Serena Castillo of Queens on Life, Lessons & Legacy

We’re looking forward to introducing you to Serena Castillo. Check out our conversation below.

Hi Serena, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day to share your story, experiences and insights with our readers. Let’s jump right in with an interesting one: Would YOU hire you? Why or why not?
This is the perfect question to start things off. For starters, I think I would be bias to this question but yes! I would hire me. I would hire me because I’m fairly new to the publishing world but I am not new to the world of being a writer and author. For many years I’ve had the experience working with publishers, publishing my work, writing, and editing. I know how the process works. As an author, an indie(independent) author, I know that it takes times to get people to notice your work, which can be good and bad. I know what moves to make, and I will also be able to listen to what you want to do with your work apposed to just telling you what to do with your work. My role as a publisher now, is to make sure that my clients get what they need, but also my readers, hence why we started with publishing magazines. We are the stepping stone to all those writers and creatives into the big publishing world, get their names out there in some kind of capacity.

Sometimes people do not want to take a chance on the little fish, and the little fish is usually the ones that make it to the top in the end. With time and patience and of course resources and guidance, both my services, my brand, and my clients will each make it where they need and want to be.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Serena Castillo. I am an author turning publisher. I’ve authored two books already, Drugs of Love and Sex (2020) and Unknown (2022) – working on more of course! In the time of the publication of that book to now, I have been working on many things but one special project was an online platform – The World of Perspective™ – an online magazine dedicated to share work from writers, creatives, artist, photographers, and anyone looking to get there work out there. We didn’t stop there. The digital magazine is dedicated to sharing resources, knowledge, advice, and more. The World of Perspective™ is dedicated to being a community to help those who want to advance their careers, find help, need a boost, and connection to help them build on what they are already doing.

Over there years, I’ve realized that one of my superpowers was helping to connect people with each other, whether that was for projects, acquaintances, business, art, community, friendships, I knew that I would be able to build the community I was looking for, even if it did start off small.

This year in 2025, we launched our first print issue of The World of Perspective™ Volume 1 – New Beginnings. This magazine was just the beginning and its first issue was a major success! The purpose of our print issue is the same as the digital magazine but also to bring together another audience, the audience that want to read and enjoy art in the palms of their hands.

As a creative, getting your foot in the door is hard. Whether you know the right people or not, sometimes it is hard to get yourself in the right crowd, in the right room, or even market yourself. But, this is not a downfall for just creatives, this is a downfall for us all in any career or life path. We all need the right help, and the right place to dip our feet in the water and that is what we want to solve. We want to be your first step, whether you just need a push, advice, or just stopping by, we want to be the tool to help you. There are plenty of platforms, agencies, websites, and even books that can help you out. Yet, we are still trying to make a difference. That’s what matters. We are looking for everyday individuals like yourselves, regardless of whether you have a creative bone in your body, because it starts with you, the reader. Without readers, we won’t be able to create great content, share it, or even start this project.

Overall, we do many things. Our umbrella company Castillo Publications does digital and print publishing, production, freelance services (writing and editing), and workshops. Our role is to help people in whatever stage they are in: to learn, to grow, to publish, to write, to create, to build, to be apart of something more.

Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. Who saw you clearly before you could see yourself?
I always tell people that my mom is my biggest supporter, which she is. I can attest to that. Everything I’ve ever wanted to do, she had made sure I was able to make it happen, little or small.

But, the first time I knew I needed to get on the role and write MORE, was my uncle. This was a few year back, I think I was still in high school at the time, so maybe 2012-2015, and I was reading these urban fiction books, I would go check them out of the library. Some of them were really bad editing and grammatical errors were noticeable but I didn’t care. The storylines were great, the plot always thickened, and the characters had much trauma.

My uncle told me that I needed to write a book like that. I was always writing, and always reading. I should give it try. At that time, I didn’t really think I could do that, at that time I also didn’t know my strengths as a writer, and then a few years later when I was writing my second book, Unknown, one of the short stories, “Misconduct” was just that, a hint of urban fiction, with the same mentions of what I said early was in the books I was reading. And it was the most challenging story I wrote. I believe that was the reason my uncle wanted me to write it, to know that we all get hit with challenges, and we have to face the head on. “Misconduct” is one of my most popular stories in my second book and will be getting a sequel in my next book.

When did you stop hiding your pain and start using it as power?
I don’t believe I ever “hid” my pain. I used my pain in my writing. It’s not until I published my books that people saw the pain that I may have been carrying or still carry. I believe that we have to use our experiences, what we go through, who we face life with, and use those to help us with our craft, whether that is music, art, writing, dancing, even just trying to make it day by day. Our pain helps us to shape who we are. We never should have to deserve the pain we face; pain is also how we learn what we can and cannot take. In each chapter of my life, I’ve used writing as a safe space to help me to overcome downfall, heartbreak, pain, uncomfortably, loss, growth, and change. I will continue to do that because my voice matters in my craft, and as a writer, and as a business person.

Next, maybe we can discuss some of your foundational philosophies and views? What’s a belief or project you’re committed to, no matter how long it takes?
Success.

This is one attribute about life that I know can either come quickly or be a long journey. I define success as all the milestones that lead up to the final step/goal but also that creates endless opportunity to help build up my career and experience. Success can be defined in multiple ways: how much money you make, how powerful you are, the connections you have, the life you live, and more. But, true success is about the journey and how impactful that journey was for you and the people that it helped. That is why I don’t want to rush to get to the top and I’m not looking for the fame or the riches because money cannot define true success.

Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: What do you think people will most misunderstand about your legacy?
The legacy I want the brand to leave behind it community. Through community, through perspective, we can create a better system of getting to the top and accomplishing our goals. I want people to remember that together change happens. We need community and resources to help us all get where we need to be and even if that community is small, it will grow over time.

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Nsikak Ekong

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