We were lucky to catch up with Yenia Jimenez recently and have shared our conversation below.

Yenia, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

My writing is based on real-life experiences and I’ve learned from being in different spaces that the need for our cultures, history, and representation is vital. Without it, we are unable to show our younger generation that we are too capable of having a seat at the table. With my approach I want my books to stand out and make a presence in the room. From poetry, prose, and storytelling to nonfiction writing indigenous people are very underrepresented. My family is my biggest inspiration for my writing, storytelling was very important within our generations we always sat down to listen to stories of our ancestors.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am an indigenous artist from San Francisco, California. I started collage art and poetry as a youth and have turned my passion for this expression into a career. My art highlights the complexities of growing up in the projects and highlighting different issues such as identity, generational trauma, feminism, and gentrification. I published my first book in 2020 during the pandemic: Visualize What You Read a collection of poetry, prose, and short stories. I have been performing and holding book readings, and workshops throughout my community from mother support groups, youth in the Bay Area, and Los Angeles communities/nonprofit organizations. I am currently a student at City College of San Francisco working toward my associate’s. My first digital art collage poetry book is set to release in early 2023. I have sold copies of my work nationwide and social media has been my biggest tool for the promotion of my work. I am currently working toward the Spanish translations of my books as well to further expand my work and hope to continue my career in writing.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

The most effective strategy has been the support of my community, local bookstores, and social media. My biggest promotional tool to reach a wider audience has been the use of Instagram and TikTok.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

After years of debating what to do with my writing journey I was inspired by other social media poets that I ran across. It was when I was inspired to turn my writing into a side hustle. As a mother wanting to have extra cash to be able to afford to live in one of the most expensive cities in the States, my goal was to turn my writing into books vs having all my writing journals from throughout the years and turn it into a side hustle.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.etsy.com/shop/NopalesMadrePoetry
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/nopalesmadre?igshid=YWJhMjlhZTc=
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NoPalesMadre?mibextid=LQQJ4d
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yeniajimenez
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@nopalesmadrepoetry7719
• Other: https://linktr.ee/nopalesmadre?fbclid=PAAaYFS6tU61640kQOVMsygfstxkMxdr6TGiAV5bMTvvXU7svSB1jHbpY1Qeg (link tree)

Image Credits
2 collages by Yenia And cover art for zine ‘fronteras’