And then there was luz…

The light in Downtown LA’s Arts District is bright and soothing on a recent summer afternoon. Luz Warrior is sitting at a table outside of Urth Café and has engaged in a thought-provoking conversation about water molecules based on the experiments of Japanese researcher Masaru Emoto.

“We’re all made of up mostly water,” explains Luz. “In the same way that we are able to pray for water and change the way it materializes, if your brain is feeling gratitude, you can send that energy and make a manifestation happen.”

Her passion for creating consciousness based on the power of intention, is palpable. And as she tells it, every major highlight in her life has been a vision, actualized.

“I really feel I need to be a communicator of sorts,” she says.

Luz Warrior (born Linda Garcia) has thrived in the limelight, starring in theater productions and engaging in projects with well-known celebrities. But the Los Angeles mother of a young adult girl and a toddler boy has never openly sought the popularity she has garnered over the years.

In 2016, when she was expecting her son Benicio, Luz posted a YouTube video sharing the items she intended to carry in her hospital bag in anticipation of her baby boy’s arrival. To date, the video has resulted in over 35,000 views and continues to receive praise from viewers worldwide with comments such as: “I honestly am so thankful for women like you!”

Ana Rosales, one of Luz’s nearly 10,000 Instagram followers recently met her at an event. “She’s Amazing,” Rosales tells Mommy In Los Angeles® “She certainly didn’t know who I was but…she made me feel like I knew her for years. In a way, I felt like her energy was pulling me toward her.”

And Rosales is not alone in her admiration of Luz, as witnessed by her growing social media accounts. With every picture Luz shares, she receives countless impressions and lengthy accolades and comments.

Take for example, a photo she posted not too long ago, from her days as a teenager when she admittedly bullied and physically attacked girls and guys in over two dozen fights.

“I always wonder how someone so violent can work towards being the opposite of that,” expressed Luz in the photo’s caption. “Then I remember all the people that helped rehabilitate me.”

The outpouring of support from her followers made it clear they appreciate her honesty and support her decision to open up about darker moments of her past.

More curious, perhaps, is the fact that before her days of fights and offensive behavior, Luz, herself, had long suffered as a victim of bullying.

A Little Luz

During her elementary school years, Luz lived in San Juan Capistrano, where she was constantly bullied and beat up by her peers. The young Mexican-American girl with a pretty face and a keen eye for fashion couldn’t understand why other girls her age acted so violently toward her.

“I could feel myself closing in,” recalls Luz. “I would sit by myself. I was very isolated, a loner… really sad.”

In junior high, she was denied an opportunity to try out for a role in a Shakespeare play, which further shattered her spirit. Thinking about this moment makes Luz get emotional.

“I would sneak in to the theater and watch the girls perform. They were running lines, they were practicing. I was enchanted by it,” she remembers, with tears rolling down her eyes. “But I was still happy to be a part of it, that energy was still circulating.”

Luz attended the play’s opening night and remembers telling herself she would one day be a part of that experience.

A Dominant Luz

Shortly after that event, things in Southern California were not going very well for Luz. She was beginning to rebel against her mom and the decision was made for her to relocate to Dallas with her father who didn’t dedicate the time to closely monitor her whereabouts. 

With a clean slate, a new sense of freedom and nobody to recognize her as the young girl from California who had consistently suffered through hostility and violence at school, Luz took on the biggest role of her life in Dallas. She turned the tables and for the first time in her life, she became the aggressor.

“I had so much hate and resentment built up, that I would go bonkers on girls,” recalls Luz. “I was just ready to destroy whatever I could destroy.”

Her reputation in Texas soon became that of an indomitable gangster girl, where school kids would rally around her just to watch her physically assault the next contender.

Then at fourteen-years-old, Luz Warrior became pregnant.

“I understood I couldn’t fight anymore,” says Luz. “Instead of being a good fighter, I had to think of how to become a good person.”

The truth was, Luz knew she had to heal from the harm she had caused herself and others. Somewhere in her new role as a young mom, she began directing her energy toward finding peace again. Part of that peace, came from revisiting her desire to perform for an audience.

Luz recalls living in an apartment where she and her daughter Elizabeth shared a walk-in closet decorated with Hollywood-type dressing room lights and portraits of her favorite actors, a sanctuary of sorts. Luz would sit inside that closet and pretend she was getting ready to be in a play or a movie. She would do so by holding up a red lipstick in a silver tube labeled “Drama” and imagine her life at the center of a performance theater. She believed it.

“I would always say, I’m an actress and Dallas is my stage,” she remembers.

An Awakened Luz

In 2009, having returned to Southern California, Luz’s name once again took the spotlight. This time, her moment had arrived. With no prior acting experience, she was cast as the starring role in a theater production about the life of Puerto Rican activist, Lolita Lebron.

During rehearsal, the director requested that Luz bring a red lipstick, preferably in a shiny tube to apply on her lips in one of the play’s pivotal scenes. Luz, who had cautiously saved her “Drama” labeled lipstick from her days in Dallas, brought out the silver tube and used the lipstick each night of the performance. It was a realization that she had once again thought a dream into existence.

Luz performed in sold-out shows to approving audiences.

Since then, Luz has focused on spreading good energy to her followers. She has been involved with numerous big screen projects. As a creative outlet, she continues to record YouTube videos and has her own podcast currently in development. Her website is expected to launch soon and she continues to be revered as a Los Angeles Latina mom, activist and influencer. Her bold statements on politics, injustices and motherhood continue making her popularity grow.

Luz attributes her positivism and harmony to her children. After her experience as a teenage mother, she didn’t think she’d have another child. Becoming a mother for the second time at a different moment in her life, however, proved to be the most healing aspect of her experience thus far. And Luz cites her boyfriend as a guiding force behind her newly-found harmony.

“I just trust the love,” she says excitedly.

On this recent summer afternoon in Downtown LA’s Arts District, the light is bright and soothing. The light is Luz Warrior.

Connect With Luz Warrior!

Instagram: @LuzWarrior

YouTube: And Then There Was Luz

Website: www.LetThereBeLuz.com

Mommy In Los Angeles® spent an afternoon with Luz Warrior, sharing laughs, tears and channeling the positive experiences that come from being a mother, regardless of the challenges and obstacles life presents. We commend her for her courage and willingness to share her story and her interest in inspiring women to heal, by opening up to the power of gratitude and good intention.

Photos By Rachel Carrillo