This week’s guest is author Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodriguez. She was born in Nicaragua and moved to the United States with her family in elementary school. Prisca is the founder of Latina Rebels. She studied at Vanderbilt University, earning her Master of Divinity. She’s published two books, For Brown Girls with Sharp Edges and Tender Hearts: A Love Letter to Women of Color and Tías and Primas: On Knowing and Loving the Women Who Raise Us.
Growing up in Nicaragua for Prisca
Prisca shares that growing up in Nicaragua, there was a lot of family history. For example, she could go anywhere, and people knew her grandfather based on her last name. In specific neighborhoods, people knew her grandmother. Prisca says, “Like you were connected to people who had connections to a land that was like generations upon generations.”
She remembers going to school on her bike. She couldn’t do in the US because of how the neighborhoods are set up. Also, it wasn’t safe for her to bike to school once they moved to the US. She also mentions that because of the embargo the US placed in Nicaragua, they weren’t able to get film. So there are no pictures of her as a baby.
Culture Shocks Prisca Experienced
I always love learning about immigrants’ culture shock experiences when they first move to the US. Prisca said hers was the AC and hot water to shower. She felt like it was cold everywhere and thought her family was rich because they had AC, which is not common in Nicaragua.
I knew exactly what she was talking about because I had the reverse reaction when I visited the Dominican Republic. There was only AC in public places like grocery stores, banks, malls, etc., but regular houses or apartments didn’t have AC. People just had lots of fans. And there was no hot water to shower. So, for children, people warm up the water in the stove, add cold water until it’s lukewarm, and then shower the children. But honestly, it’s so hot down there that you don’t need hot water because you’re usually trying to cool down from the heat.
Writing Process for Prisca
Prisca shares that the writing process for her book For Brown Girls was challenging because no one ever told her she could write a book or that she should write a book until it was happening. Plus, she was told she wasn’t a good writer in grad school. With that in mind, she never thought she could write.
It wasn’t until Tanisha Ramirez from the Huffington Post Latino Voices reached out to her via Instagram that she landed her first writing gig. She was the editor and loved Prisca’s Instagram captions, but Prisca didn’t believe her initially because she had been told she couldn’t write. After the first few pieces, Prisca wrote for about 16 publications, but she wasn’t making much money.
Suddenly, she was invited to speak at universities and gave up on writing in 2019. It wasn’t until an agent reached out to her on Twitter, this time telling her she wanted to help her write a book. And again, Prisca thought it was a joke. She wrote the book proposal, the agent pitched it, and five publishers were interested. Prisca wrote the book in 2020 when it felt like the world was on fire, so it was hard.
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