Andrea Loredo is no stranger to Spanglish. After primarily spending the first four years of her life in San Luis de la Paz, Mexico, Andrea was forced to adjust quickly and often between her native language, Spanish, and English, since her father had just moved his family to America full time.
“Our whole lives we had someone helping us with the few things that were in English, but now our whole lives were in English … Some days it’s Spanish. Others it’s English, but most of the time, it’s Spanglish.” This shift in language perfectly mirrored her evolving multicultural identity, where Spanglish became a natural means of communication, reflecting her blended heritage.
Unfortunately, this realization didn’t make things any easier. With the weight of two cultures on her shoulders, Andrea was forced to figure out who she wanted to be. From the moment she stepped into the American school system, she wanted to fit in with the rest of the kids. “I wanted to dress like them and listen to the same music that they would listen to, but deep down I knew I wasn’t like them, and my parents made sure I knew that too,” she said. Whether it be that Andrea was “too Mexican” for her American friends, or “too white-washed” for her Mexican family, she felt that she was at a cultural crossroads and didn’t know which way to turn.
Given that her interests lied on both sides of the border, Andrea found that her likes and dislikes were a blend of both cultures. When it came to music, some days she resonated with pop mixed with reggaeton, others it was banda or bachata. Slowly, she was finding her footing in the world. “The food I like, the clothes I wear, the music I listen to and even the way I talk became a window into my life that showed just how much these two cultures had influenced me.”
As Andrea got older, she started to realize that changing who she was just wasn’t in the cards. “I learned that both of these very different cultures had become a big part of who I am as a person and that I couldn’t live without either side, nor would I want to.” Since this revelation, Andrea has only one thing in mind for the future, and it isn’t a fancy job title or a string of zeroes in her bank account, but happiness. “It was the realization that just because I work for the New York Times, doesn’t mean I’m going to be happy. Maybe I’m making a good amount of money, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to be happy … I learned that I just rather be content and happy with what I have.”