Dominican and Puerto Rican New York City educator and acclaimed author Peggy Robles-Alvarado sets standards and defies odds. This is proven through her collections of poetry, "Conversations With My Skin" and "Homenaje a las guerreras" (Homage to the Warrior Women), which are heavily marked thoughts on identity, sensuality and spirituality.

Robles-Alvarado was pulled from her sense of normalcy at 15 years old when an abusive relationship resulted in her pregnancy. As an honor student who was enrolled in a gifted and talented program, she was was shaken by the tragedy but not broken. Instead, she chose to steal power away from the violence, and to use education and poetry to dismantle barriers in her path.

"In my family, I was the youngest, so they told me ... you're the one that's going to make it," Robles-Alvarado told Latin Post. "My life took a different turn when I was 15, and my parents just didn't understand how that could happen. They had me under the gun, in a very strict household, so what happened was a tragedy to them. However, what I [gained] from that bad experience was resilience. I was able to graduate on-time while pregnant. I got a scholarship to college, and I graduated on time."

Poetry and performance became a tool for Robles-Alvarado, who was eager to tell her story to her daughter. The author confessed she didn't know how to tell her daughter that she was the product of abuse and rape, so she started her first book of poetry, "Conversations with My Skin," around that time because she wanted to give her daughter the answers to questions and to explain their journey through poetry.

"People identify with 'Conversations With My Skin.' I've met people who've said, 'I have a sister, a cousin with the same story ... or that's my story and I can't tell it.' That's how my writing started; it started with a feeling that I had to be a voice for women who couldn't accept their own worth. "

"Homenaje a las guerreras" differs from her first publication, but it also carries out conversations, this time with the 'warrior women' in her life, such as her mother or grandmother. According to Robles-Alvarado, "these are people that helped me become what I am becoming, who I am."

Robles-Alvarado uses her rhythmic nature to deposit bits of raw truth into the world. Yes, she's collected awards and recognition, but what's perhaps most important to her is self-empowerment, her community, her defiance, and the women in her family. "Conversations with My Skin" and "Homenaje a las guerreras" endorse those ideas as wells as the value of healing, transformation and thought-provoking, women-centered writing.

For Robles-Alvarado, her family and sharing her content is her biggest motivation, as well as people telling her that she shouldn't do things. Defiant to her core, she loves to take criticisms and morph them into sought-after performances pieces.

"The women in my family and the girls in my family, even the young ones, motivate me, as well as my husband of 12 years and my two boys," said Robles-Alvarado. "Having and creating traditions, personal spiritual connection, I write about that. ... I write about different things in our heritage. I write about things that I find interesting. I don't want to talk about trees and stars; I want to talk about burning candles for seven days and bending down in prayer. I like to write my own history, and we don't owe them any less of ourselves in literature."

Additionally, Robles-Alvarado spoke about the successes of self-poetry, symbolism and her latest project, "The Abuela Project," which highlights the essence of abuelas through photography, poetry, and prose. The subject is important to her because her 23-year-old is now a mother, so she is an abuela. She wants to celebrate abuelas, who are so often the prophet, the chef, the defender and the medical assistant.

"Basically, what the project highlights the importance of being an abuela. I work with Daisy Arroyo, an incredible Bronx photographer, and we take abuelas out of the kitchen. We photograph phenomenal women who are very different. Some are dancers, black belt martial art champions, artists. After taking photos, I invite women to write on different stories inspired by these photos amazing abuelas."

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