When You're Invisible

Finding out she was pregnant came as an utter shock to a 16 year old who hadn’t yet realized that her actions had consequences. Letting down her immigrant parents was her biggest fear. She learned at a young age to believe in herself, no matter what. 

Today as a 26 year old mother to a nine year old daughter, Yajaira is still eager to prove herself. She thrives off the energy of New York City&rs...

When Abby ended up at Alcatraz Island one cold winter night in his 20s, he had found himself at the epicenter of the Indian Pride Movement. It blew his mind and made him feel that he had come home to a part of himself that had been missing. 

Abby is an Indigenous Chicano leader who is part of the Yaqui tribe. It’s been 50 years since that night at Alcatraz, but it stands out as a turning point in his life. Together, we look back at...

Too often miners are painted almost as caricatures - as conservative, ignorant, poor, depressed, and selfish. The reality is that miners often go unheard. Coming from families of multi-generational coal miners is a core part of who Danny, Terry, and Charles are. But what they’re most proud of is being in a union.

From their childhoods spent playing in the Appalachian mountains, to their first day inside the mines, to a career-defin...

Daniel says being trans is just a small part of his identity. His obsession with Radiohead is a way bigger part of his life—it’s often in the queue during his drive to and from high school. Most high schoolers are probably fixated on their favorite bands. But most 16 year olds haven’t testified in front of their representatives or organized a protest (and dance party) in front of the Supreme Court. 

Daniel invites us into his world...

Students often ask Mr. J why he’s a teacher. They say he just seems too cool. He used to be one of these students - he went to the high school he teaches at today. Back then, being a teacher seemed like the lamest job in the world to him. But now, he’s a testament to the fact that you can indeed be a “cool teacher.” 

As Black man in his early thirties, Mr. J knows he’s in a unique position to teach in the predominantly Black commun...

It was during her teenage years that Kiana’s life changed dramatically due to pain. She wanted to be an actor and a singer but her condition put that dream on hold. Instead of attending a prestigious performing arts program, she spent her early 20s confined to her bed. 

I met Kiana doing theater in high school, but didn’t know everything she was going through. More than a decade after graduating, it was a privilege to reconnect. We...

In high school, Francisco didn’t fit in with his white, upper middle class, conservative classmates and he didn’t want to. Maybe it was teenage angst, but his identity revolved around being different and rebellious. As he got older, he channeled his punk rock spirit into a fight for social change. Now, he’s a community organizer in Philly dedicated to finding common ground. 

My brother Francisco has always been someone I’ve looked ...

My parents often had to take risks in pursuit of change, whether emigrating from Mexico or taking a leap of faith on a job that moved our family across the country. They open up about their childhoods in Mexico, and their journey from food stamps to the middle class. Being away from grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins in Mexico, our nuclear family has always been close and we unpack what we’ve learned from each other, be it Am...

The white rural working class is so often depicted in the mainstream media as just Trump supporters; but there’s a lot of layers to this community that go unseen. Jen comes from this world and she’s also a new member of my family (my sister-in-law’s sister). We talk about her experience as the first in her family to date a person of color, the isolation caused by grief, and her struggle at times to fit in with her community. You’ll...

Today my friend Lani lives very authentically, but she has struggled with perception and invisibility throughout her life. She unpacks the complexities of living a rough childhood that took her around the world and the nuances of her identity as a half-Korean, half-white woman who never looked like the rest of her family. She gets real about the power dynamics of past relationships and talks about how she hopes to maintain a full r...

I wanted to interview Kate because I didn’t know much about stuttering before meeting her. One percent of the population stutters and unconscious bias can impact this group’s self esteem, work opportunities, and social life. A white 30 year old woman living in New York, Kate has had a stutter since she was a kid but always believed she would grow out of it. She confronts speech therapy techniques that she’s come to see as destructi...

Franklin Lucely, Gilberto, and Ines cleaned up Ground Zero and New York City in the aftermath of 9/11 alongside hundreds of fellow undocumented Latin American workers. These American heroes discuss their experience on the ground during the days and months following 9/11 and the illnesses they developed as a result of their service. While the country has largely forgotten them – offering only token settlements, lack of robust health...

Anicia is an entrepreneur and works as a personal chef and nanny for the ultra-wealthy in New York City. Having met on a photoshoot, Anicia and I bonded over our shared experiences walking into these homes as educated women of color. She’s a first generation Nigerian American and discusses the complexities of power and personhood and some shocking stories from behind the scenes of this industry. In our conversation, the problems su...

Louie worked alongside Ralph at the Columbia University package center, which was an oasis for me in a high stress environment. Being two Latin kids around the same age, Louie and I experienced two sides of this elite institution – me as a student, and Louie as an employee. Louie, ever positive, manages to distill life lessons from encounters with students and colleagues. He also shares his experience of being the oldest of three g...

Ralph – a Marine vet, first generation Dominican American – was the manager of the package center at Columbia University, which is where I went to school for undergrad as a scholarship kid. An unexpected bonding over Spanish led to conversations with him that helped me when I wanted to drop out. He describes his upbringing in Washington Heights as a game of ‘Cops and Robbers’ and then we rehash our early encounters, un...