For Karla Estrada Perez, learning about and celebrating cultures and identities builds communities and relationships.
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Karla Daniela Estrada Perez is sporting terracotta brown nail polish with white Talavera designs to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month. The pattern and style are an homage to Mexican artisan pottery. She accents the nail polish with earrings representing el Sagrado Corazón, or the Sacred Heart, a divine symbol commonly used in Catholicism.
For Estrada Perez, she wears both as a symbol of her culture, heritage, roots and history.
“It serves as a reminder, especially during Hispanic Heritage Month, of who I am and where I came from,” said Estrada Perez, a program assistant in the School of Communications who was born in Ecatepec de Morales in the north of Mexico City and moved to the United States as an infant.
Inspired by her identity and family movement, Estrada Perez double majored at UNC Chapel Hill in Hispanic linguistics and global studies with a focus in international politics, nation states and social movements in Latin America. Linguistics gave her a deepened understanding of the language she spoke at home and expanded her understanding of language as a whole. Global studies expanded her understanding of national and global politics. Together, the majors gave her a broader context and appreciation of not just who she is, but of those around her.
Additionally, Estrada Perez said these majors granted her consistent exposure to Hispanic professors.
“Seeing someone that looked like me or who had similar experiences as me, whether they were Hispanic or from another culture, felt affirming and supportive,” she said.
Before joining the staff in the School of Communications, Estrada Perez held roles at Church World Service and other nonprofits. At CWS, she worked primarily with immigrants, many of whom were unaccompanied minors from Central America and Mexico.
“The nonprofit I worked at was very diverse with employees and program participants from all over the world who spoke a variety of languages,” she said.
Celebrating heritage is about bringing people together
“I’m very intentional about my relationships with others, especially students,” said Estrada Perez. “There is one student who will regularly invite me to lunch to talk about the outside world and learn about my identity.”
She said, with this student and others, she remembers her own undergraduate experience and embraces any opportunity to feed the curiosity of those who want to learn more about her identity and to form relationships.
Estrada Perez also serves as the co-chair of the Latinx/Hispanic Employee Resource Group at Elon, which she describes as a space to bring people on campus together of a similar identity. She shared that ERGs on campus make it easy for employees to find people with similar identities and interests and that it is a great way to build connections with others.
“I love that I can meet people at the university with similar identities who hold different backgrounds,” said Estrada Perez. “I’m able to meet a professor who has 20 years on me and is in a different department, and I can now stop and hold a conversation with them.”
Similarly, she appreciates the ways that Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated at Elon and the opportunities afforded for people to learn about one another.
“We are sometimes seen as a monolith by people outside of the Hispanic community,” she said. “But it’s important to meet people from different countries who speak different dialects of Spanish or other languages because it’s a reminder that we are all coming from different places, we are all here and we are all connecting. It’s super cool.”
Estrada Perez said that the celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month at Elon feels intentional and opens doors to different conversations. Events and programming open dialogue with students and colleagues with whom members of the community may not have otherwise interacted.
“Not to be cheesy,” she said, “but all of these efforts make the world a better place.”
Elon honors Hispanic Heritage Month
As part of Hispanic Heritage Month, Elon University is sharing stories that celebrate the contributions, identities and experiences of students, faculty and staff. This month recognizes the rich histories and cultures of Hispanic and Latinx communities, while also honoring the ways these traditions connect with and inspire people of all backgrounds. This month provides a special opportunity to honor Hispanic and Latinx heritage, but it also serves as an invitation for all members of the university to engage, learn and celebrate together.