Tag: Su-Style Expo

Su-Style Expo 2019 Recap

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First I just want to apologize for taking so long to post again. I’ve been in the midst of some personal hardships that I’m actually still working through, but I  am determined to finish what I started. So I’m back and actively working on some new projects that I’m very excited to share so stay tuned for that.

Currently I’m also in the process of outfit planning for theCURVYcon next month and it reminded me that I hadn’t had the chance to share about my experience at the last great fashion event I had the pleasure to attend. As I recounted in my post back in June, as a birthday present to myself, I traveled down to Puerto Rico for the Su-Style Expo. Created by blogger, Suzanne Ujaque, the Su-Style Expo is the premier Latino plus size fashion event in Puerto Rico.Suzanne was the first international fashion blogger I started to follow soon after I launched this blog. I found her to be of interest because of how differently trends can be interpreted due to location and local beauty standards. Beauty stereotypes abound in Latino media in unique ways  which in turn are reinforced by media found in the States. From never showing Afro-Latinos, like me, at all to depicting Indigenous Latinos only as service workers, all the while promoting one specific body type at all times. While there are a few of us Latino/a influencers in this space doing what we can to break these (harmful) beauty standards,  Suzanne was the first (that I know of) that took it a step further by creating an event to help push her message of self and body love with a very unique approach. Continue reading →

Turning 29 in Puerto Rico, La Isla del Encanto

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Once I heard that the the third annual Su-Style Expo, the premier plus size event for Latinas, would be happening on May 4th, literally the day after my birthday, I took this to be a sign that it was finally time for me to go to Puerto Rico. My mother spent over 4 years there working on her BS in Biology before immigrating to the US and so I grew up listening to my mother call Puerto Rico as her “Segunda Patria” (Translation: Second homeland). Having heard her stories and seen pictures of her adventures there, I dreamed about the day that I would be able to travel to “La Isla del Encanto” myself.

My mother’s birthday is a week before mine and she hasn’t been back since she left in 1987 so I figured that  a mother-daughter trip would also be a great birthday present for her. (And by extension, Mother’s Day present too because that was a week after our trip and I was pretty broke after this, hahaha!) So I bought our tickets, booked the hotel and told her to pack her bags. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her so excited.

I had originally planned to do a full-fledged travel vlog complete with a pina colada counter (because there were many, I mean it is Puerto Rico after all), but alas I was having a bit too much fun to take video too seriously. However I still wanted to share a bit about our trip so check it out below!

Day 1 – Travel Day

My mother and I haven’t been on a plane together since 2007 when we flew down to Panama as a family for my great-grandmother’s funeral so it was a nice change of pace to be traveling someplace for fun rather than obligation. The entire time in the airport I caught my mother looking around the airport muttering, “No puedo creer que vamos a Puerto Rico!” (Translation: I can’t believe we’re going to Puerto Rico!)

The face of complete joy at being back.

Even with all the excitement, our first day on the island just consisted of picking up our rental car and settling into our hotel. My mother had to cram three days of work into two in order to get the rest of the week off so she was pretty beat by the time we got to the airport and I had actually stayed up the night before repacking my suitcase for the fourth time so we were pretty tired to do any of the things that I had on the agenda for the day besides getting something to eat. Continue reading →