the “Arriba la Vida/ Up with Life I was born into a well to do family by customs completely different from
Foundation” a private foundation life pre-Castro Cuba. those we were used to in Cuba, noth-
dedicated to AIDS awareness and I had a nanny and my family be- ing really major as far as prejudice.
education among Hispanics. In 1998, longed to private clubs I had little
Cristina launched her bilingual web dresses that came form Spain or Did your upbringing influence
site www.cristinaonline.com that has France and Italy trimmed in lace and your career path?
become one of the hottest sites on the piqué. But in 1960 after the family I always knew I wanted to be a
Internet. Cristina’s highly acclaimed business was confiscated by the Cas- writer I would spend every single mo-
1998 autobiography My Life as a Blonde tro regime, we had to go into exile in ment I could reading. I didn’t watch
was released by Warner Books in both Miami and start anew from zero as much TV and I was always intrigued
English and Spanish. any other exiled family seeking free- by the family business, my grandfa-
Hispanic Network Magazine wanted dom. New country, new language ther in Cuba was known as the “paper
to know more about this dynamic and no money it was very tough for czar” due to the fact that his trading
woman and is sharing her experiences my family to lose everything they had company controlled all of the print
with our favorite readers: worked so hard for, but as the saying paper that was imported and used
goes, “what doesn’t kill you make’s for newspapers and magazines on the
What was your childhood like? you stronger,” and it did. Island. In time this lead to the family
Did you experience any discrimina- For me the hardest thing about ex- going into the magazine publishing
tion? How did you get pass it? ile was trying to fit into a system ruled world, so yes, I always felt I would
48 HISPANIC NETWORK MAGAZINE Celebrating 18 Years of Diversity www.hnmagazine.com
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