Ashlieya in Mundane Magazine: Creativity is a necessity for mental health, resilience, and self-discovery
A recent Mundane Magazine feature positions Ashlieya “Lieya” Mariano as a visionary arts leader who treats creativity as essential emotional infrastructure—not a luxury—and spotlights her mission to build a better world through dance, education, and community-based healing. Read the full article here.
Overview of the Feature
The article in Mundane Magazine profiles Ashlieya Mariano (Lieya) as an actress, educator, studio owner, and nonprofit founder whose work sits at the intersection of performing arts, emotional wellness, and human flourishing. It frames her core message simply and boldly: creativity is a necessity for mental health, resilience, and self-discovery, especially in a culture grappling with anxiety, isolation, and burnout.
Creativity as Emotional Infrastructure
The feature emphasizes that, for Lieya, the arts are not extracurricular activities but foundational tools for becoming “fully human.” At Dance Masters Performing Arts Studio, she uses movement, music, storytelling, and community to help students transform anxiety, grief, and self-doubt into confidence, emotional literacy, and a stronger sense of self.
Transformation Beyond the Stage
Mundane highlights that the visible performance—the recital, the showcase—is only the surface of the deeper inner work happening in her studio. Lieya measures success in subtle shifts: students standing taller, processing emotions more honestly, and discovering courage they didn’t know they had, whether they are children overcoming bullying or adults rediscovering creativity later in life.
The Nonprofit: Builders Of A Better World
The article introduces Builders Of A Better World, the nonprofit Lieya founded to extend creative and social-emotional education to underserved communities. She is portrayed as acutely aware of systemic barriers, insisting that access to arts, mentorship, and emotional intelligence cannot depend on geography, income, or circumstance.
Discipline, Freedom, and Self-Devotion
One of the feature’s central themes is Lieya’s belief that discipline and creativity are not opposites but partners. She describes self-discipline as self-devotion, explaining that structure—like learning scales or technique—creates the container in which authentic self-expression and artistic freedom can flourish.
Reclaiming Adult Creativity
Mundane notes that Lieya sees adult disconnection from creativity as a modern crisis, arguing that many people are not simply overworked but disconnected from what makes them feel fully alive. In her view, creative practice restores curiosity, playfulness, and imagination, becoming a powerful antidote to emotional exhaustion and a catalyst for renewed purpose.
Performance, Vulnerability, and Identity
As both actress and educator, Lieya uses performance to explore vulnerability as “courage in action,” rather than weakness. The piece shows how acting has deepened her empathy and informs her teaching philosophy: authenticity and imperfection create connection, giving students permission to be fully themselves on stage and in life.
Creativity as a Human Right
The feature underscores her conviction that the arts cultivate core life skills—communication, emotional regulation, critical thinking, collaboration, and resilience—and therefore should be treated as essential infrastructure, not enrichment. This belief underpins her forthcoming book, Arts As The Way To Emotional Literacy, which aims to reframe creative education as indispensable to healthy human development.
Redefining Success and Legacy
Rather than chasing accolades, Lieya defines success through lives touched and meaningful change created across her studio, nonprofit, writing, filmmaking, podcasts, and mentorship. Mundane closes by highlighting her long-term vision: a world where people understand that building a better world begins by building the best version of themselves, and where every student knows their worth is inherent—not earned through perfection or performance.