Kaylie — See Me Because

I grew up mainly on the south side of Milwaukee, with my cousins and my aunt who basically raised me. Coming from the south side, there was a lot of gun violence and hate in my neighborhood. But it’s also where my grandma’s restaurant is. It’s a family run business. I grew up going to her restaurant every Saturday, super early in the morning, and helping clean or cook, and then we would play in the back. There were a whole bunch of Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, and Cubans coming in, and she would take everybody in and make sure everybody got food. They would always come back. It was a family and community thing. It made me know that I have people looking out for me.

I’m inspired by my grandma because she has her own business and one day I want to have my own photography business. I’m inspired by my aunt because she went through a lot with losing one of her kids to a heart condition. She struggled with that while working a bunch of different jobs, paying off bills and making sure her four other kids had everything they needed.

I think I inherited my kindness and laughter from them. And making sure everybody eats.

I'm proud that I'm Puerto Rican. We’re fun, loud, and colorful. We’re very close. Going to Puerto Rico when I was five or six was the first trip I ever took. A lot of people assume that I'm fluent in Spanish. I can understand it, but I only speak it a little because my first language is English. I only speak Spanish with my family and even then we speak Spanglish, half English, half Spanish. I would like to become fluent in Spanish.

I'm also really proud that I graduated high school recently. Then, I took my first solo trip to Orlando, Florida for eight days by myself. I pulled so many double shifts working from nine in the morning to eleven o'clock at night to save up for it. I got to see my best friend who I haven’t seen in two years. I went to Disney for the first time. I did all four parks in one day. I took Ubers by myself for the first time. I got my first tattoo. Being an anxious flier, when I got on the airplane, my heart started racing. It was a lot, but I pushed myself. I took a step that I have never taken before in my life. I'm proud that I did it and looking back I can say that I flew by myself at 18 years old. I'm glad I took a leap of faith and now I can say that I can do it.

One of my biggest dreams is getting out of Milwaukee. I grew up here my whole entire life and I want to explore what there is in life, not just being stuck in one state or one city. Being Puerto Rican, my grandmother and aunt are overprotective. I’m going to be the first person in my family to go to college right out of high school. I’m first gen. I wanted to go to college to explore, put myself out there, and live my dreams. And I want to learn more of what I can do with photography. You can capture a moment of time with a photo and remember it and it’ll stay with you throughout your whole entire life. Photography is also traveling, exploring and seeing new places you haven’t seen before. It makes me feel happy and like I'm doing something good. It’s what I want to do for the rest of my life.

When I imagine achieving my dreams and being a big success in my career, it feels amazing, and it feels peaceful. My dream photo studio would be in North Carolina as my home base, and then I would be traveling all the time, even though I do have really bad anxiety and it can feel limiting to me.

I recently had a situation at the movie theater where I work. It was one of my first days. I was reading a food ticket and the person who was training me said, “Do you need help?” And I replied, “Yeah, I just have dyslexia and ADHD,” and he said I shouldn’t be working there. That really brought me down for the rest of my shift. Just because I have a disability doesn't mean I can't work. That stuck with me for a while until I finally told someone about it.

I would like to change stereotypes around this, and also around mental health. You should get to know someone, see what they can actually do before you put them into categories. Don’t judge a book by its cover. Not everybody's the same. People are different. It's okay to have anxiety and depression as long as you get the help you need. Talk to somebody, and I recommend keeping a journal. I have an art therapy journal. I write down everything that I’m feeling. It can be positive or negative. I circle all the stuff I'm grateful for and color over the negative with markers.

I also write down quotes. My favorite quote is from The Lion King. Disney is a big theme throughout my life. “You can either run from your past or learn from it.” I love that quote. Go after what you want and manifest your dreams. Even if it's hard right now, you can succeed.

No matter what I do with my life, I know there are people and family that will support me, and they just want me to be happy. A challenge I’ll have to overcome is people getting into my head a lot and saying that I can't do it, especially because of my anxiety.

I want to express that I am my own person. I have hidden disabilities, and I can still create something unique. No matter what you might believe, I know I can do this.

Milwaukee, 2024