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  March 5, 2018   Issue #30
Daily Baez from Dailycurlz is a freelance writer and a content creator. Her natural casual lifestyle fuses the way to love herself and helps others do the same. Born and raised in Dominican Republic, and based in Los Angeles, her bilingual versatility is credited to her upbringing and appreciation for new experiences.

"Running and maintaining my site has been a wonderful way to allow me to pursue my interest in blogging. This came when I stopped using relaxer on my hair and I started to post a lot about hair on my personal Facebook page. One friend told me that he should unfriend me, because all I do is talk about hair. That night I opened a Facebook page and since I had so much to say, I started my blog on April 3, 2011. My blog is a digital version of a scrapbook, chronicling my journey into a healthier me, my lifestyle with a curly twists, and my mixed heritage.
Afro-Latinas are never fully seen with their whole identities. In social media, this means that we are either acknowledge as Latinas or as Afro-Descendants, not as a part of a fragment [niche] within a whole [niche] identity that cannot exist without both cultural elements of our identities. I promote and empowers Black Latinas by raising awareness about our diversity and identity while educating about our roots and advocating for more visibility, acknowledgement and respect of Afro-Latinas mixed heritage."
 
Follow Daily 
Instagram: @dailycurlz
YouTube: youtube.com/dailycurlz
"My name is Nicky Nieves and I am of Puerto Rican descent. My most significant achievements include John Similie Award 2009, and Gold in the 2016 Rio Paralympic games, ranking team USA the #1 Sitting volleyball team in the world.

I work as a coach and professional athlete. I’ve also worked with our nations wounded vets, coaching them in siting volleyball, and enabling them with the skills to be able to compete in the warrior games. This year I started a non-profit by the name of Limitless People Inc. aimed towards providing both sitting and standing volleyball to everyone. Limitless People field’s tournaments both sitting and standing, as well as volleyball clinics, to those whom either just wants to get involved in the sport, and those whom otherwise would never even have the opportunity to do so. Limitless is building a resource of volleyball to everyone regardless of age, gender, race, or physical ability.
Being Afro-Latina for me is a journey. Growing up, you didn’t see much diversity on TV or even in the athletic world when it came to someone to directly identify with. On this journey, I’ve learned that if I don’t see an example, I need to be the example. I want to show everyone, especially women, that despite facing much adversity from both sides of the spectrum in America, I am strong. We can bring home gold medals from the highest platform there is being the Olympics and Paralympics. We can create our own businesses with visions of greatness and help our communities. I want to be an example of self-love and embrace the melanin I was born with. Despite what the media says, we as individuals and as a community define who we are. I am Latina, and I am Black, I am great, I am loved, I am Afro- Latina. Where ever I go I wear it proudly."
 
Follow Nicky
Instagram: @nicolina_cruzzz
"My name is Bianca Kathryn, originally from the subrubs of Detroit but currently residing in Brooklyn, NY. My ethnicity is Mexican and Black and my nationality is American. 

Growing up in the Midwest there was very few representations of Latinos. I always felt somewhat disconnected from the Latino community despite my mom’s best efforts to educate me on my Mexican American heritage. While I culturally identified with being Latina, my lack of knowledge and pure ignorance led me to feel as though I wasn’t Latina enough because I didn’t resemble those that possessed more Spanish-European features.

It wasn’t until 2010 when I was first exposed to Afro Latinas during my first trip to Mexico. I vividly remember being so excited to see people who looked just like me. Yet, it wasn’t until I moved to NYC in 2015 when I began to truly understand what it meant to be Afro Latina. That initial move to New York and my encounters with various ethnicities, dialects, foods and cultural traditions sparked a fire inside of me. I became hungry to learn more about the Black Diaspora within Latin America and the Caribbean.

My hope is to create a community with Yo Soy AfroLatina; that promotes the visibility of the Black Diaspora within Latin America and the Caribbean, spreads love to fellow Afro Latinas and celebrates our beautifully diverse culture.

I wanted to better understand my identity and what "being Afro Latina" meant to me, which is why Yo Soy AfroLatina was created. Although I'm still discovering what being fully Afro Latina encompasses, I've learned along the way that it means you recognize there are two incredibly beautiful cultures residing within you and that you don't have to choose one identify over another. You are just as much Latina as you are Black and vice versa."
 
Follow Bianca
Instagram: @YoSoyAfroLatina
Exalting Blackness Amid White Noise: Afro-Latino Artists Speak on Navigating the World & Music Industry

What It’s Like to Embrace Your Blackness When Your Latino Family Doesn’t

Amara La Negra is the breakout star of Love & Hip Hop: Miami, and she’s rad as hell

Diaspora Blackness in the Caribbean: A Radical Resource

Meet The Afro-Cuban Sisters Making Cigars That Celebrate The Beautiful Shades Of Black Women

It’s Time We Stop Ignoring Afro-Latino Health Disparities In The U.S.

BLACK LATINA ACTRESS JENELLE SIMONE OF BET’S ‘BROOKLYN.BLUE.SKY’ ON IMPORTANCE OF TELLING OUR STORIES

RACE, ETHNICITY, AND AFRO-LATINX WOMANHOOD

Derisao y Dubis

Afro-Latinas Are Kicking Down Doors And Stepping Into Political Office Ready To Fight For Us

8 Authors Bringing Afro-Latina Stories to the Forefront

Xiomara Batista feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood. Ever since her body grew into curves, she has learned to let her fists and her fierceness do the talking.

But Xiomara has plenty she wants to say, and she pours all her frustration and passion onto the pages of a leather notebook, reciting the words to herself like prayers—especially after she catches feelings for a boy in her bio class named Aman, who her family can never know about.

With Mami’s determination to force her daughter to obey the laws of the church, Xiomara understands that her thoughts are best kept to herself. So when she is invited to join her school’s slam poetry club, she doesn’t know how she could ever attend without her mami finding out. But she still can’t stop thinking about performing her poems.

     


Visit Es Mi Cultura's Accessory store on Esty. You can purchase tote bags and order custom flag earrings!

Es Mi Cultura is published every first Monday of the month by Tamika Burgess. Tamika is a Afro-Panameña, California based Writer. Learn more about her by visiting TamikaBurgess.com
Copyright © 2018 Tamika Burgess, All rights reserved.


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