Meet the Authors

I am Andrea Pérez-Maikkula. I use she/her pronouns in English and ella in Spanish. My first language is Spanish, so my first name is also pronounced in Spanish by rolling the “r.” I was raised bilingual (Spa/Eng) and have working knowledge of French, Haitian Creole, and Portuguese. I was born and raised in Puerto Rico (the oldest existing colony of the U.S. empire) and have lived in Minnesota for the last 11 years. I am a cisgender woman who is straight and married to a white man. We are a biracial and bilingual household. We have two young sons, and I only speak Spanish with them. I have a master’s degree in public health and have been working in the social and racial justice space for the last eighteen years. I am neurodivergent and have an invisible disability.

I am Jerad Green, a Black, disabled, class-straddling man of size. I was born in Ohio, but my roots are in the Deep South with a mother from Mississippi and a father from Alabama. Despite southern Black Baptist roots, I grew up in predominantly white communities across the Midwest and mountain regions of the country. Growing up, I experienced homelessness, living in lower-income, blue-collar communities, and spent much of my early childhood in and out of motels/hotels and homes of family members. Despite my shifts in geography and tax bracket, I have deeply held beliefs and norms that reflect my social class identity growing up. My experiences led to my passion for social and racial equity, particularly for Black communities. As someone with a chronic heart condition, I aim to be an active advocate for joy, rest, boundaries, and community.