I don’t believe in the term empowerment because it assumes that we never had power within us. We have always had power and courage, but it’s been stripped down and hidden away because systems of patriarchy and white supremacy continue to operate and attack our power. …

I remember being thirteen, looking at myself in the mirror, examining every corner of my face, my cheekbones, my eyes, my nose bridge. I pinch my nose hoping that that small outside force can shape my cartilage to be a bit taller, a bit stronger. Every pair of sunglasses still…

And thoughts on 2019, too. — I stopped writing this past year because I was in a place where I couldn’t be honest and reflective in writing without infringing on the privacy of those around me. I started writing on Medium in 2017 with a post on my new year’s resolution — to choose myself —…

Congratulations! You have graduated from Mariposa 2 and finished your first year in college with such grace and I couldn’t be more proud. This hall was so special which made leaving so hard. Goodbyes are often painful but this is not the end of us. It was very difficult for…

Out of all the spaces I have been lucky enough to call home, I’ve lived in California the longest. My mother is here. My friends are here. My life is here. But I have spent the most of this year elsewhere. Because I have had the privilege of scrambling around…

I feel like writing but I have nothing to write about. I haven’t been traveling. I haven’t been growing as a person. I haven’t really engaged myself in any good conversations. I haven’t been emotionally vulnerable for a while. In fact, if you’ve seen my social media, you know that…

This is for all who identify as women and have been hurt by others who identify as women. — I may not know you and you may not know me but there is something that makes us the same despite our different narratives. We need to remember to be kind to each other because the world is not kind to us. We are all women and we have all struggled. We have all been cat-called, Slut-shamed, Fat-shamed, Told that we are not (insert adjective here) enough.

If you follow me on snap chat, you’ve seen my angry moon-face-filter rant this evening about some annoying American guys I ran into at the metro. The group of three were walking towards the escalator at the metro station and as was I. I was in a rush and after…

A truthful response to the question “How was Paris???” and more — I haven’t shared any stories or written anything since the last one I wrote about my friends and my favorite bar in Paris. It’s not because I stopped living or because life was any less exciting back in suburbia. Life goes on. And life went on. And I understood that…