Feministing Five: The Necia Media Collective unites xingona global media creators

When we connected with Jessica Diaz-Hurtado, co-founder of the critically conscious collective and network Necia Media Collective, we caught a glimpse at her life as a researcher, multimedia storyteller, and writer. Fresh from working on a video project in Medellín, Colombia, she took our call in a tiny town along the Colombian-Caribbean coast and discussed her work with the burgeoning Necia group. For this week’s Feministing Five, we are thrilled to learn more about launch of this radical, muxerista, multiethnic, multiracial, and diasporic network.

Jessica Diaz-Hurtado

Founded out of a conversation between Jessica and her friends who encountered similar struggles being women of color in media, Necia Media Collective is a dynamic global community that connects and highlights the work of womyn, trans and gender conforming folks of color. Every month,  Necia Media will send and promote a call for content based on different themes and members can contribute and share resources, experiences, art, and sounds based on the themes. Excitingly, they are currently seeking members to join their cause. We can’t wait to see what comes out of this bad-ass group of Necias.

And now without further ado, the Feministing Five with Jessica Diaz-Hurtado!

Suzanna Bobadilla: Could you tell us what was the inspiration behind Necia Media Collective? What’s the story behind its name?

Jessica Diaz-Hurtado: Necia Media started out as a group of four women: myself, my friend Alida, my friend Jeanette, and my friend Rebecca. I did my undergrad in Wisconsin where I met Alida and Jeanette, and I did my graduate school in Texas, where I met Rebecca. After talking with them, I noticed similar struggles as women of color in the media field despite living in different places. We also had this idea of creating a group of people to talk about these issues that would be very prevalent for women of color.

I started talking to them and they said, “Yeah I’m down! Let’s make a collective, let’s invite people!” That’s how the group started on email, on El Red de Mujeres, the Network of Women. This was around April and we realized we needed a name. Necia came up because we would always be called that, stubborn or hardheaded, as young girls, “Sos necia, sos necia. No hagas eso, no hagas eso. Listen to me! Why are you so hardheaded!” I liked the name because, soy necia. That’s how I got to the place where I have gotten, through strength and persistence. Alida and Jeanette could feel that too. Necia was a name that we were called that had a negative connotation, and we tried to reclaim it.

For us, necia doesn’t mean something negative. Hardheaded for someone might mean that you are hardheaded, but for us it means that we are peristent. That we follow our gut. Or that we are bad-ass, or xingona, and that’s what we stuck with as our collective’s name.

SB: The collective already has a great roster of members. Brag a bit about them. What’s makes them stand out from other media creators?

JDH: The Necias that we have on board are super bad-ass. They have a lot of talent, from recognized radio podcast producers to people who just started film or collage to DJs who are starting out or who have their name out there. We have range of different people from different experience levels and different identities. We want to welcome women of color, trans women of color, gender-non-conforming folks of color who either just started in media, who even just have an interest, or those who have extensive experience.

The reason that we wanted to have this range is because we would like to create a community. Right now, it is a virtual and online digital community. We can mentor each other and learn from each other. I recently just started out in the media field and I was starting to reach out to other women of color, asking, “How was your experience?” I was doing this on my own, and I heard great feedback. But I was sure that there were other people who either want to give feedback or who want feedback.

Our members are really committed to the mission, and they have challenged us to think more about how we can include different people to expand our network. I’m really excited to create community with them and to start dialogue with them. They are just so xingona, or bad-ass.

SB: Necia Media will be putting call for content each month. What types of future contributors (members) would you love to get involved? What do you envision them submitting?

JDH: We would like to get folks from a range of discplines and experiences. I would love to learn about experiences that I don’t know a lot about but that I could relate to. For example, how is to be a women of color, a trans person of color, or a gender non-conforming person of color in Europe? Or in a different part of the world? Are the experiences different or similar? We want to welcome people from all over the world and from all sorts of experiences.

In regards to types of submissions we would like to get, I think writing is great because it’s a great introduction to folks. We want to expand this medium through video, podcast, or playlists. It’s really whatever the person feels comfortable submitting in their medium. If there are DJ, and if they want to submit a playlist that is related to the theme that month, that’s dope. We want people to be comfortable in their discipline.

SB: Let’s pretend we can jump five years into the future. What’s going on with Necia and with you?

JDH: I had to email this question to the other core members. Since we just started, it’s a great question because it helps us think about the future. Me personally, I think it would be great to have some type of conference that actually brings people together so we could grow. If we are able to grow globally, it would be great to have after-school public programs that allow women and trans women of color to get involved in media or mentorship. It would be great to get young people involved because they are super important.

When I asked the other founders, they said having a publication would be really dope. It would be awesome to have other Necias create their own project if they were inspired by a month’s theme, whether it’s a student film or features. It would be great to have Necias who were in the same city to create a project together or a journal. We could also have a week of action! We would want it to grow and for us to share these resources with young people.

With me, I would like to develop my skills through multimedia journalism, whether it’s in photography, video production, writing, or radio. I would like to develop my skills in storytelling whether it’s through another MA or a PhD.

SB: You’re stranded on a desert island. You can take with you one food, one drink, one feminist. What do you choose?

For food, I would take pupusas because I’m half Salvadorean and I grew up on pupusas. For a drink, I’m really into juices since I have been out here, so I would bring maracuyá as a drink. A feminist is really hard — I have a group of people, from Audre Lorde, Queen Latifah, Ivy Queen, to Gloria Anzaldúa, along with some women in my family. I’ll just take all of them because they are all so necessary.

Images courtesy of Jessica Diaz-Hurtado