Jocelin — See Me Because

Born in Houston and raised in Milwaukee, I grew up in a Latin-based community. There's a lot of vibrancy in Latin music and food. I grew up in front of a church– a Catholic church that is big and well-known– everyone would go there. Basically, we would go there every Wednesday at night, and then Sundays. That Latin vibe, I feel like that's where and how I grew up. I identify myself as a female, Latin, woman, first generation. My family immigrated from Mexico, they love hard work, and I want to be their representation of hard work, being the first person in my family to go to college, completing college. That's really important.

The earliest cook I can remember in my family was my great, great grandma. Since then, it’s passed on– it's like blood, genes, because it's always one person in the next generation who cooks. I think that's where my inspiration for baking came from. My grandma was a cook and she would be like, “Oh, do you want to come buy bread at the local bakery?” With the smell and everything I was like, “Oh my God, I need a bakery.” I think she's a big inspiration for cooking because for so many past occasions I've always seen her cook in the kitchen. Seeing her mix all these spices, selling to people, and having these plates just inspired me to find my own creativity. I think she has that generosity of sharing with others, and that's something that I want to do - share my work with others.

My goal after college is to convert an old truck into a bakery truck. You often see food trucks but you don't see cupcake trucks. I want to open up a bakery here in Milwaukee. Having a creative space where I can share food is something I want to do. For baking, I like to work with a lot of unique ingredients, so I would like to bake lots of pastries from different types of countries, integrating people, making people come and try new things. I think the idea of having people try things that they normally wouldn't, would be beneficial because it'll open people's eyes to new things and new perspectives.

If I were to go back to the 60s, that would be me. That version of me is very poppy and bold and so that's what I hope is depicted, because I'm very shy and very quiet sometimes. That's not how I want to be seen. If I get to show that through the picture, that's great. The words behind me did hurt back then. I grew from that, I've learned from that, so I hope to not become that person but become the opposite: a bold, happy, mature, and organized person. I want people to see me the same way I see myself: creative, optimistic, excited for the little things, loud… I want to express color and vibrant things. I like weird things, like couture fashion, and I don’t think I will ever stop making art. I think art is something I want to continue until the day I die.

Milwaukee, 2023