Caridad de la Luz
[5] Her great-grandmother, Adelaida Cataquet Montalvo, "the original poet" of the family, served as an influential factor in De la Luz's literature aspirations.
[6] In 1992, while in college, De la Luz became a sister of the Omega Phi Beta Society and a chartering member of its Delta chapter in SUNY Binghamton.
[7] From 1996 to 1998, De la Luz worked as a community organizer in the Hunts Point section of the Bronx: focusing on issues like drug abuse, dropout prevention, teenage pregnancy and AIDS.
For several years at the Nuyorican Café, De la Luz developed and refined the many characters that ultimately gave life to her first theatrical production, Boogie Rican Blvd.
De La Luz, who is also the playwright, portrays six characters, each a different stereotype—the eccentric bodega owner, the Long Island wannabe, the hip-hop gangster—with a comic sensibility that is both affectionate and cutting.
De La Luz's other theater performances include Ubu Unchained, El Spanglish Language Sandwich by Pedro Pietri, and Women Like This, and a hip hop festival held in Switzerland.
[1] As an ensemble member of the Pregones Theater since 2014, De la Luz has appeared and been featured in Betsy, The Red Rose, I Like It Like That, and Dancing In My Cockroach Killers.
[1] In the Off-Broadway production of I Like It Like That, De la Luz starred in the role of "China Rodriguez", alongside salsa icons Tito Nieves and Domingo Quiñones.
Bru-Ha-Ha was noted for its colorful cast of characters (all played by De la Luz), unique music from the "Brujalicious Quintet", outrageous insights and breaking personal boundaries —a witch's brew which took the audience on "a ride of wonder, laughter and surprise".
Voices in First Person, Reflections of Latina Identity; We Got Issues, A Feminist Perspective; Me No Hable with Acento, A Collection of Spanglish Poetry; and Breaking Ground/Abriendo Caminos, Anthology of Women Writers in N.Y. 1980-2012, have all published her writing.
[7] After her 1996 spoken-word debut in the Nuyorican Poet's Café,[17] De la Luz appeared on HBO's Def Poetry Jam, hosted by Russell Simmons.
WTC consists entirely of three-word phrases using words beginning with those exact letters: W, T, C. It starts with "What’s the cause/Work to connect/Wish to change/Want to cry" and incorporates the refrain "Wish time could/Wash this clean".
[19] She wrote and recorded vocals with Afrika Bambaata, Fat Joe, Jadakiss, B-Real of Cypress Hill, Tony Touch, Vivian Green, Jungle Brothers, Dan Zanes, Hurricane G, Joell Ortiz, Chingo Bling, and Black Ice.
De la Luz believes that many of these difficulties stem from the complex and often bewildering balance of two cultures, diverse family roots, and an increasingly elusive "American" identity.
For this reason she founded Latinas4Life: an organization which runs high school workshops around the city with a focus on positive role modeling, constructive introspection, cultural awareness, and self-respect.
She supports positive change for the hip hop generation through organizations such as Voices UnBroken, BronxWorks, the New York City Mission Society, Good Shepherd Services, and Pepatian, Inc. She is also a staunch advocate for ending domestic violence.
Together with dancer Cynthia Paniagua, and produced by Pepatian, she performs a dance theater piece called Shadow Lands which helps to facilitate creative healing, for women who have suffered through domestic violence.
[2][22][3] Further recognition includes:[18][19][22][23] De la Luz is cultivating her own art space called El Garaje (The Garage) in the Soundview area of the Bronx,[18] where she lives with her children.
This will enable her to expand her knowledge of Indigenous practices, by visiting artists and healers of First Nations along the Northwest Coast of North America, Peru and Africa.
