Deborah Triplett

Marjorie Serralles-Russell | Global Citizen

Marjorie was born in Mexico City to a Mexican mother and Puerto Rican father. “I’m a Mexi-Rican,” she says. “I’m 100% Latin.” At five years-old she moved to Miami, and then to Charlotte in 1999. “It’s a great place to raise children,” she says.

Although Marjorie wishes Charlotte had a more international community (growing up in Miami made her very appreciative of her heritage), she is working to improve her city. She’s passionate about the arts (she’s in her sixth year on the board of the McColl Center for Visual Art, where you can find the art installation she’s sitting on in this picture), and about autism awareness (her son, Spencer, is on the autistic spectrum), and she fosters her children’s knowledge of their heritage by speaking mostly Spanish at home.

“I think it’s very important to always remember where you came from,” Marjorie says. “It’s so important to be able to travel, to experience other cultures; humanity in general.”

~Aleigh Acerni