By Domenika Kolaj

Maria Aponte is the Diversity Initiatives Coordinator at Fordham University where she runs a number of diversity initiatives such as an annual diversity conference and banquet. In addition to that, she is an award winning writer and playwright, with an impressive background in theatre. She is the founder of Latina 50 Plus, a non-profit aimed at the advancement of Latina Women aged 50 and up in the arts and sciences.

Domenika Kolaj: What does diversity mean to you, especially in regards to the Fordham community?

Maria Aponte: Diversity for me is inclusion of everyone… diversity is not about color. Although people like to make it about color. Diversity is about being able to accept differences and respect differences.

DK: Obviously, theatre has played a role in your development and where you are today. How did you get into theatre?

MA: I knew from seven years old I wanted to be in theatre when I played a munchkin in The Wizard of Oz… it’s just something that you know.

DK: And the book? You wrote a poetry book.

MA: Transitions of a Nuyorican Cinderella is a collection of poetry on Puerto Rican culture and history growing up in New York… it’s a collection of things I have been writing for the last forty-something years. My suggestion to all young writers out there is even if you write it on a piece of tissue paper, or keep it in a text, save it. You never know when you’re gonna use it later on in life.

DK: Of all the pieces you’ve created, which has your soul the most invested in it?

MA: I think it would have to be a piece about the marketplace where I used to go with my great-grandma Rosa when I was a kid called La Marceta… I wrote that piece in 1985 and it was a very vivid visual imagery piece and I was able to capture what my neighborhood was like when I was growing up as a kid so that seems to be my iconic signature piece. I also have identity poems because as a Puerto Rican woman, I’m constantly an advocate for my identity and breaking stereotypes. I am a stereotype breaker… I do not allow people to label me.

DK: How do you go about not allowing people to stereotype you?

MA: I correct them. The biggest mistakes people tend to make when they meet others is assumptions… for example, my job. People don’t know that I have this other big life that I have worked at for decades.

DK: And your foundation? The Latina 50 Plus?

MA: Ah, my heartthrob… I wanted to create an organization that was dedicated to Latina women over 50 who had dedicated their lives in certain career paths, to honor those women because unfortunately… women tend to get grouped, physically in certain period of their lives. When you’re young, you’re cute, you have the nice body, everybody wants to be with you. Then you get married and you become the mom, and then all of a sudden you become the grandmother… I wanted to show that there are some amazing, fierce, abuela warriors out there that have been working in the communities, opening doors, breaking doors down, for many many decades, which a lot of young people assume everything has just always been there and it hasn’t. Someone dedicated their lives.

DK: Was there a specific moment when you realized you had to do this, or did you always know?

MA: I always knew because I’ve always been a community activist. My roots have always been in community work. I felt that was the best direction to go in… and the lack of interest in history from the younger generations… there’s a lack of empathy that has been lost and everyone has to grow up whether they like it or not and everyone is going to have to get old. What if there is something there for younger women to be able to say “that gives me hope when I get to be that age”

DK: Is there a personal mantra that you go by when having a rough day?

MA: I’m a very spiritual person… I believe God didn’t bring me this far to drop me.

DK: What does the future hold for you?

MA: You always have to have what’s called ‘a next’. Not everything is all in one place. I hope to stay here as a member of this community at Fordham for as long as I can, but eventually, I know that I want to kind of do other things because I know I am doing things already that are leading to other directions. Gotta keep doors open.