Representation — READ — THE OPINIONATED

Posts in Representation

THE OPINIONATED: FEATURES | Smashing Stigmas & Stereotypes With Syreeta

I first met my friend Syreeta Martin while we were both students, attending Temple University. I immediately was in awe of her and her ambition to pursue her goals, by any means necessary. We were in a media production class together, and as I got to know her, I found out that she was actually a mother of two young daughters -- all while pursuing her degree.

I've since caught up with Syreeta, and wanted to continue to share her success story. Syreeta's journey will dispel whatever preconceived notions you had about "teen moms," as she had already done for me.

The Opinionated: Features, Social Media, RepresentationDanielle SaccoSeptember 11, 2017syreeta martin, sincerely syreeta, teen mom, teen mother, temple university, inspiration, motivation, stereotypes, documentary, the opinionated features, feature, motherhood, teen pregnancy, mother Comment

THE OPINIONATED: FEATURES | The American Dream & Reality With Shéila

For many of us, we'll never know the immigrant experience firsthand or even secondhand. This is why I wanted to highlight Shéila Mejia's story for The Opinionated: Features. As a child of Mexican immigrants, to say Shey has experienced a lot would be an understatement. While there's been great struggles, there has also been even greater successes.

The Opinionated: Features, RepresentationDanielle SaccoAugust 14, 2017immigration, immigrant, immigrants, identity, cultural identity, mexican, mexico, mexican americanComment

THE OPINIONATED: FEATURES | The Purple Area With Arden

Our society tends to assign colors (amongst many other things) to genders -- pink is for girls, blue is for boys -- but what happens when you fall somewhere in the middle? What happens when you find yourself in the purple area?

Meet Arden. Up until a couple of months ago, I referred to them as my cousin Angelina. When I created The Opinionated: Features, they were the first person who came to mind to kick this series off. It's my hope that through sharing their story and perspective, you can come away with a better understanding of their truth and realize that things aren't as black and white (or in this case, blue and pink) as society would lead us to think.

Representation, The Opinionated: FeaturesDanielle SaccoJune 19, 2017gender, gender identity, lgbtq, lgbt, gender nonconforming, coming out, gender queer, queer, non binary, feature, the opinionated features, arden notoComment