Happy Hispanic Heritage Month! For a while now I’ve been wanting to create a project empowering our Hispanic community. At times, watching the news and reading articles leaves me with a heavy heart knowing these reports are what many of us in the community can relate to in one way or another. In spite of everything, I want to encourage all of you to continue fighting for your family, chase your dreams, or finish that degree. Wherever you are in life right now, do it all with excellence and love. Continue to empower, celebrate and embrace each other. To celebrate HHM, I’ll be featuring Hispanics in Austin who have shared with me their thoughts on #HispanicHeritageMonth. By the end of this blog, I hope you are empowered and encouraged by these amazing women. ✊🏽No matter what has been said and will continue to be said, we ARE what makes America great and beautiful.
“My culture. My brown skin. My dark hair. Our amazing food and language. The struggles of being ethnic and being a woman. I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I am proud of who I am and I hope my legacy inspires other women to love every piece of who they are and where they come from. Now I proudly pass the torch to my boys who are proud of their roots and love Mexico just as much as I do” -Liliana 🇲🇽 | Lili is the Co-Founder of Amhiga Hispana (@amhigahispana1 )
“What Hispanic heritage means to me? Embracing the diversity amongst all Latinos. My mother is from Monterrey, MX while my father is from San Angelo, TX which considers me a “Chicana” or “Tex Mex” This sometimes can create a a division amongst other Latinos. This month is a time for all of us Latinos to embrace who we are and where we come from. This is a time for our voice to be heard and we are not afraid.” -Marcella 🇲🇽 | Thrift blogger @thrifty.cella
“Being Latina is one of the things I am most proud of. It’s who I am. Hispanic Heritage Month is a time to educate, share and celebrate in our traditions and to let folks know there is richness to all our cultures. I love being Dominican and I love to let people know what that means to me. Soy fuerte, poderosa y capaz. I feel like I can do anything with the support of my Latinx community!” -Melina 🇩🇴 | @melinayperez Co-Founder of The Audacity Magazine ( @audacityzine )
"I cannot deny the strength, courage, and passion that run through me. The natural warmth of my brown skin makes me feel whole. My blood runs rich with pride because of my family and our culture; we are people that fight every day. We continue to rise and even against all the obstacles we still have to face we stand and that makes me feel unbelievably capable. This month is a celebration of powerful people, mi gente." -Leah 🇲🇽 | @happygoleahstyle_ Spectrum
“Being hispanic is such a privilege and I couldn’t be any more proud. Although, we are judged by our names, our language, the color of our skin, and often have our citizenship questioned. This month is the time to be proud of where we come from, and let the world know without being ashamed.” -Kenia 🇭🇳 | Senior at Akins HS
“I feel so lucky to be Hispanic. We have good food, good music, and family is everything to us. Whenever all the Rodriguez’s are in the same room you can just feel and see the love and joy we bring each other.” - Kianna 🇲🇽🇯🇵 | @kiannarodriguez is a Student at TXST & Published model.
“Being Hispanic is a blessing. Not only do we have a beautiful culture, but we have the biggest hearts, and something we always do is help. We help the same people who judge us for coming to this country because that is what we do best is help. I will always be proud of where I come from and we will always stand our ground no matter what.” -Ilse 🇲🇽 | @_prettyista Student
“Not only am I proud to be a woman during this new era of change, but I’m also proud to be Hispanic. I came from a hard working immigrant family who literally started working from the bottom and achieved the American dream. I going to continue what they started, and provide a better life.” -Vanessa 🇳🇮🇭🇳 | Founder of True Desires Apparel
Hispanic Heritage Month has come to an end. Thank you to all the beautiful women who were a part of this project. It was empowering to hear your stories. Growing up, I remember not having someone to look up to that looked like me. Trust me when I say, someone is watching you and is inspired by you :) Keep moving forward. 💛