My parents are immigrants from Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. I grew up in Inwood, New York, sometimes known as "Little Dominican Republic" in popular culture. I felt particularly connected to my Latina identity as a child. I learnt to dance on Dyckman's streets while listening to reggaeton from my father's Puerto Rican family, and I also gained a good liking for mofongo (despite my Dominican 

side was unable to release mang). I gained an understanding of pa'lante (keep moving forward) and the importance of communal celebration through bachata and block parties from my mother's Dominican family.

I didn't grow up with the newest consoles because my family didn't have much money. On the other hand, I was a huge gamer and would spend hours playing Flash games on our family computer and Pokémon Sapphire on my Game Boy Advance. I also fell in love with tabletop role-playing games, and I still take pleasure in organizing them for my friends. At a high 

I started playing video games competitively in high school, and I started my college's first video game club and collegiate league. Now that I work with Xbox Game Studios Publishing as a business manager, I get to combine my interests with the creation of games that even my cousins in Ponce, Puerto Rico, can enjoy.

I didn't fully comprehend my ethnicity as an Afro-Latina—someone with both African and Latino ancestry—until fairly recently. Salsa dance and sugar skull decorations serve as the unifying symbols of modern media's portrayal of Latinos as a monolithic group. However, Latinos might encounter radically different realities based only on the color of their skin, even within the same nation and community. In order to comprehend and 

As it has historically been suppressed, even within my community, I want to learn more about my African heritage. I consider the curly afros in various character creation screens as I continue to investigate what it means to be Afro-Latina in the setting of America. I adore the fact that playing video games gives me a platform to demonstrate my unabashed self-confidence and the fact that my culture, my brown skin tone, and my natural hair are fundamental components of who I am rather than mere DLC or add-ons.