Waddup waddup!

I'm Solange Castellar, a 2nd year Master's student in Women's and Gender Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center.

My work lies in representations, specifically Latino/a/x media representation for Latinx youth. I love deconstructing media, and it holds a special place in my heart, as a former Media Studies and Film Studies undergrad from CUNY Queens College. I originally surrounded myself in media studies so I could watch movies and tv all day, but I wanted to know more about what images we see on the screen, and how those images make us feel. I started to carry that over to how Latinos are represented on screen, why that imagery connotes bad/good representations, and now, how receptive Latinx youth are to these images.  

I also work at another CUNY, the New York City College of Technology. Over in Downtown Brooklyn, I'm the coordinator for the college's WISE Women's Center, where I program events for students with topics of gender, sexuality, and race, along with building the women's center's college resources. I also love talking and connecting with City Tech students.

​You can also catch me in my regular BUST Magazine column, "Bra-ometer: Women's News In Brief," where I list quotes by women, bad news/good news, and statistics about women. I try to make my page reflective of Brown and Black voices as much as possible.  

A little background about myself, I'm Puerto Rican and Filipina (I have a tattoo that melds them!), originally from Daly City, CA, but I've been living in New York since I was three.

I'm a pretty low-key person, when I'm not deconstructing whiteness in the daily sphere. I have my wine and Netflix nights, and I absolutely love downtime with my Old English Bulldogge, Rocco. I'm either emotional, awkward, loud, passionate, and spontaneous, like the true Sagittarius that I am. I strongly believe in making friends with a bartender, so you can have really great drinks.

​I can recite Clueless, can extensively talk to you about Mad Men, and horribly sing you "America" from West Side Story. I'm #TeamIssa on Insecure, will always be #TeamMichael on Jane The Virgin, and I hate-watched Gilmore Girls because how else are you supposed to watch it? If you catch me studying in a coffee shop, you'll most likely find me boppin to Beyoncé or Selena. ​

Poster by The Unapologetically Brown Series

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Check out some of my pics on my life and my work below!  

Don't forget to listen to my
Shine on Ladies! playlist
​before you go, and watch my book trailer for the graphic novel adaptation of Octavia E. Butler's Kindred​.