Yo! This is my place honey. African American and Dominican, have been raised in the Dominican republic since I was 12 and currently live here now. I feel like as a brown hispanic girl, rather than a more european looking one, i've felt a lack of representation for myself throughout the media, and this lead me to want to make more dark skinned girls in my stories who are represented/shown to be beautiful.
I've also spent a lot of time struggling with poverty and under education (had a 6th grade education at 17 years old) so writing became my lifeline. So many hispanic people like me are unable to get "real jobs" because of the lack of education proof we have, so I chose to become a writer, where my work essentially speaks for itself. I feel that it's one of few places where I can prove myself to be equal with everyone else.
The female leads of my three released novels on Tapas are all women of color, and much of what they (collectively, because the last story is a fantasy world without a lot in common with real life lol) deal with is inspired by my life experiences with poverty, colorism, exoticization, and more, which are unfortunately a huge part of life for women of color in the Hispanic/Caribbean diaspora like me.
Alicia is hispanic (Mexican, not Dominican like me) but her father's inability to read, and the way he was messed over because of it is inspired by the high illiteracy rate in my country. Every part of her feeling insecure about never having worked a 'real' job, having grown up wearing mostly hand-me-downs, and shoes with holes in them is based off of my life.
Essence (though African American) suffers from colorism being compared to her younger, fairer skinned sister, who is considered more beautiful than her. This is also a big deal in the Dominican republic (though my sister is much nicer than Beth lol) and inspired by my experience.
And this is crystal blue, most of the story has nothing to do with my cultural experiences, but my experience as a girl with a skin irregularity is what makes me connect with my female lead, so I'll still place it here. It's very hard to feel beautiful in a world where you'll never fit the beauty standard, which is something I've dealt with in my country, being called all sorts of names for wearing my hair natural, and having a darker complexion than some Dominicans.
As far as stories not published on Tapas, my first published story was called "Rain Dance" and is based on my own experience living through tropical storms multiple times in less than sufficient structures. A log cabin with holes in the walls, a concrete house where the water got in under the doors, etc. I believe it's living through that experience that allowed me to render so much realism to the story and I'm very proud of the story to this day.
