Venezuelan | Curacaoan
My Mother was born and raised in Venezuela, my Father was born in Curacao but moved to Venezuela with his Mother at a young age where he was raised most of his life. My parents split up shortly after I was born. This made my perception of being of mixed-race a distorted journey growing up. My Mother has very light skin, dark straight hair and dark eyes, making her look very European. To me she was the embodiment of beauty, making it difficult for me to understand why I didn’t look the same. Growing up I lived in several countries. My Mother remarried when I was 9 to a Venezuelan man. Being of dual heritage, I wasn’t accepted because my hair was thick and ‘bad hair’, because my skin was darker and because I didn’t look one bit like my Mother or Stepfather, who was also of light skin colour. I despised the part of me that made me of dual heritage and all I wanted was to look like my friends and belong. I felt ashamed for being Black, and also ashamed for being Latinx because I realised my own people where discriminating me. At the age of 14 I moved back to The Netherlands and reconnected with my Father after a long time. My parents played no role in managing to combine my different cultures. Food plays a big role in staying in touch with both my cultures. Having a bite of any traditional dish brings back memories and make new ones when I share these dishes with family and friends. Same goes for music. Anything with drums and percussion will grab my attention because it reminds me of bachata, salsa and African music. My hair is a big part of my personality and I love to use my hair as a way to express who I am. I try to wear my hair as natural as possible to celebrate my dual heritage. Being mixed gives me the advantage of blending in more easily when needed, because I’m used to living in two worlds. This also gives me a taste of the best of both worlds, being capable to switch from language to language and understanding different perspectives and social structures.
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