First but not last :)

Oi gente!

My inner child and I are stocked to be writing this :)

As a child, I loved writing. And reading. And connecting with people. I still love all of it as an adult, but the process of “becoming” an adult distanced me from writing.

In short, in my last high school year, I was working and pursuing a technical certificate in Event Planning. Then college came around I was running my own business, studying full time, working part-time, AND working on a government project that paid for my college tuition. Needless to say I didn’t have the time to enjoy some creative time outside of writing papers and my undergrad thesis. I moved to the US after graduating college and in between navigating living in a new country and learning English, spending time writing or even to read, wasn’t a thing. Fast forward to today, I’m working on reclaiming my creative time and confidence. English isn’t my first language, so I became extremely self-conscious about even trying to write because, well, my English is “broken.” Although I have an associate’s degree from this country and graduated with a 3.7 GPA, worked at one of the biggest tech companies in Seattle, and released a podcast that was featured by Spotify alongside iHeartRadio and other big names, I still felt like my English wasn’t enough to start a blog or work with writing content. Sigh.

Here is a phrase that made me think: “Never make fun of someone who speaks broken English. It means they know another language.” H. Jackson Brown, Jr, and isn’t it the truth? Also, can we stop using “broken” English? There is nothing broken here, right? I bet you understood everything that I just wrote and that’s what matters. So I’ll be here, writing in English and Portuguese, with human mistakes, sometimes Grammarly corrected or not because I don’t have the premium version (okay Grammarly, that was smooth - sponsor me please?) and that’s okay. I hope you enjoy reading my hiking stories, tips, and curly hair related content because I’m feliz to share!

Tchau e até a próxima!

Fernanda