Written by Anna Archibald Though 2016 — a humdinger of a year for many people — is now happily in the past, New Women New Yorkers can’t help but take a look back at the many successes of the past 12 months. The organization saw 45 young immigrant women graduate from its LEAD program and hosted its first ever photo exhibit, Real People. Real Lives. Women Immigrants of New York, in which young women immigrants shared their experiences as...
Written by Khatia Mikadze On a Thursday evening in November as I was trying to find shelter from a persistent rain in a rustic and industrial street of Bushwick, I came across an entrance to a parking lot that was decorated and lit up more than the usual lot would be. I stepped inside and was greeted by a gentleman who seemed to be used to seeing many confused faces. He asked whether I was there for an event...
Written by Ludmila Leiva Names have been changed at the interviewee’s request. For women who choose to have children, the path to motherhood is usually an exciting time. But, for many immigrant women — especially undocumented women — in the United States, motherhood can be frightening and isolating. This was the case for Ana, an undocumented woman based in New York City who, during her pregnancy seven years ago, lacked a stable support system, had a job that offered no...
Written by Divya Ramesh Scarlett Freyre immigrated to North Carolina in 1992 from Bogotá, Colombia — she was 20. Colombia’s long tryst with political instability prompted her father’s decision to send his daughter to the US. The decision was a difficult one for many reasons, especially considering that Freyre had to drop out of Bogotá’s Los Andes University where she was studying Marketing and Merchandising Textiles, and put her education on hold. More than a decade after she arrived...