Today we’d like to introduce you to Camilo Montoya.
Hi Camilo, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Since my family left Nicaragua in 2012, we’ve lived in the same corner of Silver Spring, MD. The older I get, the more I struggle to grasp why my parents chose to start over here. Why work so hard to build a life just to leave and start again?
Still, I wouldn’t choose anywhere else to be “from.” Silver Spring has given me everything I needed to shape a future of my own.
My parents did a great job integrating me into the rebuilding of our life. At 12 years old, I knew exactly how much we earned and what every bill cost. I wasn’t sheltered from reality, I was part of the process.
Building from scratch with limited opportunities only deepened our connection to who we are. The fewer resources we had, the more fiercely we held onto our culture. It kept us grounded. It gave us joy. And it helped me survive the turbulence of becoming “American.”
Culture was the one thing we didn’t need to fit in a suitcase to bring with us. And it’s the one thing I’ve fought to protect ever since.
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?
The first year after I immigrated broke something in me. I developed a stutter that crippled my speech every time I felt unsafe, which was every time I left the apartment.
At school, I faced racist jokes from rich white kids. Back home, I had to maneuver between the verbal and physical aggression from other Latino and Black kids who were also just trying to survive. I concluded that the best way to get by was to stay silent and out of the way.
It took me five years to stop shrinking in white spaces, and to reclaim pride in my voice. What changed everything was starting my first few jobs working kitchens, grocery stores, weddings, and construction. There I met working-class Latinos who became true role models of dignity and principle. Salvadorans, Hondurans, Mexicans, and Venezuelans who didn’t preach about integrity, they lived it. And I carry them with me in everything I do.
My stutter hasn’t gone away completely, but now, when I speak, I do it knowing that my words can carry the weight of many who were too afraid to speak for themselves.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’m a cultural worker, always chasing the resources to create spaces where fear can’t reach us. Music, film, dance, poetry – every project I take on is a way to carve out room for Black and Latino joy, expression, and power.
If those kids around the apartment complex had a place to explore who they were without being punished for it, maybe my early years would’ve played out differently. That’s why I do this now. If it means spending nights editing footage, hosting Spanish-language poetry shows that barely break even, or paying out of my pocket for ten musicians to play three hours of salsa, then so be it.
Because when we gather without apology, even for a few hours, we build a sanctuary. A place to stand tall in our truth. And if anyone dares to disrupt that, I’ll slap them across the face harder than my congas.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
When I was 10, my father took me deep into the rainforest in Nicaragua, to a sacred place called La Reserva Bosawás. There, I drank my first cup of coffee with the farmers who worked the land. But this cup was different, it came from beans I had picked, roasted, and grinded myself after working alongside them for hours. It tasted better than anything I had ever known, because in that moment, I understood everything it took for just one cup to be served. Haven’t stopped drinking coffee since.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sliceofcamilo/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/camilo-montoya-8a73991b2/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@CamiloMontoya
Image Credits
Brandon Payne (Scrandom Media)
Latin American Youth Center
Slice Of Life Media
Jorge Fornieles
Lily Monico
