Welcome to my world! 

My name is Carmen Reyes. I came into the world as a twin and have spent the majority of my life fighting for my identity, refusing to accept who others wanted me to be, and then I became a mother at sixteen.​

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Growing up I heard my mother always say, "I'm a mother before a woman." She used that phrase as a badge of honor and without even knowing it, I accepted it for myself. By the time I was twenty three I was the mother of three children, was married to their father, worked and went to school. I did life the way I was expected to. Motherhood had become the primary lens in which I lived my life. 

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However, in the summer 2017 after almost eighteen years of being with my boys father I decided to end our marriage, prepared to start a graduate program and had quit my job of three years. I was finally prepared to create a life that I wanted, not one I felt I had to live. Then my twin sister passed away, leaving behind her three children and a grand daughter. 

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Her death pulled the floor from under me, leaving me confused in my place in the world. I was being pulled from multiple angels, having my children on the weekend, raising my sisters daughters and finding a balance in life, while at the same time struggling to accept a part of me that did not fit into the framework in my life, my sexuality. 

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There were multiple times that I considered taking my own life, but something deep in me wouldn't surrender and I shifted my energy and attention to discovering who I was outside of the many roles I played. This new discovery led me to tap into gifts that lived deep inside including my words, my art and my movements. I have moved through my grief by finding my flow and incorporating the different aspects of who I am and finding MY true expressions.