Your Story Matters

Davina Ferreira de Alegría Publishing entrevista a la emergente poeta LatinX Paloma Alcantar, sobre su libro "Déjame decirte lo que dice el corazón". Este libro es un paseo a través de los diferentes matices del amor. Cada frase escrita aquí es una nota mental para la autora, y para cualquier corazón dispuesto a aceptarlas. En ellas descubrirás la fragilidad de la vida, y el que a veces es imprescindible romperse toda para ver la claridad desde otro enfoque. Deseo que de la mano de la poesía, te reconcilies con el corazón y le abras la puerta a esta energía en todas sus formas. Paloma Alcantar es escritora, autora y poeta mexicana que radica en la ciudad de Atlanta, Georgia. Cursó la carrera de Administración Financiera en su país natal y posteriormente concluyó sus estudios de Psicología de la Nutrición en Pensilvania, Estados Unidos. Actualmente es creadora de contenido para las organizaciones Women’s Economic Empowerment Global Life, y Alquimia Global for Human Rights. Durante los últimos años ha estudiado temas diversos acerca del desarrollo personal como parte de su propio proceso de crecimiento. Ha participado en diversos talleres literarios en España, y fue parte de la Antología Poetas y Narradores 2019 del ICPM, donde fue acreditada con el primer premio en la categoría de Poesía. En 2020 colaboró junto con otros escritores en The Latinx Poetry Project, una compilación de rima hispana que enaltece la cultura latina. El amor, la interioridad, la feminidad y la resiliencia son elementos indispensables en su temática.

Davina Ferreira from Alegría Publishing interviews emerging LatinX Poet Alejandra Jimenez about her book Mujer de Color(es), a short collection of poems, lyrical essays, prayers, and portraits. Mujer de Color(es): is a Poetic Experience —an ode to imperfections, an ode to the divinity within the mundane, an ode to our metamorphic culturas, an ode to the reverberant voices of brown women and femmes. It is the act of looking at your fears straight in the face and honoring them for trying to protect you but surrendering them to achieve growth. It is a reclamation of our feminine strengths: nurturing, resilience, sexuality, creativity, spirituality, and so many more. It is one path, of a billion, towards healing one person and, through it, the collective feminine consciousness; Y, esto es solo el principio. She's the first-born daughter of two immigrant parents. Being her parents right hand made her very socially aware of their struggles from an early age. Particularly, their constant struggle with the immigration system. Which is why she's pursuing law school in 2021. Being a Mujer in a very machista household also created a sense of responsibility to bring about change. Hopefully beginning with her generation and continuing for the next and next. There are so many taboo conversations within Latinx homes that are completely necessary to hold in the name of progress. For that reason, she launched Mujer, No Te Rajes Podcast. A bilingual podcast dedicated to vitalizing feminine energies in the Latinx community- and beyond. In the personal sense, poetry is her craft. It gives her a safe platform through which to bring light to all of the injustices buried within her heart and the heart of many others. It's a form to archive her existence through her experiences. It allows her to share the most vulnerable aspects of her humanity, things that she aspires to say out loud someday---- now.

Davina Ferreira from Alegría Publishing interviews emerging LatinX Poet Cynthia J Villa about her book, "All She Is". A love story about all of what-couldn’t-be. It is a reflective and intimate quest to healing the soul through a compilation of introspective bilingual poetry. Poemas en inglés y en español that will sail the reader into a voyage of heartbreak, grief, agony, self-worth, and the bitterness of loss. This book is for anyone who has struggled with the enduring pain of a broken heart and the burden of a million what-ifs. She's a gender queer, Mexican American poet, and writer from Wilmington, California. As a child, she lived in Michoacán, Mexico, with her parents and two brothers. Upon her uneasy return to el Norte and her struggles with the cultural clash, she eventually learned to exist in-between two languages. Yearning to alleviate the grief, heartache, and ambiguity caused by her mother’s unpredictable death became the pivotal point that invited her to submerge in the mythical world of poetry, where time stood still. Eventually, her writings became a proclamation of self-healing. Her poetry now immerses in themes of Love, Loss, Heartache, Healing, and Self-Empowerment. She has exhibited her work under the pen name, cjLeubh, on social platforms. Some of her most recent work was featured in Alegria Magazine’s, The Latinx Poetry Project. As a primary witness of the effects of the struggles of cultural and language barriers and the lack of resources and representation of people of color in low-income communities, she’s been inspired to pursue a legal career. Whether it is in immigration law or criminal law, she aspires to become a lawyer not to punish people but to ensure the law protects the people it is meant to protect. When Cynthia is not writing or spending time with her partner and their dog Milo, you’ll find her wandering in the aisles of Ikea or HomeGoods.

Davina Ferreira from Alegría Publishing interviews emerging LatinX Poet Alma Lizzette Cardenas about her book, “Groanings from the Desert”. A collection of English & Spanish teo-poemas, prayers, and thoughts that invite you into her pain, joy, hopes, and dreams. The pages are a sacred place that hold pieces of Alma that have been scary to share, but deadlier to think that she is alone and keep them to herself. They are a counter cultural response to her experience of navigating toxic mindsets and systems of her faith community and culture, and brings to life truths which have set her free. They were written between February and October of the year   2020. Writing them has released her voice in way’s she never knew was in her, which in turn has allowed her to heal and step into being fully her. This book is especially for youth, young adults, and women of color, but also for the parents, mentors, pastors, madrinas, and  padrinos who are walking alongside them. May   you always have people around you who create spaces that encourage you to speak, dream, and be unapologetically you. She's a Mexico-Estadounidense  born and raised in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California. She is proud to be a second generation Latina, and daughter of parents that migrated from  Mexico’s Durango and Jalisco states. Her upbringing was heavily influenced by her protestant latina faith community whose unwillingness to engage or answer her questions led her to seminary school. Alma holds a Master of Arts in transformational Urban Leadership from Azusa Pacific University, an Urban Youth Workers Certificate from Fuller Theological Seminary, and a Bachelor in Christian Ministry from  Facultad de Teología. She is her own definition of a wife, mother, friend, mentor, mentee, pastora and teóloga who values truth, justice, and the prophetic voice of our youth and women of color. In her free time she enjoys hanging out at local coffee shops with a cup of iced coffee and in company of her daughters, family, friends, or a good book.

Davina Ferreira from Alegría Publishing interviews emerging LatinX Poet Veronica Lopez about her book, "Lightning in a Bottle". Lightning in a bottle is a blunt and dark humored collection of poems that takes you through a journey of self reflection through the eyes of a bipolar latina. Veronica Lopez unapologetically delves into the dark and light of life, and talks about identity, mental illness, heartbreak, toxic relationships, and empowerment. It is a story of many emotions and many secrets. It’s a story meant for the misunderstood, those predisposed to feel so much, and anyone else looking to break out of the bottle they’ve been trapped inside.  She's a 23 year old Mexican-American actress and writer, born to two immigrant parents and a family of seven. She has had a love for words and stories since she was a little girl, and has been writing for as long as she can remember. It wasn’t until she started journaling for her therapy sessions, that something deeper started to come through, and she realized she had a way with metaphors and unique imagery, which was the birth of her poetry. When she’s not writing, she spends her time trying to follow her dream of becoming an actress in both theatre and film. She is excited to be publishing her first book, Lightning in a Bottle, and she also hopes to make some kind of difference in the world using her voice, art, and self-expression.

LatinX Poetry Project is a poetic anthology with over 45 new LatinX Poets from diverse backgrounds. To this day, the publishing industry continues to underrepresent diverse writers and, as a result, deny readers the power and beauty of necessary voices. It is our hope that through an inclusive collection like this, we can amplify relevant cultural narratives and shine a light on the rich humanity contained within our stories. There are those that would have us believe LatinX poets are extinct or on their way to becoming irrelevant. Nothing is further from the truth.We are very much alive and we are everywhere.

LatinX Poetry Project is a poetic anthology with over 45 new LatinX Poets from diverse backgrounds. To this day, the publishing industry continues to underrepresent diverse writers and, as a result, deny readers the power and beauty of necessary voices. It is our hope that through an inclusive collection like this, we can amplify relevant cultural narratives and shine a light on the rich humanity contained within our stories. There are those that would have us believe LatinX poets are extinct or on their way to becoming irrelevant. Nothing is further from the truth.We are very much alive and we are everywhere.

In this episode of #YourStoryMatters, Serial entrepreneur & self made millionaire, Luz Lluncor shares with us about her passion for social entrepreneurship, innovation in the mortgage industry and how she juggles her many roles as a leader, mother and friend.

In her second episode of #YourStoryMatters, Davina Ferreira interviews Paula Betancur; the author of "The Path Of Beauty" and the founder of Sacred Interiors. She takes us through her process writing her book and the ups and downs of the creative process.

In her intro episode of #YourStoryMatters, Davina Ferreira shares about her love for writing and her journey as an independent author and poet.