapter’s journey in service. As a first-year chapter, we have taken the initiative to create meaningful opportunities that support both students and the community, driven by compassion, dedication, and the courage to lead through action.
EVENT SCHEDULE
FEBRUARY 7TH
THROUGH FEBRUARY 15TH
FEBRUARY 18TH AT 7:30 PM FEBRUARY 21ST
FEBRUARY 14TH
LAKE NONA LIVE: TRIBUTE FESTIVAL 1:00 - 11:00 pm HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD THE WINE DOWN SHOW
Saks Comedy Club When: Saturday, Feb 21 from 9 am to 10 am EST Where: Thrift on 46Sanford, FL Cost: $65
CUPID COCKTAIL CRAWL at 6: 00 PM 9101 International Drive 1182
FEBRUARY 26TH
FEBRUARY 27TH
CLUB 90’S HEATED RIVALRY NIGHT THE ART OF PAIRING: A FIVE-COURSE WINE DINNER
Phillips Center of the Performing Arts
CURATORS
Emily Green is a licensed psychotherapist who helps highachieving women eliminate burnout and live fulfilled, energized lives without sacrificing their success.
