Yesika Salgado

Yesika Salgado (born 1984) is an American poet. She is the author of poetry collections Corazón, Tesoro, and Hermosa. She is also a co-founder of the poetry collective Chingona Fire.

Early life

Salgado's parents immigrated from El Salvador and she grew up in Los Angeles.^[1] Her father encouraged her reading habits, but wanted her to become a teacher.^[2] Salgado dropped out of John Marshall High School when she was 18 years old, and worked a series of retail jobs while writing her poetry.^[3]

Career

In 2005, Salgado started posting her work online at HipHopPoetry.com, where she had created a false identity under the name Yesika Starr. After she was banned three years later for plagiarizing a Ricardo Arjona song, the site's founder encouraged her to read at the open mic night at Da Poetry Lounge, where she began performing under her own name.^[3] In 2014, Salgado performed at the National Poetry Slam for the DPL. She later qualified for the 2016 Da Poetry Lounge Slam Team.^[4] During this time Salgado frequently shared her work on Instagram, building a large social media following.^[5]

Salgado's first book, Corazón, was published in 2017. Salgado frequently mentions fruit throughout the book, specifically mangoes, and the cover of the book reflects this theme.^[6] Corazón was listed on Amazon's best seller list.^[4] Her second book, Tesoro, was published in 2018. Its poems draw on Salgado's family history to examine women, Los Angeles, and identity.^[3] Her most recent book, Hermosa, was published in September 2019 and deals with love, loss, and gentrification.^[7]

Salgado and Angela Aguirre founded the feminist poetry collective Chingona Fire.^[8] The organization hosts frequent open mic/performance nights for women-identified poets of color to share their work.^[4]