Today we’d like to introduce you to Natalia Fuentes.
Hi Natalia, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was born in Bogotá, Colombia to a loving couple of doctors. They had three kids – I was the middle child – and despite their efforts to have us follow the family business, we all turned out to be artists.
My whole life, I’ve been driven by the power of love stories. I still remember giving my first boyfriend – a black-haired kid called Daniel from kindergarten – handmade love letters. I even remember my first heartbreak after he proudly announced he was now dating a blonde called Sara, who had just moved from the U.S.
I work to find the meaning of love and all the thousands of ways it affects our lives. That’s how I got to Savannah when I turned 18, eager to pursue my Dramatic Writing degree at the Savannah College of Arts and Design. During my time there, I honed my craft and perfected my love stories, I fell for movies, T.V., the theater, with books.
And I wrote. I wrote as many scripts and prose as I could. I got my first play produced and performed on five sold-out nights. I watched my scripts come to life as beautiful shorts. I loved partners, friends, parents, and pets I lost And I learned.
Today, recently graduated and gazing at the unknown, I know there’s much more learning to do. And even more loving coming with it.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I had a happy childhood. It was adolescence that was tough.
I experienced my first true love when I turned 15, an experience that was both beautifully enlightening and painful. After almost a year of dating, we broke up to a very telenovela-esque turn of events. Infidelity, fights, bullying – all great content for a show I might write someday.
Around the same time, my mother and best friend were diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. It was horrifying and surreal to watch the rock of my family wither away slowly, and our household with her. Her diagnosis plus my discovery of heartbreak threw me on a depressive low that lasted for my last years of high school, and which resonates to this day.
My Mami died at the end of my freshman year at SCAD. Losing her has been the most life-changing experience of my life, and everything I do, I do for her. I write to her. I write about her. Despite having felt a lot of sadness and anger in the last seven years, I’ve also experienced an incredible amount of joy.
I’m grateful for all the pain that brought me today.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’m a writer, which might mean many different things depending on who you ask. In my case, it means I’m a storyteller. I mentioned I write stories about love, but just as importantly, I write the stories of my Hispanic community, my people.
Coming to an American school as an international student was both difficult and exciting. While I grew up simply calling myself “Colombian,” the second I moved to the United States I was thrown a bunch of terms and labels I had never considered. before. Latina, Latine, Latinx, Hispanic – immigrant.
After noticing how misrepresented and underrepresented people born in – or with heritage from – my continent are in entertainment media, I realized it was my duty to change the narrative. All the stories I write are meant to create opportunities for fellow Latinos to find their voice and speak loudly. We’re here and we’re here to stay.
Among the many scripts, I wrote during my time at SCAD was a play set in Colombia with a full cast of Latinx characters. It is titled “La Casa de las Santas,” (The House of Saints) and it tells the story of a young Colombian sex worker who finds her mother’s diary and discovers that her mother’s secret life closely resembles her own.
I was so lucky to get support from my department and my peers, who helped me produce and stage this play in May of 2022. It was a dream come true to watch such a diverse work be staged and celebrated by international and national individuals alike.
What do you think about happiness?
Since my Mami passed away, I have made it one of my life goals to always stay as close to her as possible. Writing makes me feel the closest to her, perhaps because I invoke so much of her into my characters and their relationships.
Every time I finish a script or a story, I feel an overwhelming sense of joy which I like to think is her celebrating my achievements. Making my Mami and Papi proud makes me happy.
In more superficial terms, I have to say kittens, spring in Savannah, dancing to Latin music with my friends, looking at old photos of my family, laughing with my dad, and reading a good novel.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://natalia1020266.wixsite.com/nataliafuentes
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/natis_fuentes
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@natis_fuentes
Image Credits:
Gaby Martínez, Lucas Kermit, and Xin Yu
