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About Me

Hola, I’m Ellen!

This blog has changed along with me. I started writing shortly after the birth of my youngest daughter who was born with Down syndrome. My writing chronicles my growth from a scared mom who held ableist attitudes, to someone who continues to learn how to be an ally to the disability community. 

I’m Latina, born and raised in México City, which makes me a Chilanga. My abuelo made me fall in love with his magical city of Guanajuato, which I also consider “home” since I lived in the state for five years. I moved to the United States when I was 17 and thankfully I was already bilingual. However, assimilation stole a lot from me, and  I’m still “recovering” from its long lasting effects. So now, a middle aged woman, I’m trying to figure out what it means to be fully me — my Mexican side and my American side existing together.  

A fun tidbit: I used to host a podcast with my best friend, Erin, it’s called: Unexceptional Moms: Hope and Encouragement for Parents of Disabled Kids. We are on iTunes, and Spotify, and Stitcher. You should stop by and listen to one of our episodes. Consistency was not what we were known for, but we had great conversations around parenting disabled kids. 

On the writing front:

I worked at the The Mighty for three years as the Parenting Editor. I’ve also written for the Huffington Post, Charisma Magazine, Focus on the Family, Momsense, Kid’s Nation Magazine, Irresistible Church blog, LifeWay’s ParentLife blog and magazine, and other publications. I was the Disability Ministry columnists for Group and the Special Needs Parenting columnist for ParentLife. I’m a contributing writer to the book, Gifts 2: How People With Down Syndrome Enrich the World, the SpiritLed Women’s Bible, and Jot That Down: Encouraging Essays for New Writers— my essay made me a Pushcart Prize nominee in 2017.

In 2019 I found Las Musas. It was the push I needed to pursue what I always wanted to write: books for children. So in 2020 I applied for a mentorship with Las Musas and worked on a middle grade manuscript. Then in 2021, I applied for the PitchWars mentorship and was selected as a mentee. It’s no surprise my books deal with what it means to exist within two cultures.

 

Ellen’s Blog
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