Meet Cristine Silva

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Cristine Silva. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Cristine, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?

My grandmother used to wake up at sunrise when she was the co-owner of the local grocery store. With skilled fingers she kneaded the bread, selected the finest ingredients, ranging from the smoothest sauce to the softest butter. She would stand behind the counter, apron securely tied around her waist, peppering flakes of spices and secret ingredients that were passed down through generations. My grandfather was the one who handled everything else.

She wasn’t young when we lost him, but at that point, it was everything she knew. All enveloped by the softness of our family’s hidden prejudices, my mother and uncles had a sneaking suspicion she would be lost. They all sat down quietly on the spent bench of the old beach house’s terrace one week after the funeral. It was with hushed tones and soft touches that they asked what she wanted to do next, as if the question could become the haunting memories of a woman. My grandmother, northern accent persistent as a generational heirloom said, “everything I ever had, I had to share. Now I get to live for myself.”

As a woman, my grandmother never had many opportunities. As a black Latina, the pattern she was supposed to fit in was even worse: a mother, a nurturer, never just a human. However, it was within the stolen stares of people in the streets that she still managed to find a voice. The bravery and valor of her actions were passed down to my mother, the first child to finish college and only daughter in the family, and as ingredients to the bread that had neighbors lining up and down the block, it was passed down to me.

As artists we are predestined to be in a place of doubt. “Do not to leap forward, do not choose the unpredictable, stay”, we hear. The easiest way always seems the way out when all we want is to be seen. When I think of falling into these old patterns, I think of that beach house and all the stories it holds and the women in my life that show me every day that believing in yourself is to forgive and persist.

The morning light has some kind of mystery to it, some kind of happenstance that leads us to believe that there is something else out there, something that we are all bound to find, fight for. Still, the sun sets in every part of the world, however brief its appearance was, and we learn to move on. We learn to become.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

I am currently balancing two roles in my life: I’m a full-time Master’s student and an aspiring writer. As a student, my focus is on literature and communication because as much as I love being cooped up in my room with my characters, I also love yapping.

As a writer, I create stories about people who usually have unheard voices. I’ve been working on my first novel, which I am really excited about! It is a mix of personal experiences and themes such as found family, the challenges of mental illness and not growing up because you don’t know how to.

Looking ahead, I plan to become a published writer and hopefully pave the way to a new generation of writers.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

There are three things that impacted my journey the most. As a writer, you need to learn how to read with a different, more clinical eye, you need to understand the intentions behind words and think how they can mirror your own ideas. You also need to be able to separate yourself form your world, sometimes characters’ actions need to contradict your beliefs and that is okay. And finally, write for yourself—what matters most is that you enjoy the process.

Don’t wait until life gives you an opportunity. If you want something, start it yourself. The only person truly capable of holding you back or laying a foundation to your future is yourself.

How can folks who want to work with you connect?

I am currently looking to collaborate with fellow Latin writers on a series of short stories about our shared experiences as minorities in the field. If interested, please feel free to reach out to me on Instagram!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @itmaybecrissy