Today we’d like to introduce you to Jenah Maravilla.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
First off, thank you for this opportunity to share a little bit of myself! Voyage Houston provides a great platform to learn more about the people and communities that shape our city.
I want to say I’ve had a pretty normal upbringing as a child of immigrants in Texas. My mom always had steady work as a nurse, and we eventually took root right outside of Houston. In 2006, my dad and uncle opened up TJ Filipino Cuisine, which has since become a staple in the nearby Filipino community and an example of the importance of cultural enclaves. Until college, my heritage was a fun little tidbit about me, something to say when people asked where I was from. However, I had joined Texas A&M University’s Philippine Student Association alongside a humanitarian, student-led organization and both decisions changed my perspective for the better. I realized the duality of being Filipino and American, opened my eyes to the systems that influence our livelihoods.
I graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Texas Tech University Health Science Center as Summa Cum Laude, begrudgingly following my mom’s footsteps. As grateful as I had been to both my parents, I did not take accountability for my own life and its direction. I found myself depleted and unfulfilled working as an ICU nurse.
Hurricane Harvey was pivotal in many people’s lives, including my own. When my hospital flooded and I was faced with the decision to continue working in a new environment or leave, I walked away into my own passions. I was searching for something more, and I found it in the very community that supported my dad’s business all these years.
When I began my nursing career, I was already grappling with how I fit into the whole. I wondered about Filipinos and Asian Americans –from stereotypes to political leanings, immigration stories, cultural traditions, and how our narratives intertwined with other minorities. I wondered whether there were spaces for dialogue around these things and sought out people who asked the same questions. In 2016, I became a founding member of Pilipino American Unity for Progress, Inc. Texas Chapter and joined the Filipino American National Historical Society, Houston chapter.
By the time I left nursing, one of my mentors, Christy Poisot, was in the early stages of compiling information for Filipinos in Houston. Knowing about my passion for writing, storytelling, and my newfound unemployment status, she reached out to me. The rest is history. The book, to me, is a love letter to our community.
I’m at a point where I realize that the people who come before me are inextricably linked to my story. From my mom’s immigration to the states, to the social movements that allowed her to, to even my Co-Authorship in Filipinos in Houston where I listened to countless journeys, I am humbled to say I stand on the shoulders of giants. The hope is that I move with intention, in reverence of those I’ve had the honor to learn of and know.
Since then, I have been using my varied experiences to facilitate workshops city and nationwide, perform poetry at various events, joined Filipinx Artists of Houston, and am a holistic editor, launching my small business: Maravilla Edits. I work on the manuscripts, dissertations, and even cover letters of people of color. I want my clients to know their stories matter, you are more than what you produce, and we have the right to take up space.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
This is an excellent question because most folks see the end result. They don’t see the crying, the trying, the failure.
My road has been smoother than most. I am privileged to say that in spite of the hiccups and the expectations that have not and will probably not be met, I have a soft place to land within my family and the community.
However, my most significant and most consistent roadblock to a path I’m paving for myself has been me. Although I am in constant pursuit of self-expansion, it’s in response to a lifetime of self-limitation. Imposter syndrome may be the popularized term for what I and my generation generally feel, but to me, it’s an inner bully. She is a version of myself who is better than me in every conceivable way, despite not even being possible.
I am no longer a nurse, so she has been and is living a lavishly, financially secure life. I don’t write as often as I used to, but she is a best-selling novelist. I may host workshops, but she is a TED Talker. Sometimes, she is even living lives that I don’t want –a house, a spouse, kids. I don’t know how to shrink her. I don’t know how to be her when it’s things that I truly do desire. Other times, she stops me entirely for weeks by piggybacking off of other people’s doubts of my capabilities, doubts of my process.
As a nurse, I didn’t even reach 90lbs. I thought that was just my metabolism, but it was actually my inability to lean into rest. A mindset passed down alongside one of scarcity. So now, close to 30, I am finally resting. I am in therapy to look this inner bully in the eye and tell her to sit with me. I am hurting, grieving in so many different ways, like many of us probably are. But, I am also keeping myself from punishing myself for where I ‘should’ be, in favor of nurturing who I am becoming. This year, my intention has been to love bravely, which, in part, is acceptance of whatever this messy-human stuff is and realizing doing this makes me show up better for my clients and my community.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Formally, here is my artist statement:
“As a Filipinx American, moving in a politicized body through different spaces means more than just becoming ‘Successful’.
Maravilla’s work centers around the ideas of honoring those that came before, empowering those present, and shifting the conversation to radical vulnerability.
What this looks like in practice is her intentional use of succinct statements that do not sacrifice breadth of emotion. Respecting the complexities of her audience while remaining understandable to those who do not find themselves face to face with literature often, Maravilla hopes that her work does not alienate, but rather, peel back the curtain of everyone’s shared humanity. Kapwa, in Tagalog.”
When I was in high school, I was hungry. I devoured short stories, poetry, books. Simultaneously, I was a prolific writer. I am the only one in my immediate family like this, so they didn’t know what to make of me. I had no mentors, and being good at school meant I was to be sensible, to follow the path laid out for me. So I put down that side of me for almost a decade.
Spiritually, I understand now that my need to create is because The Creator inherently resides in all of us. To deny myself this for so long has made it difficult to tap back into, but I am inching my way to long-form fiction. By blending my lived experiences in with creative writing, the middle ground has been poetry. Currently, I understand the accessibility of Spoken Word, so I perform for community events. I have been most proud of these events and workshops I have facilitated because I get to tease the poetry out of attendees, showing them The Creator within themselves.
However, I am not stopping here. I don’t like reading my poetry aloud and making the audience experience it only in the way it’s presented. I would much rather them read it in their heads or see it in their minds’ eye, but I also know many people don’t leisurely read. –Especially those who don’t know how important their stories are. So, in a concerted effort to remain accessible and ask more of my audience, I will start experimenting with different storytelling mediums. Keep an eye out!
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
Because of my editorial services, I have a hand in different written industries. I feel that the increase of interest in Asian American representation will lead to more diverse stories being told. We see it already little by little in Hollywood, although there is still much to be improved.
As pop culture informs so much of what we experience, good or bad, this want for diversity ripple effects into other sectors of society such as Academia and The Arts. Hopefully, in 5, 10 years, no longer will there only be two tenured professors of any minority for their study –or an extreme lack of POC ballet dancers.
Personally, however, I am not interested in whether our voices or businesses will shatter the glass or bamboo ceilings. I am not interested in whether we’ll be accepted by pre-existing systems and institutions. But instead, I want unity toward collective liberation. I want our humanity to be blaring in the forefront, the allowance for us to simply exist. That we are all thriving in whatever we pursue. In 5, 10 years from now, I want to see our joy is basked in just as deeply as our resilience.
Pricing:
- Free 1 hr consult
- Sliding scale pricing
Contact Info:
- Email: jenah.maravilla@live.com
- Website: maravilla-edits.carrd.co
- Instagram: @maravilla_edits
- Twitter: @maravilla_edits
- Other: jnhm.carrd.co
Image Credits
Jevh Maravilla
Trisha Morales
Christian Toledo
