We were lucky to catch up with Adrian Ernesto Cepeda recently and have shared our conversation below.

Adrian Ernesto, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What do you think it takes to be successful?

There is a very inspiring saying and quote from Benicio Del Toro. He famously said, “Turn down the volume of your Expectations, and Turn up the volume of your Perseverance.” It takes dedication, passion, a daily worth ethic and perseverance to become successful in your field. You must overcome, not only your self-doubt, but rejection and being a poet you sometimes hear people or critics say and ask, “What are you going to do for money when you grow up.” Poetry is my life. Being a stutterer and someone who suffers from a speech impediment, Poetry gave me my voice and I know every time I have a reading, event or perform my poems, it inspires others to follow their creative voices and share them with the world. I wake up every day excited to work on my craft and to be able to do what I love while sharing my creations with the world is how I define success to me.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is Adrian Ernesto Cepeda, I am an American with Colombian heritage. I was the only member of my family to be born in America. I am a writer, poet and published author of six Poetry collections, my latest La Lengua Inside Me, published with FlowerSong Press reflects a journey of rediscovering my bilingual voice through my poetry.

I am most proud that I have made my name through hard work, dedication and perseverance in a publishing field that is difficult to find success. I believe being a bilingual poet with a speech impediment who is passionate about my craft resonates with my audience and those who are admirers and connoisseurs of the art of poetry connect with my unique voice.

I believe to be successful in the publishing industry as a poet or any creative field, you need to proudly share your own voice and try not to mimic or copy anyone else. Your audience can feel authenticity when you read and share your art. It is important that a reader or someone at my performances can connect with me, even though we may be from different cultural backgrounds, I always say, the personal is universal. We all love, hurt, laugh, cry and bleed the same. If you as an artist that reach your audience and make them say, I have felt like that too, you have successfully connected with your readers and they will return to support you and share your art with others in their life.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

For so many years, because of my stutter, I was ashamed of my own voice. Growing up I was very shy. I loathed speaking in public it would terrify me. So many times when I would have to read my presentation in front of the class I would stutter all the way through it, many would laugh and destroy any self-confidence that I had inside.

It took years to accept and realize that my stutter is actually my super-power. I remember before I was accepted into the MFA program at Antioch University in Los Angeles, I would attend a weekly open mic reading in Burbank, CA. I would go and attempt to read my poems. I would stutter my way through almost each and every word. The amazing thing is that the organizers always would encourage to read and I would return each week to try again and again.

Reading at these events was life changing. One day, I recited a poem and in the middle of reading my verses, I had a life changing event, I felt myself connecting through each word of this poem. By the end of this reading, I realized my purpose in life. I was a Poet and I needed to read my poems to world.

After I left the stage, a woman came up and hugged me, to tell me that “this was the greatest poem she had ever heard in her whole life.” At that moment, after stuttering for months coming to this open mic poetry reading, I had not only found my voice but my calling in life as a Poet.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My goal is to inspire people to use their own unique creative voice and share the pain and joy that have experienced in their life to create their art with these inspirations. Being someone who is a stutterer, I wish there had been someone out there that was a beacon who could show me despite my limitations with my talking voice, I could still overcome all of my fears and trepidations of being a stutterer and become successful in my field as a published poet.

Every time I read in front of an audience, I hope there is someone out there that thinks to themselves, if he can stand up stutter through his poems and share his art, I can do the same. I want to be the one who encourages those out there with doubts about their shyness, their doubts and fears and tell them to speak up and share their stories, poems, songs and art. The world needs all of our creative voices.

Now I am on the mission to inspire bilingual poets, writers and artists from all cultures to use their bilingual voices to share their art and bring it out to the masses. There is a whole generation of bilingual artists that grew up in a multicultural household where their families speak more than one or two languages. My goal is to encourage those poets and writers to share and their unique experiences by writing with their bilingual voices. Bilingual Poets, Writers and Artists unite and show the world by celebrating your multiculturalism with your art.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.AdrianErnestoCepeda.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/thepoetnotarockstar/
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/poetnotarockstar/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/PoetNotRockStar
• Other: Bluesky:
  @poetnotarockstar.bsky.socialThreads:
  www.threads.net/@thepoetnotarockstar

Image Credits

Photograph 1 by Luivette Resto
Photograps 2-4 by Jean Pierre-Rueda
Photograph 5 by Adrian Ernesto Cepeda. design by Edward Vidaurre