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In a community as vibrant and eclectic as Puerto Vallarta’s, visibility matters. Representation matters. And leadership? It often shows up in the most unexpected, beautifully human forms — in the women whose presence shapes our spaces, whose art inspires our hearts, and whose authenticity encourages others to live more boldly.
This season, Out & About PV continues our ongoing celebration of women who elevate, entertain, and energize our LGBTQ+ community. From powerhouse vocalists to emotional storytellers, from women who found their truth young to those who grew into it through resilience and self-discovery — these are the leaders among us.
Today, we spotlight two extraordinary voices: Eva Isabel Jiménez Balderas and Gloria Fiona — artists, partners, creatives, and women whose journeys remind us why representation is not just important… It’s transformative.
Eva Jiménez: Reinvented, Unstoppable, and Rising as a True Leader
When you see Eva Jiménez command the stage — fearlessly belting P!nk, soaring through high-energy choreography, or leaving an audience breathless at Coco Cabaret — it’s easy to imagine she’s been chasing the spotlight her entire life. But Eva’s path was anything but linear.
Born in Puebla, México, Eva once imagined a future as a veterinarian or an archaeologist, devouring books on ancient civilizations before ever imagining herself behind a microphone. Music was always present — her brother Mau, her family’s artistic threads — but the dream of actually performing didn’t take shape until later.
“I’ve always been one to go for big things,” she says, “but entertainment wasn’t something I leaned into until after university. It wasn’t part of the plan — until it was.”
Eva’s journey into queerness was equally honest and gradual. Her first interaction with a woman came during her last year of high school. At first she wondered if it was a phase, but the truth lingered — gentle, familiar, undeniable.
“It was just who I was,” she says. “It took time to understand that, but once I did, everything made sense.”
Where Identity Meets Purpose
It wasn’t until much later that Eva understood the role she could play within the LGBTQ+ community. Alongside her best friend Losanna, she co-launched Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, a project aimed at creating more inclusive spaces and events for women in PV.
“I didn’t think my identity mattered until I made it matter,” Eva reflects. “I’m proud we started something that hopefully grows into something bigger.”
A Career Forged in Resilience
One of Eva’s greatest challenges came in the form of silence — a vocal injury that forced her offstage and into uncertainty. The comeback was grueling.
“I didn’t know if my body would ever be the same,” she admits. But reinvention often blooms from limitation, and the idea for her now-iconic P!nk Tribute was born from that moment of vulnerability. With Losanna’s support and a bold leap into a new style of performance, Eva rebuilt her voice, her confidence, and her artistic identity.
Today, Eva is one of Vallarta’s most dynamic performers — headlining, producing, and co-creating as part of Lova Productions.
Finding Her Path
Eva has worn many hats — musician, internationalist, traveler, producer — but only recently allowed herself to claim entertainment as her career.
“I didn’t realize it until last year,” she laughs. “I finally decided: this is it. This is what I’m doing.”
That clarity has ignited a new era in her artistry and her leadership.
Eva’s Advice to LGBTQ+ Women
“Come to PV!” she jokes — then softens. “Find a place where you don’t have to hide. For me, that’s Puerto Vallarta. I can be myself here. That’s everything.”
Gloria Fiona: A Story in Sound, A Journey of Becoming
To hear Gloria Fiona sing is to feel emotion in its purest form—rich, textured, and undeniably real. Her weekly show at La Catrina Cantina blends powerhouse vocals with soulful storytelling, making her a true staple of the Vallarta music scene.
And her artistry doesn’t stop there:
• To Adele: The Tribute — A cinematic, full-band celebration of Adele.
• Gloria Fiona Unplugged — Intimate acoustic nights that spotlight her raw vocal beauty.
• Gloria Fiona Productions — Her creative home for tribute shows, artistic development, and inclusive events.
• Burlesque Projects — Bringing sultry, theatrical energy to PV’s vibrant stage scene.
In short: she sings, she creates, she produces—and she captivates.
Born in Rome and raised in a small, tradition-bound Italian town, Gloria grew up sensing she didn’t quite fit the mold around her. The environment was charming, yes — but conservative, quiet, unchallenged. “Certain topics weren’t spoken about,” she says. “I knew early that I’d have to find my own way.”
Music Before Memory
Gloria’s artistic life began almost before she could walk. Her grandmother’s humming, the dance rhythm of toddler feet, the old recorder pressed between them — these became Gloria’s first music lessons.
Her earliest memory is of being held in her father’s arms as he sang “Love Me Tender.”
“I didn’t remember visuals,” she says. “I remembered love. Music was the heart of it.”
From childhood into adulthood, singing became her language — expressive, emotional, instinctive.
A Truth That Emerged Naturally
Gloria never “decided” she was attracted to women. It was simply the truth of her inner world. As a child, she imagined herself as the prince in the stories she saw — the hero who protected and loved a woman.
A masculine energy lived in her instinctively, even as she navigated the complexities of her feminine self. That journey was long and deeply personal, shaped by body image struggles, self-criticism, and the challenges of growing up different in a place that rewarded sameness.
Resilience Shaped by Loss
Gloria’s teenage and early adult years carried weight — pressure to conform, insecurities about her body, and eventually a difficult chapter shaped by alcohol and drugs. But the turning point came through tragedy: the loss of the most important person in her life to a brain tumor.
In the depths of that grief, something unexpected kept her afloat — Adele.
“Adele’s music wasn’t just music,” she says. “It was an anchor.”
It inspired the tribute show she performs today, the one that eventually brought her to PV and to the woman who changed her life: Irene, now her wife.
“I had to face myself to be able to take care of someone else,” she says. “She’s been by my side with so much love.”
A Career That Chose Her
Gloria doesn’t see her career as a series of decisions — but as a series of inner truths she followed.
“At some point, I stopped working,” she says. “I just express myself now. And that’s what I do — constantly.”
Her art shows up in many forms: music, production, painting, emotional storytelling. For her, expression is freedom. And any space that limits that freedom? “It’s not a place where I want to stay.”
Gloria’s Advice to LGBTQ+
“Be you,” she says simply. “Fully, unapologetically. Because nothing built on a lie can last.”
She encourages self-knowledge, honesty, and the courage to reflect who you really are into the world — even when it’s difficult.
“Try being completely yourself for one day,” she says. “Feel what happens. That’s where peace begins.”
A Community Made Stronger by Women Like These
Eva and Gloria are very different women — raised in different countries, shaped by different struggles, guided by different artistic instincts. But they share something vital:
they lead by being themselves.
Their stories are reminders that leadership isn’t always loud. Sometimes it’s sung, sometimes it’s felt, sometimes it’s discovered through reinvention or recovery or the simple courage to say: This is who I am.
Puerto Vallarta is brighter, louder, richer, and more beautiful because they’re here. And our community is better for the women who continue to rise — onstage, in love, in life.
This story is from the Winter 2026 issue of Out & About PV. Check out the complete print edition here.
Esta publicación también está disponible en: English Español
