NFAND Episode 21 - Melissa Montero, artists, activist, filmmaker

Melissa Montero is an Ecuadorian-Puerto Rican warrior, activist, filmmaker who dances the hustle. Automatic five stars, in my book. Her moral compass directs a lot of her creative efforts. We talk dance, the hustle, salsa, discipline, Oscar Lopez Rivera, and Isabel Rosado.

Melissa is one of the core committee members of the 35 Mujeres NYC X Oscar, a group of 35 women of different ideologies, faiths, and backgrounds who gather in neighborhoods throughout New York City the last Sunday of every month to rally until Oscar Lopez Rivera is pardoned and released from prison.

She’s been working on a documentary, Mi Madrina Revolucionaria (My Revolutionary Mother) for several years, about her search for a deeper sense of her identity as a Nuyorican through her encounters with Isabel Rosado, a woman whose life encompassed the history of Puerto Rico over the last century, and whose struggle reflects the politics that have divided Puerto Ricans to this day. 

#freeoscarlopezrivera #PuertoRico #film #art #identity