I’ve learned about the importance of the word SELF. Especially MYSELF. Everyday you learn new things about yourself, and a vital element of YOURSELF, is knowing yourself. Tell me about yourself in interviews or icebreakers or even a first date can be awkward for some and others, they can go on all day. There’s nothing…

Disney deserves recognition for its visionary storytelling that explores the complexities of human experience across various dimensions, including race, gender identity, and disability. While critics often point to a lack of representation, the underlying message is clear: true beauty lies within, and one’s worth isn’t defined by external appearances or societal expectations. Disney’s narratives reveal…

I always was told what was wrong with me. I was never told what was right. This is my story, and we are focusing on what’s right about me, and what’s wrong with you. I am silenced in America, because I am a Black Latina woman, and I am even more muted in my own…

When you break the cycle, life will become silent. When you choose, boundaries, some may not comply, and you have to remove them or walk away. When you don’t become another statistic, you won. Having the big Latino family, so many people are infatuated with it. But it comes with your mental health being overlooked,…

Why do we often wait for tragedy to strike before we feel compelled to care? It seems that only when children and families are caught in the horrors of genocide do we find the motivation to pray for a nation. Must we wait for an earthquake or hurricane amogst God’s creation before we decide to…

Turning 29 was like stepping into the unknown. I had big dreams and plans, but little idea what the year would bring. The only way to describe the beginning is chaotic, like a wild storm. It was the peak of a season I never saw coming. I faced my own personal devil – an abusive…

I feel am overwhelmed, I am once again erased, pushed under the rug, from a term that took so long to be understood and acknowledged. We have always existed, yet were intentionally ignored in many spaces, and had to fight relentlessly to bring conversations about us to the forefront. To wrongly misuse the term Afro-Latina…

The most notorious beef of all time is not the Blood vs Crips, Puerto Rico vs Dominican Republic, or Tupac and Biggie—not even Kendrick Lamar. It’s between you and your aunties, grandmas, cousins, and uncles, and it’s still ongoing. Even the ones that only show up for a plate on Thanksgiving and leave. You know,…

The next time a website asks me if I am a robot, I may just say yes. In the laboratory, Build-A-Black-Girl. Where we were invented and programmed to just be in survival mode and appease everyone. We can only say yes, no matter how distinctive or irrational the request is. We are programmed to carry…

My last heartbreak, made me unbreakable. It taught me, the importance of my self – value. I poured from a heart, that didn’t even beat for my own self. I gave out unconditional love to someone, but couldn’t even say I love you to myself without choking up. It taught me that because a person…

The Black woman’s body has long been a target of sexualization and objectification, enduring centuries of mistreatment and manipulation. Our features, such as our noses, lips, and curves, have been ridiculed and deemed unattractive by societal standards. In the past, Black bodies were used as objects of mockery in television, media, and other spaces where…

Let me start by saying that love is defined and interpreted differently by everyone. What makes one person feel whole may not be the same for another. No one has the power to dictate or delegate the love you want and need. Now that we’ve addressed that, I want to be clear: I’m not afraid…

Inviting grace into my space, has been difficult. It’s easier when you say it to others, or hold grace for others but when it’s now a season to now apply it to my own journey. It’s a challenge. I keep asking myself, do you really deserve grace ? Have you been graceful to others? It’s…

I’m from the Bronx, of course we don’t have accents. Let me stop. Apart of my rebirth, is being unapologetically me. Authentic in all that I am. Meaning not shying myself or hiding my accent. I didn’t always think I had an accent, until I had an accent. That makes sense right? Tu sabes. Having…

My heritage was birthed from the motherland.  The brown richness of my melanated flesh, the seasoned savory ingredients cuisines grown from native soul, the curvaceous queens with body and soul and the rhythmic sounds of my rooted music.  The birthplace of so much influence, deserves her grace. We preserved what was made by us, for…

A fine negrita mami, is what they call me But not those brainwashed Latinos with the Eurocentric mentality  Identity starts with I for a reason See my melanin stands out in every single season My black been reclaimed Liberated, Activated and strongly Proclaimed My sazon, resonates with my soul  You can’t separate what makes me whole…

Stepping into my rebirth as a Black girl has been a self-discovery. I have always been different, authentically me, and not to what society tries to check every Black girl into a box. Those stereotypes don’t define me. It has always been my mission to change the narrative and express how many levels there are…

Black girls, this is a call of action. We are in a season of evil hindering amongst us, a spirtual warfare is in occurance, it never stopped. Ofcourse, we are the target. No one is going to save us, instead they want us to separate us by the distraction of competition and materialistic and an…

Navigating as a Black Latina woman, in this life is harder than usual. Blooming into my womanhood, both versions of who and what a woman should encompass are completely different. As a Black woman, I am taught I have to survive and be strong, showing any form of failure is destruction to my role as…

Why do I have to explain myself? Why did I ever have to explain myself? I stopped. I am in the era of unapologetically being me. I found myself trying to prove my identity to those specifically who tried to be ignorant and carry this irrational brainwashed mentality. One word.. Projection. It is unfortunate people…

I have been asked lately, how are you so unapologetic about your Afro-Latinidad and how did you get there. I had to pause and reflect and ask myself the same question, seven years later this platform has been a safe space for individuals like myself to be proud of their roots and redefine what it…

” We don’t believe in bad hair, just bad hair care.” This is a motto that Mariel Meija, founder of Pink Root Hair Products goes by for the mission of her brand. Let’s be real, growing up Afro-Latina this is something we all needed to hear. As an Afro-Dominican, Meija herself understands what it’s like…

I never thought of myself as being of African descent because my family never spoke about it when I was growing up. We were Dominicans from the Dominican Republic – a country that was diverse in skin tone and united in bachata, baseball, and locrios, among many other things. I didn’t consider myself anything but…