Dear readers,

When I started pre-school here in the United States I didn’t know my actual name, giving me a little identity crisis at the age of 4. This all goes back to when my Mom was pregnant with me, everyone referred to me as “Michelle”, it had already been decided early on that that would officially be my name. From how my Mom tells me, it was as if I had already been born because of how people talked about me. Unfortunately, as her due date got closer, her aunt Silvia past away. My parents then decided to change my name from “Michelle” to “Silvia Michelle”, but since my whole family-including-those who hadn’t met me or were even in another continent- had gotten used to calling me “Michelle”, they couldn’t get rid of the habit. A habit that had me not knowing my own name until I was 4 years old when they took attendance and I didn’t hear my name which then lead to little 4-year-old me arguing with the teacher, and then later my Mom, about how my name is Michelle. This whole debacle had me questioning who I was before I could even write.

My full name, that I learned when I was 5, is Silvia Michelle Lianza Huamani, everyone outside my family calls me “Silvia” but when they’d hear my Mom call for me they’d get really confused. Once I’d finish telling the story they’d try to call me “Michelle” but I’d just shake my head and in a deadpan voice I’d say “no” because it sounded unnatural, especially since they say it with the English pronunciation and not the Spanish one that I’m used to. My second last name, “Huamani”, is from my Grandfather on my Mom’s side who was Peruvian and part Spanish. My last name, “Lianza”, is from my Grandfather on my Dad’s side who is Italian which is what most people find surprising.

  As a proud Latina, I grew up speaking Spanish.  My dad is from Venezuela  but my mom is Peruvian. I was born in Caracas, Venezuela, like my Dad, on March 26, 2000, but I haven’t been back there since I was a toddler.  A year after I was born my mom came to the United States while I went to Peru and my Dad stayed in Venezuela. All three of us were spread out with only me going back and forth between the three countries a couple times. I ended up staying in Peru for a year before coming to the United States at 4 years old. While my Mom and I were here, my Dad was still in Venezuela until 2007 when he came here.  

I’ve been in Queens practically my whole life and even though I wasn’t born here, I’m a New Yorker at heart. Growing up here I feel as though I experienced a lot, especially since I went to many, many different schools to the point that I thought my Mom was doing it on purpose because I seemed to switch almost every 2 years. I went to private school for one year, then 2 public schools in four years, then private school again where I thankfully stayed for 5 years and made many memories. Looking back at it, I feel like a learned a lot from being able to experience how both sides live. I found it ironic, though, that I got bullied in public school but not the private school, which I then realized I was just lucky and maybe a little blindsided. That’s something that I always go back to, how people have a certain view of private school kids, which I had honestly mentally prepared myself for right before fourth grade. It’s when I realized that since it was a smaller class, only around 60 students in each grade, there wasn’t much of a need for peer pressure or just plain old bullying. In the public school I went to beforehand, I was isolated and treated as an outsider which is surprising to see happen in 3 grade with a bunch of 8 year old’s, yet I was fine in second grade. This was when I realized that it doesn’t matter if everyone is okay with you, it just takes one person to say something to change their mind.  

As a result of New York’s diversity, that was the only and last experience with bullying that I had, the past 9 years have been wonderful. In middle school I acted tough, and everyone was somewhat afraid of me but I know deep down it was all for fun and they knew it. I wasn’t completely true to myself just yet though, I knew I wasn’t completely comfortable with being myself around even my closest of friends and that’s something I was set on changing in high school which I did. I took theater for the first couple years and that got me comfortable speaking in front of a crowd, speaking loud and clear. I fully came out of my shell, I’m still tough but now I’m not afraid to speak my mind. I still get nervous but my love for performing blossomed after taking that Drama class freshman year.  

Although I never mentioned it to anyone, I always loved acting since I was a kid and I finally got to take part in it at my school, William Cullen Bryant High School. I joined the Theater company my sophomore year, joined the Dance Company my Junior year, and then Show Choir my senior year. I’m not the best but I still give it my all because being on a stage is one of my favorite things to do, especially when it’s all three which is why musicals are my favorite type of performances. My senior year I was able to take part in the Theater Development Fund Scholarship program where we got to see 6 shows throughout the school year and speak with some of the cast members after the show. I had James Lapine as my group’s mentor and thanks to him I got to meet Victor Garber, Eve Ensler, Zachary Quinto, Matt Bomer, Tony Shalhoub, and Lea Salonga.  

Surprisingly enough, I’m not majoring in a career in the Arts at all. Not that I don’t want to, but it’s a hard career to follow without having something to fall back on. I am thinking about majoring in biology and to go into the medical field. At first, I wanted to be a doctor, I’ve wanted to since I was a little girl, and I had decided I wanted to go into neonatology because I love kids and I’d really enjoy being around them. After giving it some though, it would take years until I’d get out of school, until id finish my residency and then go back to school to study for neonatology. I also took into account how being a doctor is a very demanding, and how I still want to pursue acting or do dance on the side. I haven’t made up my mind yet but thankfully I still have some time before I have to.  

Sincerely, Silvia Lianza