About me, my market, and what I love most about my work:
I write at the intersection of race, gender, and pop culture. I’m a third-generation, mixed, Chicana who lives in Santa Fe, NM with my two kids, spouse, and rescue dog. What I love most about TV and film criticism is delving into the politics behind works and what they reveal about our world. Media can take anything (real or imagined) as its subject matter so covering TV and film lets me explore our world in all of its complex, hilarious, and maddening beauty.
This is my passion project, or passion in general:
In addition to my career as a freelance critic, I co-founded and serve as editor-in-chief of LatinaMedia.Co, an indie publication uplifting Latina and femme Latinx perspectives in media. What started out as an experiment (Did we have something to say? Would anyone care?) has grown into this diverse, thriving community. It’s been amazing seeing Latinas take up the mantle of media criticism, using their bylines with us to go off and have whole careers and networking with each other to support our individual and shared ambitions. And our audience is hungry to read criticism that takes our cultural background as a given and goes from there. Come join us.
What it means to me to be part of the CCA:
One of our LatinaMedia.Co writers (@ingridquerubina) once tweeted, “Freelance writing is like an unpaid internship, but with yourself.” I laughed out loud the first time I read and it still makes me smile – because that is how it feels sometimes! But having groups like the CCA helps to mitigate that isolation. I am grateful to have this amazing community of peers to learn from and contribute to.
My favorite film/TV series that I am currently watching and why:
As a kid, I loved Star Trek and so was excited to watch the initial wave of Paramount+ shows. They are fun but are missing what made Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and Voyager so special – that their main battle was always with ideas, not whatever enemy was in front of them. That said, on the recommendation of the Pop Culture Happy Hour episode on Picard featuring Eric Deggans, I’ve been watching that show’s third season and LOVING IT. “Strange New Worlds” is next and I’m beyond excited for it.
My social media and where you can find my work:
Find me @cescobarandrade on Twitter and Instagram, editing LatinaMedia.Co (@latinamediaco), and writing at POPSUGAR, Roger Ebert, and wherever good ideas are sold.
