Years before I published the first Chloe Vega book, I spent the summer of 2018 interning on a political campaign in Las Vegas. My host family constantly played CNN on TV, and if you remember summer 2018, you’ll remember it was the summer the U.S. government was separating immigrant families at the US/Mexican border.

The images were horrifying, and despite knowing I was doing something by knocking on doors every day to try to encourage people to elect candidates who would support immigrant communities, it didn’t feel like enough. As a first-gen daughter of immigrants myself, I felt I should be doing more.

Miraculously, this was also the same summer I wrote my first full-length novel. Many people ask me if becoming an author was a childhood dream of mine. It wasn’t, but it would have made sense if it were. Growing up, I loved reading. I was especially drawn to fantasy stories for their escapist nature. I loved getting lost in stories of kids wielding magical wands, facing huge monsters, and establishing strong friendships with the people they meet along the way.

When little me was filled with despair after my uncle was deported, those books were my comfort. I found solace in these characters’ ability to solve problems that seemed daunting. They empowered me and made me feel like I could do the same.

So when I saw these kids in tears watching immigration authorities detain their loved ones, I saw myself in them. I wanted to tell them that their circumstances didn’t define them. That they are not powerless. At the same time, though, I felt powerless myself. I was pursuing politics, but didn’t feel like I had the ability to make a change.

It didn’t occur to me until after I finished that first, unpublished novel that politics felt empty to me. I didn’t want to spend my life working in a broken system. I wanted to create something new, built by people like me to help ourselves. So that fall, I started drafting a new novel to pay homage to all the children’s stories I loved growing up. But this time, the main character would be Latina. She would be first-gen, and her parents would be undocumented.

I’m a firm believer that one way to shift the narrative on immigration is to tell more stories about what it’s really like. I wanted to write something that would not only introduce the subject to folks unfamiliar with it, but also wouldn’t be painful for anyone going through it. Fantasy was my gateway to doing that. The result was a different novel, Chloe Vega and the Agents of Magic – a fun, action-packed story filled with wonder and silly rivalries. But at its core, it’s a story about a girl trying to reunite with her family.

HarperCollins released my first book in the series, Chloe Vega and the Agents of Magic, in September 2025, but the road to publication was emotionally difficult. It took me three years before I finally felt comfortable pitching the book to literary agents, and even then, I was nervous. Many magic school books had been written before, but none that featured such a sensitive topic. I was worried agents and publishers wouldn’t want it because it was “too controversial.” But I gave it a shot anyway, because we needed to break the mold. Someone needed to be first, and maybe that someone had to be me.

When it sold, I couldn’t believe it. Neither could my parents, who had never seen or heard of anyone they knew personally publishing a book before. It didn’t become real to them until I received my box of physical copies. I remember handing one to my dad as he was coming home after a long day at work, construction helmet and all, and seeing his face light up with delight. It made all the effort worth it.

When the book came out, I felt very humbled by the reception. Many parents have shared that the book’s fantasy setting made it easier for their children to digest the more serious themes. Other parents have shared that this was the first book about undocumented immigration they’ve ever read with their children, and that it made it easier for them to have conversations about it, especially amidst everything going on in the world right now.

Now, as I’m bracing myself to release the second book in the series, Chloe Vega and the Missing Unseen, I hope to keep proving that fantasy can be one of the most powerful ways to tell stories grounded in truth. Fantasy makes kids feel like they could overcome impossible odds. For me, it was really important to write from my perspective as a first-gen Latina and build a world where Latinx characters are the heroes. My community is continuously empowering itself, and I am reflecting that.