Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrea Mirabal.
Hi Andrea, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
My name is Andrea Mirabal and I was born and raised in South Florida. During my teen years, I had a working scholarship at a performing arts school and studied various dance styles.
In high school, I was occupied with dance every day of the week and it was crucial for that period for me. Afterward, I studied at FIU and graduated with a B.A. in anthropology/sociology focusing my work and experience on nonprofit, community-based, and organizing work both locally and abroad.
Right before my last semester, I had a traumatic accident that forever altered my mobility. This led me to explore other creative outlets and in making that space for myself – I felt the need to create a shared creative space. Working with teens, I kept hearing that there is no teen space for them – which was my own experience growing up down here. This kept propelling me towards a community-centered space.
In my creative works, I have been writing a young adult series where The Hive was a fictional location. Something told me that it needed to exist in real life and the idea came alive from there, with each of our stations representing the original characters of the story, 5 teen girls growing up in South Florida. For some time, I have been working on the concept of The Hive and the nonprofit plan.
By 2021, we had registered in Florida, receiving our 501c3 status the following summer. This year, we got our first location to run a pilot program for a few months and have been very excited to see our vision flourish in physical form. Having teens utilize this space to express themselves using our equipment and materials – such as our content studio, 3D printer, embroidery machine, cameras, and recording booth – has been incredible.
As a creative and community organizer myself, it has been incredible to see the potential in our teen members and neighbors gaining access and resources to build their creative skills and a community-centered space to grow in.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I don’t think creating anything is ever a smooth road. But we try to take every challenge as “going towards the plot.”
No good story is smooth sailing and this journey has been its own come-up story. Starting this organization as community members who are passionate about the arts, youth, and home-grown leaders in Florida has meant that many things have been new experiences for us. They say that for resilience you need creativity, and we have that at The Hive.
As an organization, we have learned how to manage opening and operating a commercial space.
Everything from securing a location, zoning, building out a space, and launching has been new and a learning curve. But we’ve had a great team to get us through it.
Seeing teens come and use the space and businesses or projects begin to flourish makes everything worth it.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
The Hive is creative co-working for teens – we provide access to creative tools and tech, a space for teens to be teens and workshops from local professionals sharing their creative or life skills with our youth.
This summer we opened a pilot program for our teen center. A nature-themed space for teens to come and be teens. A place to express themselves with multiple stations. We have a fashion and textiles area with heat-press, sewing, and embroidery machines, and a fine arts area with paints, oil pastels, resin, scrapbooking, and more. Honeycomb Studios is our production area with a vocal recording booth and content area with lights, backdrops, and cameras to use.
Our generous sponsor Brisas has supported our Brisas Creative Innovation Studio focused on entrepreneurship and STEAM with our 3D printer and Cricut Maker. Our lounge area allows young people to relax, play board games, or read a book from the Little Free Library – courtesy of Alliance for LGBTQ Youth – filled with banned books focused on BIPOC LGBTQ teens. This all supports our initiative to be an inclusive and creative space where all teens can express themselves, find their passions, and prepare for adulthood.
We are a membership-based space with a sliding scale to make it accessible to all income levels, as well as sponsored memberships where the full rate membership has been paid by a local business, organization, or caring community member. Our space is also available for rent to the community during our off hours. For anything from meetings, photoshoots, and audio recordings to birthday parties, play dates, or field trips. We’re happy to share our space and all rental or membership fees go to our operations as a non-profit.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
I wouldn’t say most, but many people don’t know I’m disabled. From my accident, I have a dynamic disability. So you may see me in The Hive many times and I’m standing and walking around. This surprises people when they sometimes see with a cane or using a wheelchair. We often are shown disability on a binary rather than a spectrum.
I love to see more disabled representation, especially young, fashionable, disabled folks. I try to use my artwork and community work to highlight people with disabilities. I hope to share with our community that disability has a wide range and all are valid.
Pricing:
- $75-$150/month – unlimited access membership
- $30-60/month.- casual creative membership (6 visits a month)
- $0/month for youth on a sponsored membership
- $150/month for anyone who would like to sponsor a membership
- Ask us about rental and group pricing
Contact Info:
- Website: thehivemia.org
- Instagram: instagram.com/thehivemia
- Facebook: Facebook.com/thehivemia
- Twitter: twitter.com/thehivemia
- Youtube: YouTube.com/thehivemia
- Other: TikTok.com/thehivemia
Image Credits
Melody Timothee – @melvisuals
