Let's talk AfroLatinidad: Writing as an Act of Liberation

Anyin├® ÔÇ£AngieÔÇØ Galv├ín-Rodr├¡guez, M. Ed

Educator. Blogger. Founder. Writer Dominican born, Puerto Rico and Chicago raised blogger Anyiné (ann-yee-neh) “Angie” Galván-Rodríguez, identifies herself as a AfroLatina.  Her journey as a blogger, inspired by her daughter, began in 2013 when she decided to share her experience as she transitioned from relaxed hair to fully natural hair curls through her blog AfroLatina Natural. What began as a “naturalista''blog about her natural hair journey and hair product reviews, flourished into a pathway to embracing and confirming her identity as an Afro-Latina. Her blog and social media platforms are venues of self-expression of her experience of being an Afro-Latino/a in the USA.  In addition to sharing hair product reviews for natural curly hair and encouraging more women to go natural, she continues to share her experiences through an Afro-Latina lens as a mother, woman and educator.  Ultimately, she hopes her writing will increase awareness of the Afro-Latino experience in the USA and Latin America. Her “Pelo Malo '' and AfroLatina narratives have been featured on online magazines such as Boriqua Chicks, Dominican Writers Association, Es mi cultura, Mixed Chick’s My Hair stories series and Parents® Latina. She was invited as a guest panelist in the 2016 Lánzate conference, hosted by Mijente in San Juan Puerto Rico to speak about the AfroLatina Digital Diaspora. In 2017, she was a guest in La Verdad Podcast as a guest to speak about the AfroLatino experience. In 2017, theater served as a vehicle to continue to raise awareness and share her story and was part of the cast of theater production “La Sala,'' by Mike O productions in the fall of 2017, fall of 2018 and Spring of 2019 in Chicago, IL. She performed her Pelo Malomonologue expressing her experience as a black Latina and the complexities of having “bad hair” as a child. She is currently working on a project which will be her first book published. Anyiné is a writer at heart and a middle school International Baccalaureate® Curriculum Coordinator by day, in the Southwest of Chicago. She is able to share her passion for authentic real-word application in education and fostering international mindedness among youth by coaching educators to be the window to the world for their students through their subject areas. As an educator, she has been invited to speak to youth as well as students at the university level to share the intersectionality of identity and academic achievement. Anyiné is also the founder of the 2cities 1mundo community service project, that began in 2013, which raises funds and collects backpacks and school supplies to send to children in communities with strong Afro-Latino presence such as in her home barrio Los, Tres Brazos, Santo Domingo Dominican Republic and children in Loíza Aldea, Puerto Rico. Since 2013, the project has sent more than 400 backpacks to children.