Soy Hispana Project: A Hispanic Heritage Month Tribute #SoyHispana

Soy Hispana Project: A Hispanic Heritage Month Tribute

10/12/2015

To close out Hispanic Heritage Month I participated in the #SoyHispana project, it was created to honor positive, influential Hispanas for Hispanic Heritage Month. Each influencer chose a specific person that they either identified with or felt a connection to some how. Organized by myself, and Lillie Morales we aimed to create a sense of unity among Latina bloggers by bringing them together to celebrate Hispanic women who have made an impact in our heritage.

I was inspired by the We are Black History Project, I thought it was both a creative and beautiful movement. As with them, I was aiming to foster a sense of unity between Latina bloggers, particularly New Jersey Latina bloggers, something that I feel is lacking. I reached out to many bloggers and was surprised only a handful responded. Nonetheless the influencers who participated came with excitement and eager to be apart of our first ever #SoyHispana project.

The #SoyHispana project was photographed by fellow blogger and photographer Lillie Morales (Photos by Lillie), with hair by Bombshell Hairdressing, makeup by MUA's Denise Rivera(@BeautybyDenise101) and @Suzdidmymakeup. Special thank you to our sponsors: Sally Hansen, Avon, John Frieda, Conffianz and Sol de Janeiro who provided products to help us achieve our transformations.

I decided to pick Milly Quezada not only because she is a Dominicana like me but also because she is hardworking, humble and talented. The "Queen of Merengue" a fellow New Jerseyan and un orgullo Dominicano, Milly is a multi-Latin Grammy Award Winner. During the 1980s, Quezada was the lead singer of a family group named Milly, Jocelyn y los Vecinos. The group enjoyed wide international success, producing 20 records, some of which were released in both vinyl and CD format.. Since the 1990s, Quezada has been either on tour or in recording studios almost constantly, earning several prestigious awards and public recognition such as keys to cities.

The New York Mayor’s Office under Michael Bloomberg, dedicated November 8th as “Milly Quezada’s day” in honor of her major contributions to the Latin Music Industry. Her Homeland Dominican Republic’s Senate as well as the past two Presidents of her country have honored her at the Presidential Palace for her prolific career that has projected her as an iconic ambassador of the cultural value exalted by her fine performance of the country’s popular Merengue music.

In May 2005, she began a Dominican Republic tour that included a concert with the legendary Conjunto Quisqueya. In early 2009, Milly joined eleven other Dominican music legends on a national tour celebrating the merengue and bachata music traditions of the country. That tour was transformed into a Felix Limardo documentary entitled Sol Caribe. The movie features an original song, La Puerta del Nuevo Mundo that is a once in a lifetime collaboration of the twelve stars. The film was the closing feature at the III Dominican Republic Global Film Festival in November, 2009 and was attended by the President of the Dominican Republic. In June 2015 she commenced her most recent tour #DeReinaaDiva along side another popular and successful Dominican merenguera, Miriam Cruz.