My storytelling journey began with my love of chisme at the kitchen table as a child surrounded by the tias, abuelitas, and primas who threw down dry frijoles on their Lotería cards with a side of laughter, family history, scandalous mitotes, and intergenerational lore. They stopped trying to shoo me away after it was clear that me, and my child self with the 80s bangs disrupted by a cowlick that refused to let me rock a tame version of what I’m sure would have been a great look, preferred to be in the company of señoras.

Those conversations felt like a special kind of apapacho as I found myself immersed in the cadence of their voices, the unique styles of how each of them relayed a story, and the way they emphasized with pauses here and there to talk about their lives (and the lives of others). Most notably, I fell in love with how each of them carried place, home, and family in their voices.

Later, I learned to hold those stories through my writing so that I could come back and revisit what I took from those moments in order to sustain me and help guide me through my highs and lows across space and time. As I entered my own señora years, my comadres, friends, and colegas joined the constellation of those voices, and in an effort to preserve a sliver of that for the collective archive, I threw my hat in and humbly launched this podcast - a lo rasquache, like a good Chicana. Sometimes we gotta learn as we go, and this journey of learning, listening, and being in conversation with all y’all has been beautiful. Some of us are willing to put ourselves and our stories out there in the fullness of our authenticity with the straight up audacity to do so without paying any mind to the standards and expectations. Soy yo, porque somos.

If you were expecting more of professional type bio, fret not, check it out here.