This reality hits home for Brown-Cepeda, an Afro-Latina native of both Dyckman in Inwood and the Soundview section of the South Bronx — two neighborhoods that, much to local community members’ dismay,  have been shifting in racial and socioeconomic demographics. The past 21 months of the COVID-19 pandemic only further exacerbated the erasure of communities of color, with Black and Latinx people hit the hardest across New York City. 

While Nuevayorkinos and its 31,000 followers on Instagram continue to share stories about will power, adaptation, love and belonging, Brown-Cepeda has been moved by the outpour of people using the page as a place to pay homage to their loved ones who they have lost to COVID-19. For many, Nuevayorkinos had become a digital altar at the peak of the pandemic.

“In every single aspect, marginalized people were further marginalized by this pandemic,” Brown-Cepeda tells Latina. “As an archivist, I have a duty to protect the stories that are being erased and being overlooked. I have to make sure that our impact is not forgotten and that our histories are not forgotten.”

In a new installation that brings Nuevayorkinos’ photography from the digital realm to the physical space, Brown-Cepeda continues to center the stories of marginalized New York immigrants through her “Nuevayorkinos: Essential and Excluded“ exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art PS1 in Long Island City, New York, which will be on display through January 3, 2022. 

 

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Through a series of photos, testimonies, a documentary and a sala outfitted with a couch and chairs in a room surrounded by a display of protest signs and organizing materials, Brown-Cepeda tells the stories of hunger strikers, organizers, and decision-makers who pushed New York State to create the $2.1 billion Excluded Workers Fund in 2021. The first-of-its-kind fund was championed by New York City-based members of the Fund Excluded Workers Coalition, Make the Road, New York Communities for Change and the Street Vendor Project, and received support from Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and other New York lawmakers. The fund became the United States’ largest economic assistance program, intended to aid nearly a half-million essential immigrant workers who were excluded from pandemic-related relief programs.  

“So many Black and Brown shops and business owners were affected. So many undocumented Latinx people and immigrants weren’t able to get relief. Erasure looks like our people having to stand on lines that stretch three blocks during the height of the pandemic to get food for their children,” Brown-Cepeda says. “These are situations that other communities in the same city don’t have to deal with.”

While Brown-Cepeda says she hopes people can celebrate how New York City’s immigrant communities have contributed to the city and country’s social fabric, she also hopes it invites viewers to confront their own biases by asking themselves, “What can I do to show up for and stand in solidarity with immigrants?”

“The immigrant and Afro-Latinx footprint in New York City — a city that we have contributed to from the jump — needs to be protected and passed on,” she adds.

 

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This passion for preserving history and culture through Nuevayorkinos, Brown-Cepeda says, is thanks to being raised between two multilingual, multi-generational households who didn’t hold back on discussing history, racism and colonialism, and exposed her to “the beauty of the diaspora.” She adds that she was taught early on to look at life through a social justice lens and  can’t remember a time when her family didn’t teach her to honor her Black, Afro-Indigienous and Caribbean roots. Through Nuevayorkinos, she hopes others will do the same.

Beyond memorializing New York City through the eyes of Latinx New Yorkers, Brown-Cepeda also strives for Nuevayorkinos to set up the next generation for success. For the past two years, she has given away over 1,000 backpacks to children at community back-to-school drives in Dyckman and Bushwick. With support from large brands and community-based organizations, Brown-Cepeda has also been able to support mutual-aid efforts and nonprofits that directly serve underprivileged communities in New York City.

“Nuevayorkinos is about providing space for a hyper-marginalized, hyper-overlooked group that has been and will always be so incredibly instrumental to New York City and, by proxy, our country,” Brown-Cepeda says. “While I am centering the Latinx immigrant experience, I hope that people from other different immigrant communities and backgrounds see themselves represented too.”

 

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The post Digital Archive Project ‘Nuevayorkinos’ Is Redefining NYC’s Latine History appeared first on Latina.

Instead of trying to fit in, Coco and Breezy looked past their classmates’ judgemental gazes and wore funky outfits with matching glasses they had customized with studs and sparkles. The sisters’ style had become a hit with their 50,000 followers on MySpace at the time. In 2009, Coco and Breezy sold their car and went to chase their dreams in New York with only $1,000 to their name. They were 18 and had no place to live, but they were determined to launch an eyewear business.

“We’ve never been afraid to jump into the deep end,” Coco tells Latina. Instead of worrying about how they would start their own brand in a new city with hardly any resources or financial support, the sisters tapped into the resilience they had learned at home and school to propel their journey as entrepreneurs. 

Coco and Breezy captured by Flordalis Espinal.

Today, the 31-year-old twins’ eponymous eyewear brand Coco and Breezy is the first Black and Latinx-owned eyewear company to be sold at Nordstrom and 400 other eyewear retailers across the U.S. Their glasses have been worn by the likes of Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Beyonce, Alicia Keys, the late singer Prince, and many more. 

While their new sunglasses have been dropping nearly monthly this year, Coco and Breezy have also been producing music and DJing at parties across the U.S. The sisters perform side by side in the booth, dancing and blending the sounds of house music with influences from soul, Latin, tribal, and R&B. In addition to building their glasses brand and DJing, the sisters also own nature lodges in the mountainous areas of the Catskills and Adirondacks in New York called The Lorca. 

Though they had never planned to become business owners, the sisters have become trailblazers in predominantly white industries and say their childhood role models — from the Black hair salon owners who became like family to their own parents who had overcome segregation and machista upbringings — are to thank for their inspiration.

Coco and Breezy captured by Flordalis Espinal.

“My parents made the choice to break generational curses when they raised us to be the women that we are today, “ Coco says.

Last year, Coco and Breezy received a $100,000 investment through venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz’s Talent x Opportunity Initiative (TxO) accelerator program. Next, they will be raising over $1 million in a pre-seed investment round led by Reign Ventures, who has committed $500,000.

Whether it’s coming up with new ideas for music while designing sunglasses or brainstorming how to make The Lorca a more restorative retreat for guests, Breezy says each of their entrepreneurial efforts aims to uplift their culture and communities of color.

“Growing up and seeing beautiful, strong Black women run their own businesses was so valuable to our community,” Coco says. “If we have the privilege to get our products in stores, our job is to continue to create space for all of us.” 

Coco and Breezy captured by Flordalis Espinal.

Coco and Breezy will use the funds they raise to scale their company. They also intend to teach the tricks of the trade to other Black and Latinx designers who want to launch their own brands.

“When you get into eyewear, there isn’t a school that teaches you about design, the supply chain or the manufacturing process,” Breezy says. “We want to pave the way forward by guiding others, connecting a founder with a factory, teaching them the process, creating these connections that will help others succeed.”

The post How 31-year-old Twin DJs Coco and Breezy Built a Successful Eyewear Brand appeared first on Latina.

“On the floor, I got to be a crowd pleaser and performer, so acting, entertainment and theater would make sense for me, I’m very excited about it,” Hernandez tells Latina. “I want to try all of them and see which one feels right.”

 

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Alongside college applications, Hernandez has also spent her summer focused on the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo — not as a gymnast, due to an injury earlier this year, but as a commentator with NBC.

“Knowing what it feels like to be on the other side of interviews, I feel like there’ll be a level of empathy there,” she says in regards to her new role. “I’m used to being the one competing.” 

Hernandez is a vocal advocate for young women’s mental health and participation in sports. This year, she became a spokesperson for Always and Walmart’s #KeepHerPlaying campaign, which gives financial grants to organizations across the country to provide access and encouragement to puberty-aged girls in sports.

Latina spoke with Hernandez ahead of the Olympic games to chat about recent lessons she’s learned and advice for other aspiring Latino Olympic medalists. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

 

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What’s a life or career lesson that you learned during the pandemic?

Don’t waste time on things that don’t make you happy. If an outcome will make me happy, but the journey stinks a little bit, I will stick it out as long as I can. Even though I was given all the time in the world during the pandemic, it taught me that time is short and time flies. Actively go after the things that you love — and if you don’t love it, it doesn’t matter how much time you’ve spent on something. If you realize that you don’t love it, it’s okay to change things. You only got one life, so go for it champ.

How do you incorporate discussing mental health as part of your own life and career? 

At first, I was nervous to speak about mental health to the press because it was so stigmatized. As soon as I started doing it, I couldn’t stop because it felt right. I remember being younger and looking for other people to talk about mental health. As soon as I got the opportunity to start talking about my own mental health, I was open about my journey with depression, being anxious and having Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD.) It lets people know, this is not normal, but it is common. I hope it makes people feel less alone.

 

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What’s your advice for other Latinos who want to be future Olympic medal winning athletes?

At some point, things are going to get hard. Any Olympian or any professional athlete that tells you that they’ve never wanted to quit before is completely lying. It’s something that we all talk about together. [It’s common to want to quit when times get tough.] But [quitting] doesn’t get you out of hard times, it just removes you from the environment that you’re in. If that’s where you need to leave, then that’s where you need to leave. But if you’re quitting because it’s hard, it’s not going to take away the underlying reason of why you want to stop. Know that hanging in there will teach you a lot about your character. Then you can look at other life instances and go,”I remember this one day at practice. It was awful, I hated it. I wanted to quit, but I hung in there. So if I can do that, then that means I can definitely get through this.”

The post What Olympic Medalist Laurie Hernandez Learned During the Pandemic appeared first on Latina.

Despite the ubiquity of weaving in her indigenous community, artisan work is often synonymous with female labor. In Atitlán, women’s work is undervalued and in turn, shapes local economies of artisan handicraft. As a result, artisans in Elisa’s town are forced to accept lower wages and fewer benefits (if any) from employers who exploit their skill for higher profit margins. Elisa, now 23, wants to change that.

Elisa Sapalú and her mother Bernabela

Today, Elisa helps her mother Bernabela oversee a team of artisans at Pura Utz, a fairtrade, made-to-order fashion brand that’s produced in Guatemala. Pura Utz’s artisans use their traditional weaving skills to fit the tastes of luxury and modern fashion markets by creating colorful beaded handbags, jewelry and other accessories by hand in the shapes of fruits, smiley faces and yin-yang symbols, which range from $16 to $870 USD. While still a small team of 12 artisans, their products are sold at luxury stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Net-a-Porter-owned e-retailer Yoox, and have been featured in Vogue. 

Nearby the sacred Lake Atitlán in Sololá, Guatemala, the Pura Utz team of artisans gather at Bernabela’s home from Monday to Friday, where their days start and end by collaborating with Elisa, who delegates the scope of work. The women artisans, ranging from 5-10 years Elisa’s senior, sit around a long table on an open-air patio and go through thousands of glass beads to weave their designs. Elisa prepares coffee and snacks for them throughout the day, and when work gets busy, she joins them at the table to weave.

Pura Utz Team collaborating at their office in Sololá, Guatemala

Pura Utz prices are priced considerably high compared to what locals usually sell their work, Elisa tells Latina, but the price of the product is what allows them to pay the team four times the standard wage of similar artisans in their region. In Guatemala, coalitions like the Ruchajixik ri qana’ojbäl National Weavers Movement and Mujeres de Afedes organize Mayan women who advocate for better economic conditions and quality of life, especially as their labor and artistry are often exploited. Nevertheless, opposition persists and labor organizers face threats to their intellectual property, income continuity, and overall livelihood.

“It’s important for us to sell our products at this rate because we’re generating stable jobs here. The artisans make their products with a lot of love and time,” says Elisa. “That’s the biggest reason customers should support our work at Pura Utz. It’s not just a bracelet or an earring, it’s filled with our labor and love.”

Pura Utz’s retail margins and costs to produce and distribute in Danish Krone

For every product made, the artisans are guaranteed to take home one-third of the price the item is sold for. Elisa explains that it’s important that their consumers have an idea of what each item costs so they can value their work and understand the training and skills needed to produce. In turn, pay transparency has afforded the artisans the opportunity to save money, set their own schedules, and invest in costs they might otherwise avoid like buying new clothes or upgrading their homes.

“For the artisans, this makes a huge difference because it significantly improves their financial situation,” says Elisa. “They know this first hand because they used to work in places that paid very little despite their working extremely hard.”

Pura Utz Team

Pura Utz was founded in 2014 by Anna Waller Andrés, who has lived and travelled to Guatemala since was a child. While traveling from Denmark as a volunteer nurse, she started working with bead designers at a non-governmental organization (NGO), where she met Bernabela. The two instantly became friends and soon after became partners and co-owners of Pura Utz. Anna manages the retail side of the business in Copenhagen, Denmark. 

After graduating prep school a few years ago (the equivalent to high school in the U.S.), Elisa joined Pura Utz as their head of operations. When she’s not squeezing in her time for her college assignments — she is the first in her family to ever go to school and now attend university — Elisa leads all of the financial and operational aspects of Puta Utz including payroll, assigning tasks, placing orders for materials, and shipping off the final products to Denmark. 

Elisa often offers behind-the-scenes looks at Pura Utz’s artisans via Instagram stories. Even if you’re thousands of miles away, it’s easy to feel immersed in the work as artisans chat and joke with one another in Tzʼutujil, a Mayan language native to their region. When Elisa first started posting their work, she says the team was quite camera shy.

 

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Eager to show the world the kind and hardworking women who make beaded fruits sprout from the tips of their weaving needles, Elisa shared her own lightheaded sense of humor and encouraged the team to be themselves. Supporters on social media have now come to know the artisans like Julia, Rebeca, Sara, Yenni, Isabel and Ester, who share stories and laughter with each other even while laser focused on their bead work.

“The people who buy our products value the effort of our women artists, especially as they get to know a little bit about our life and work through photos, tagged posts, and Instagram stories,” says Elisa. “It’s thanks to their purchases that we generate work and can provide our team a better quality of life. That’s been the key to our success.”

The post This Mayan Entrepreneur Implements Ethical Business Standards appeared first on Latina.