living in mexico city, as a brooklyn girlie.

i recently celebrated 1 year living in mexico city and i was so excited! i posted it on twitter with a series of 4 pictures of me smiling and exploring the city. somehow it made it’s way to mexican twitter and it took such a nasty turn. what i thought was a moment of celebration and joy turned into a massive amount of de*th threats and r*pe threats. the comments ranged from dehumanizing slurs to threats of harm, with people accusing me of being the reason for gentrification. saying that i’m the reason locals are being pushed out of their homes, i need to leave, i’m a gringo, i’m a nigg*r, i need to go back to africa and they’re going to drag me back on a slave boat. these are the lighter comments. then it turned into thousands of comments of people trying to figure out where i live so they can come harm me and the police + the embassy had to get involved to offer me protection. yes, the embassy y’all. it has been a jarring experience to say the least and i’m still wrapping my head around how it got this far, this quick.

it was incredibly disheartening to experience and has discouraged me from talking about mexico city or my happiness around this city ever again on the internet, specifically on twitter. the embassy got involved and has been helping me with relocation.

i’m originally from williamsburg, brooklyn and i know a thing or two about gentrification but i’m sure it is not on the same scale as brooklyn. growing up in the projects, i didn’t have any examples of seeing Black people explore the world, live in new cities, learn a new language, experience a new culture, get their opinions on it, hear about which countries are safe, and which cities are welcoming. i knew i wanted to become a part of leading that conversation and showing other Black people an example of living your best life no matter where you are in the world.

growing up i was surrounded around polish, mexicans, puerto ricans, and dominicans and i have never had a racist experience before. they’ve always been my neighbors, my friends, my community. we would share resources, stories, and tips all of the time. this isn’t to say that there aren’t racist hispanics, i just personally grew up around the most loving group of people. they were a part of my community. now, i’ve been living in mexico city for over a year and i have yet to have 1 racist interaction. i am friends with my neighbors, they know me by name — i know them by name and our conversations are always loaded with smiles, laughter, and light banter all in español. yes, your girl can hold a calm 30-35 min conversation in Spanish now and i’m actually really proud about that. (this was another thing that upset people — they felt like i should have been completely fluent before i moved here or just in a year of living here).

i’ve lived in 8 different countries before. i studied about in ethiopia, tanzania, zanzibar, and mozambique. a few years later i moved to costa rica, ecuador, peru, chile, and brazil. one day i want to talk about this a bit more but i did a homestay in quito, ecuador where i lived with a family and we ate breakfast and dinner together every day so i had no other choice but to speak solo español. it was one of the greatest experiences of my life.

back to mexico, my experience with the locals have been nothing short of warm, welcoming, kind, and giving. when i showed my mexican friends the comments they too were completely appalled.

as an expat, gentrification is such a tricky and complex subject because this problem has so many deep rooted layers to it that are outside of my control. this issue extends further than my individual capacity. i didn’t start it and it will not end after me. i will not encourage people to move here however people are moving here regardless. the rent + cost of living is going to increase because there will always be someone else that can pay that. so i want to talk solutions. i’m talking real solutions that can actually help.

it’s important to respect the culture of a country when you pull up and i’m learning and practicing spanish every day. i read in spanish for 30 mins a day, listen to music in spanish (right now all of latin mafia music goes crazy), only speak spanish with the locals, shop with the locals and only buy at local merchants instead of big chain stores, support local events and communities — but my thing is what else can we do?
i’m thinking should we not rent at airbnb? should we tell landlords we’re not paying that much? will they let us rent for cheaper or just find someone else that can pay?

i want to open up the conversation a bit. when i asked this during the hate comments, the only solution they offered was to leave. realistically, people are not leaving. so what’s the next best option. if you are looking to move to a spanish speaking country, i highly recommend learning and practicing spanish as much as possible. i use pimsleur which is a language learning app. they prioritize listening and training your ear to be ready for conversational spanish which is how adults learn a new language best. i also have a tutor with amazing tutor. sessions range between 50-60 minutes and they are abut $8-16 a session depending on which tutor you choose. i decided to go with a tutor that’s from mexico city.

it’s really unfortunate that this has happened to me but i learned a lot from it. i think that Black joy really upsets people. some said that it didn’t have anything to do with Black joy but it was over thousands of hate comments and people calling me a slave. it has everything to do with race. the audacity of young Black woman to be in another country smiling and benefitting with her financial privilege. yes, gentrification is real but the nerve of a Black woman to reaping the benefits is preposterous.

people do not talk about this enough but when Black people tweet or post anything about mexico city the comments go crazy. they get extremely rude, defensive, and disgustingly racist. this is actually a very big deal. but in person, i do not get this heat or this energy. i have to be honest, they are very respectable and kind people. maybe it’s because i approach every space from a space of humility with eagerness and a sense of curiosity excited to learn — but it does not give racist in person. at least from my experience but i am here to tell you that if you post or say anything about moving or living in mexico city the comments will start going crazy.

back to Black joy. one thing i’m realizing is that it doesn’t matter where you are in the world it will trigger people. it will upset people. i never see anybody else get hate like this the way we do. but the gag is my joy is my superpower and it's not something i want to dim down or compromise. in fact, i plan to double down on the joy, on the abundance, on the light. idk who needs to hear this but your light is needed and the right people will always see it. as hurtful as this experience was it taught me a lot about myself and how to move forward with Black joy on social media.

moving forward i will not be sharing much about mexico city on certain platforms. being a lot more private and doubling down on my holistic wellness content. more content centered around eating for energy, gut health, emotional eating, and building a better and more harmonious relationship with food. that is it. back to the basica.

sharing my joy with platforms like youtube, substack, and patreon. focusing on what feels good to me and the community who values who i am, what i do, and how i enjoy showing up and helping people.

it taught me how to be okay with being perceived and allowing people to believe what they want to believe about me. how others see me is really none of my business and focusing on what's outside of my control is the first way to cause internal chaos and remove me from the present moment. the most important moment.

it taught me how to detach from the negativity and get grounded at any moment. how to focus on real life, what’s currently happening and to honor all the good. my friends started grocery shopping for me, dropping me off gifts and flowers, helping me pay the police guarding my home with food. so far we’ve raised $3000+ to help me relocate!! we are so close to the goal! my community showing up and showing out. i'm so grateful. muy agradecida.

so i say all this to say that despite the dark our light may attract, continue to shine. continue to be your authentic self. continue to rise in your own abundance. continue to take chances. continue to approach situations from a space of love, a space of humility, a space of curiosity, a space of exploration, a space of child like joy, a space of kindness. who you are will always be more than enough. there has never been a time i went through something horrific and it didn’t elevate me in the most miraculous ways.

i recently started reading quinta brunson’s book ‘she memes well’ and she said she knew she was bigger than the ‘largeeee!???’ girl. she knew she was bigger than a girl being taken on a nice date. she said going viral was wild and but she quickly realized how much access she had to the world. it gave her an opportunity to learn and grow and become a better person. she said do not reject the evolution. be like a meme. always taking on new life. this shifted the way i saw going viral. i tend to go viral pretty often, and this opened up a new perspective on seeing virality. i feel like i was seeing it like more eyes, more people perceiving me, more people talking about me and now i see it like i have connected with more people, i have more access to connect with more people, this is a new lane for people to get to know the holistic wellness work that i do. i’m seeing from a space of abundance now and i’m grateful for that pivot out of scarcity thinking.

and i’ll end that here. cheers to taking on new life and i’m trusting that what’s next for me will always be what’s best for me.