I was raised on the border, between Mexico and the U.S., between languages, between cultures. In a place like that, identity isn’t fixed – it shapeshifts depending on the sidewalk you’re standing on. My upbringing taught me early on that culture isn’t something you consume. It’s something you participate in, translate, and sometimes fight for. It’s why I’ve always seen the arts not as a luxury but as a necessity – an everyday tool for survival, empowerment, and expression.
This ethos has shaped everything I do, from curating bilingual interviews on my digital platform VOCES to managing partnerships and events at cultural centers in Northern Mexico. I created VOCES in 2023 with the quiet but radical mission of giving local and Latinx creatives a platform to speak for themselves – unfiltered, unpolished, and with power. Through interviews, editorial features, and cultural essays, I’ve been weaving together what I call an undifferentiated genre mix – a space where conversation, criticism, and poetics exist in symbiosis.
Culture, to me, isn’t just a “beat” – it’s a living archive. It’s cerebral, intimate, and deeply political. As a writer, I’m driven by the same hunger I had as a teenager on Tumblr, posting compulsively into the void. There’s an art to oversharing online, especially when it’s done with intention. Long before “finstas” and algorithms, I found solace in weird, niche internet corners where girls like me talked about books, music, heartbreak, and belonging. That sense of shared curiosity still informs how I approach storytelling now.
VOCES has become a home for those stories, especially for women, queer creatives, and Latinx visionaries who are navigating and reshaping what creativity looks like today. From fashion influencers to literary critics, wellness entrepreneurs to cultural journalists, these voices offer more than advice. They offer roadmaps. They signal something larger: a quiet revolution in how cultural work is made, valued, and shared. Here are some of the lessons I’ve gathered, stitched together like a communal vision board:
1. Embrace Change as Ritual
Rocío, better known as Maquicienta, is a content creator with over 700k subscribers on YouTube and a sharp focus on pop culture commentary. For her, reinvention isn’t just practical – it’s sacred. She reminds me that even though we often fear change, paradoxically, change is the only constant. Reinvention doesn’t require abandoning everything – it can begin with a small step, a book, a new skill, a conversation. Her advice reminds me that trusting your skills is just as important as developing new ones. You don’t need to have all the answers, just the will to keep asking better questions.
2. Redefine Sustainability with Compassion
Vanessa Aguilar, the mind behind TheModaIssue, reminds us that inclusive fashion cannot exist without empathy. In an industry obsessed with performance, she urges deeper understanding. “People often assume everyone can approach sustainability the same way,” she says in VOCES, “but the truth is, everyone lives different realities.” She challenges the perfectionism that often clouds environmental discourse and invites us to listen – really listen – to the different paths people take toward conscious living. Fashion, like culture, can only be ethical if it’s also accessible.
3. Build Spaces for Dialogue, Not Dogma
Editor, educator, and founder of multiple literary communities Paola Carola emphasizes the necessity of collective reading. “Collective reading is important,” she tells me, “Because we live in a world full of dogma.” For her, book clubs are not just intellectual exercise – they’re soft revolutions. When forty people read the same book and offer forty different takes, empathy becomes tangible. Her work is a reminder that building community isn’t just about gathering, it’s about staying open, curious, and kind.
4. Make Space for Romance – and Other “Frivolous” Things
Michelle Ortiz has become a leading voice in Spanish-language BookTok, with over 250k followers and a fierce commitment to defending the romance genre. In a world quick to dismiss stories written by and for women, she insists that romance novels offer a way to imagine how beautiful love can be, even through fiction. Her work proves that softness is a form of resistance. Her community, made up overwhelmingly of women, finds in her a safe space where no literary taste is too silly to matter.
5. Make the Internet Work for You
Talia Cu has bridged gaps between continents, launching the first 100% online fashion journalism course for Latin America. Her platform, Draw Latin Fashion, reaches over 100k people. “Digital media gives us a way to connect with people across the region,” she says in VOCES. Talia’s work celebrates the hyperlocal and the international in the same breath, showing us that the future of fashion is deeply, unapologetically Latin American.
Art is everywhere. It lives in our feeds, in our homes, in the way we dress, cry, joke, and eat. But most importantly, it lives in the people around us – especially those building something new out of what’s been left out. I’ve learned through these conversations that creativity doesn’t require fame or funding. It just requires listening. It requires showing up, again and again, even when no one’s watching yet.
We’re watching each other now, though, and not just as audiences, but as co-conspirators. These creatives aren’t waiting for institutional permission or industry recognition. They are building ecosystems rooted in care, accessibility, and curiosity. They’re modeling an alternative future, one where art is a means of connection, not competition.
To live creatively is to insist that our stories – our messy, unfinished, hopeful tales –are worth telling. And telling again. And telling better.
