A Tale of Two Cultures: Creating The Community with Bianca Kea
La Communidad es Famila.
Our October feature is a nod to the intersection between culture and community.
The beauty in diversity can serve as foundational building blocks to creating a sense of community. Wherever we may land geographically, we develop a sense of belonging when we’re able to identify with the roots of who we are – culturally, creatively, and even consciously. In 2020, many of us are taking a pause to deep dive and truly reconnect with ourselves. Our journey to highlight women who have been walking in purpose and authenticity started years ago but, last month, we decided to peel back more layers that led to the WHY within these stories. To be quite honest, this next CNK Monthly Highlight hits very close to home. As we continue to embrace our Black, Brown, and Indigenous brothers and sisters, it seemed fitting that we tell a story from the lens of someone who understands just how much identity matters in creating a conversation greater than yourself.
Growing up as impressionable young girls, we become easily immersed in the labels and weights associated with societal expectations. The media plays a big part in that programming, but Bianca Kea is shifting the narrative and trailblazing her own path to celebrate her culture in more ways than one. As the founder of Yo Soy AfroLatina, a clothing line that is equal parts nostalgia and a call to understanding the complexity that is mixed heritage, Bianca took her passion for learning and representation to create a safe space where women feel seen and recognized.
In this new age of Covid and gimme 6 feet, we leaned into our virtual creative nature and tapped Bianca for a FaceTime photo shoot in her home in Houston, Texas. She, of course, made our job easy. Looping us into her home decor and helping us capture the special places in her space that allow her to create what we see in our e-carts and build a community of women who know that comunidad es familia.
Although the idea for Yo Soy Afro Latina dates back to 2016, the seeds were planted years before that. This year alone we have become witness to a substantial increase in the embrace of all cultures, but representation was not always at the forefront of brand storytelling or media outlets. Bianca had a front-row seat to this growing up in the Midwest (Detroit to be exact) as a girl who identified as Afro-Latina.
“My mother did her best to educate me on my Mexican roots, yet I still felt a slight disconnect from the Latin community. Because I didn’t resemble Latinas who had European physical features, I felt I wasn’t Latina enough—even though I identified as such, even though my Latinidad was all I knew.”
Bianca took it upon herself to research and learn more about the Black diaspora within the Latin American community. She began traveling to Mexico in 2010 and really seeing the beauty in the culture that is a melting pot of many different shades and backgrounds. When Bianca moved to New York in 2015, the exposure to more cultural traditions, foods, and dialects pushed her passion to evolve into more purpose.
“With all of this new-found knowledge and experience, it felt like a new world was opening up for me and for many who look like me. That became a catalyst for me and the role I wanted to play: fostering a community that celebrates and honors Afro-Latinidad through my brand Yo Soy Afro Latina.”
Yo Soy Afro Latina is a celebration. The brand serves as a hub to empower, uplift, and educate everyone about the duality of cultures with the understanding that you don’t have to choose one versus the other. Bianca poured herself into creating products for YSAF while continuously learning about her roots. An important piece of Bianca’s brand is that she moves with intention, always working to bring a sense of awareness to represent for her communities. She took her challenges growing up and created something to serve women and young girls who may be facing the same. With the inception of Yo Soy Afro Latina, Bianca never stopped being a student of her cultural history and created shirts, coffee mugs, dad hats, and other products to speak to her mission of representation. But more so, to create a community that saw itself recognized as a whole when so often they are forced to pick and choose the parts of their identity that fit best in any given situation.
Bianca found a unique way to position herself and ignite a sense of pride and create a family of women who feel seen. Not only is Yo Soy Afro Latina a celebration of who you are, but the brand serves the community by creating opportunities for others. By hiring and working with Black and Latinx creatives, Bianca has set a standard of connectivity with organic content creation. Providing visibility to rising artists from designers to models to photographers and more, the YSAL brand continues to push the envelope on how real representation should look. Bianca is also adamant that the celebration of culture should not be segmented to a certain holiday or highlight of tragedy in mainstream news channels.
PHOTOS: KATIE CHARLESWORTH; STYLING: BIANCA KEA
Let’s be clear: building anything from the ground up isn’t easy and it takes many attributes that are already built into our DNA as women. Strength, resilience, drive, passion, and a hunger for learning to name a few. Bianca has shown us that if you want something that doesn’t seem readily available to you, it’s not impossible to create an action plan to live out your dreams and reach your goals. It’s also not impossible to use your creativity to give voice to those who have been marginalized. It starts with making a commitment to something bigger than yourself by being dedicated and disciplined.
“I feel like everybody assumes that it takes a special person to impact change but truly, anyone can do it. Impacting change starts with yourself first, you have to look within and figure out how to embody those features or attributes that you wished were present in whatever environment you’re trying to impact.”
Staying close to family and making sure that we as women carve out time to establish a self-care ritual is another ingredient to Bianca’s success story. On any given Saturday, that could look like vibing to 90s R&B music or catching up on the latest podcast episodes. She affirms that recognizing the blessings right in front of you can keep you centered in the midst of teaching you important life lessons.
Bianca’s go-to: at-home workspaces and her new puppy, Bow Wow. // Image: Katie Charlesworth for CNK
Being born into two cultures that have built communities through hard work, Bianca embodies the important work attributes that go back to one key word: SERVICE. Her brand continues to educate while empowering all of us to lean into our desires and never forget that community, family, and diversity are gifts.
Written By: Cassidy Edwards and Channing Beumer
Photographer: Katie Charlesworth