All About Dear Mixed Girl

How Did Dear Mixed Girl Begin?

From the Creator: I guess things truly started with my story. I am a bit of a woman of the world. I hate the applications and paperwork that ask me to identify my race and ethnicity because I do not “fit” into a box which I’m sure many of you can relate to. Nonetheless, I am the daughter of a Black mother and a Hispanic (Mexican family history) father. I grew up with a single but strong mother in Houston, Texas. I struggled with my identity in school and life throughout my childhood years, but after finding friends and spaces where I could be myself from time to time, I could be free. I am what one would call a “self-taught” Spanish speaker; I am indeed not fluent, but I have come a long way from my “Tex-Mex” and “Spanglish” that I picked up in the barrio and from the love of family friends! Lol.

I grew up in very diverse areas of town, and at times, this meant that I heard things like “You aren’t Black enough” (even though I loved chitlin’s and I grew up knowing nothing except what it meant to be Black). I also heard things from random whispering people in the stores listening to my conversations saying “Why is she speaking Spanish?” To this day, I still run into people being so bold as to ask me when I am ordering (in Spanish) my food at the taco stands OR IN MEXICO “Where are you from?” or “Who taught you how to speak Spanish, because you speak so well?” I had to face the reality that I was different and that would always be a part of my life.

Throughout my teenage years and into young adulthood, I struggled with my cultural and ethnic/racial identity, my hair, culture, personal growth, and beyond, but where I faced difficulties, I had to grow through them as well. Love and relationships were and are, in some ways, surely a part of my journey, and learning what it meant to be more than a pretty face and understand what beauty inside and out were powerful tools that I gained in due time. It wasn’t until I became an adult that I learned anything about the other side of my family and this opened a new world for me in terms of clarity, history, and some new relationships. All in all, with my education and experiences, I empowered myself to gain pride, clarity, and learn about my true greatness so that I could grow into greater versions of myself over and over again.

In 2019, I decided to create a space where girls and women felt heard, knew that their experiences were valid, and they could seek ways to become better versions of themselves without being judged, mistreated, invalidated, or disrespected because of who they are or how they look. I knew that writing about some of my experiences in a “real” way may be important as others probably had similar experiences. From childhood through my adulthood, there were and still are many experiences faced and lessons learned, so I wanted to use those things in combination with my education to empower others…and that is what I have done and will continue to do.

Do this snippet of my story resonate with you? If your answer is yes, then you know that you have found a space that will be of much value to you and your family no matter where you are in your journey.