What is it to be a peculiar person? In a certain way we are all unique, but there are people who stand out from others due to unusual thoughts or actions. If you feel that way, know that World Peculiar People’s Day is celebrated on January 10. I have brought you some women who do not go unnoticed and who are an essential part of Leonese society.
As a writer I like to play with words and one day I decided to put a hyphen in the middle of the word ‘great’. According to the RAE it means “outstanding and magnificent”, but with that little stick in the middle it makes it clear that we are the magnificent ones. Curiously, it doesn’t work in the masculine, so once language puts us in the place we deserve, we have to take advantage of it, right?
One of those ‘great-goddesses’ is Sara García Alonso, an ESA astronaut. She is the most recent example that women can also do extraordinary things. Well, the women that you are going to meet next do not fall short, it could be said, that they have conquered the moon of their professional worlds.
Noemí Martínez, director of the Casa Botines Gaudi Museum
With a degree in History from the University of León, Noemí specialized in Archeology because in her time there was no master’s degree in the branch dedicated to museums, as there is now. “Those of my generation -1975- are more aware of valuing heritage, beyond rescuing and conserving it, sharing it with the public so that they respect our history”, she tells me.
In our conversation it does not take long for her to allude to her own story, which is what we have come to, “My work as an archaeologist was difficult to reconcile with being a mother, due to travel and schedules, so in 2008 I focused on intensifying the function of the museums”. With experience in the matter, she presented a didactic project to the department of education and cultural action of Casa Botines de Gaudí. “The idea was to adjust the visitable house to schools and groups, such as the elderly, which I consider ‘non-public’ because you have to go looking for them with a proposal adapted to their needs.”
As we say, the house was visitable, not a museum, so when it was wanted to achieve that category, Noemi, who is “very bold and stubborn, like a good Leonesa” as she defines herself, took charge of the project together with a great team. Success that led her in 2019 to be the director of the Casa Botines Gaudi Museum. “Being in the right place and time”, to which must be added to her words that with a job well done.
His day to day consists of coordinating the team of curators, restorers and professionals who are facing the public to create a museographic discourse close to the people. “It’s not just a coordination job, the artistic factor also comes into play so that the public likes it and understands it,” she details. And she points out, “In this discourse, women are very present at a cultural and social level to record their role in history. We have to keep insisting to put ourselves in value”. She tells us that in 2023 the Museum’s Documentation Center will hold an exhibition that will show how women have been treated compared to men.
“Those of my generation already live in a democracy, we went to the university and we are consumers of cultural institutions, so we have a more critical vision than the previous ones and we hope to open the doors to the following ones”, and she says without trembling, “We are proud of being women, here we are and without dramas ”.
The statement “No dramas” caught my attention, two strong and very significant words to destroy the image with which women are branded and that Noemí has experienced, “Women have a different character, more social and close to daily life, and that seems incompatible with a position of responsibility. We are more questioned and we have more difficulties to reconcile our professional aspirations with our personal life”. Noemí, as the director of the Museum and mother of a boy and a girl, sees that we are not in the same condition of equality and it will take time to be, but at least she will continue doing everything in her power to proudly show the women.
Diana Majo, singer and drummer
To my question “What makes you peculiar?” Diana replies, “What drummers do you know that sing other than backing vocals? I sing as a soloist playing the drums and that is what sets me apart, more than being a female drummer, although there is no León, but they do exist and they are very good”. But before arriving here let’s start at the beginning, Diana Majo, family of the musicians ‘Los Cirolines’ from Benavides -de Órbigo- hometown, as they said.
His brothers, Jorge -renowned guitarist who unfortunately passed away last year- and Richard, were his promoters. “Almost everything I am musically, and personally as well, I owe to my brothers, mainly Richard, who encourages me to overcome challenges.” With this family trajectory it was very difficult not to have a gift, which awakened in her at the age of three or four when she began to sing, and when she was six Jorge taught her to play the guitar. A decade later she joined the group of her two brothers as a singer. They started as ‘G-3’, changed their name to ‘Impression’ -Lugotti, the saxophonist, accompanied them a few times- until they became ‘Los Majo bros’. From that time he stands out when in 2015 he was playing with his brothers in four concerts by Manolo Tena.
Diana played the guitar because she needed it as an accompaniment to be able to sing, “like karaoke,” she points out. “Me, if I have to consider myself something, I consider myself a singer. The drummer in the family was Richard, but twelve years ago he stopped playing and told me: ”Sit there and I’ll teach you… Do ‘Pum’, do ‘splat’…” He didn’t want to play with more knowledgeable musicians, he wanted that it was me because of my musicality”. The first few years it was more sporadic, and she confesses that he learned the songs at a concert, but then months went by without playing again.
“I really like the drums,” she affirms and confirms, which is why she decided to take classes with Pepe López, and despite the fact that the pandemic made her stop, she took that training very seriously. “The study shows, you play better and you have more resources.” And it is the advice that she wants to pass on to women who want to stand out in the world of music. “A girl can be whatever she wants because we have the capacity. Cúrratelo, if you know how to do it, they recognize you ”.
Despite the effort, the reality of many of the musicians is that they cannot make a living from playing, that is why their main livelihood is as a teacher of singing, guitar, ukulele, music and movement for young children ‘Más Que Música’. However, she is currently in many musical formations, such as: ‘Domani Sapone’, a duet with her brother Richard where she plays the drums and sings while he plays the guitar and sings. She composes the ‘Doctor Bogarde’ jazz quartet together with the legendary Javier Arias, who was her singing teacher, Javier Baillo and Mario Morla. Or ‘Goodman Collective’ that she went from being the dispensable backup singer to replacing the drummer, being a key part of the formation. And one of her most recent achievements is her appearance in the new video clip for Café Quijano
“I’m managed and yes, I’m peculiar because I’m missing a screw”, but not only because of her musical facet, but because of everything she does, an example of this is her cooking channel. “Not only the drums to play, I also like the kitchen drums, ‘Cocina con Dianina’, it’s cooking with humor. People laugh so much with me that they don’t even keep the recipe”. It is clear that this article was intended for her.
Sara Terán, owner of Kyoto judo
Her father initiated her into the world of Judo and of the three brothers, only she followed in his footsteps. “I was almost born on the tatami”, she jokes herself. She has been teaching in schools for 27 years and a decade ago her father retired and took over the gym, at which time she married and had two children. “It is very hard to be a mother and a businesswoman. I was eight months pregnant with my first child and I was still in competitions. Those from the organization followed me with chairs so that I could please sit down because the child was going to be born there. When he was born, he took just a month off and continued to teach with the baby in the gym ”. And with this rhythm, no one can be surprised that with her second child she went into labor in the gym.
“Life as a coach is very difficult, I am the only woman in Castilla y León, I don’t have time for myself at all, but when you are passionate about something, you fight and get ahead.” She assures that her family and her Kyoto club are well cared for, in addition, each year the number of students increases as a sign of good work.
“Judo is a way of life, I could not live without teaching my children, who are all, even those who started 27 years ago are like my little brothers. I don’t know how to live any other way.” As a national judo and self-defense teacher trainer, she is passionate about teaching her because she makes children improve themselves. “Making my students great is my passion and a challenge. I get my students to move at the regional level, to win and get to fight for medals at the national level ”, she explains.
Be careful with the record of this champion when she competed against those who were pioneers in winning Olympic medals. Team medal and fifth individual medal -for an asthma problem- at a national level, some international trophy, champion title of Castilla y León for many years and a black belt in Sambo wrestling. “The best results at the national level have always been for women,” she says.
But now, as a coach, she continues to reap achievements, ‘fifth and sixth Dan’ awarded by the Spanish Judo Federation as coach of Castilla y León. “I am a very young judoka to have the sixth Dan, but it is a recognition of my whole life”, she comments. In addition, she is a ‘third Dan’ in self-defense, awarded ‘Best Minority Sports Trainer’ at a ‘La 8 León’ sports gala and is currently part of the black belt courts of the Federation of Castilla y León judo. And it is that, as Sara says, “women can handle everything and if it is something that you are passionate about much more”.
The peculiarity is a trait with a lot of potential that, just like these great goddesses do, they have to know how to focus it to achieve great things. Tell us on social networks if you can think of any other personality that has a great story.
