Latino Trailblazers: Lifestyle influencer Jenny Solares on remembering her late brother
Latino Trailblazers is a new series by COCINA, where we celebrate and amplify Latino voices all year long, giving the mic to groundbreaking names who are changing the world for the better. It’s a forum to celebrate the love of community, the wins of today and share the wisdom we’ve learned.
Jenny Solares is a lifestyle influencer. This amazing US-born, Guatemalan-descent creator shares on a daily basis videos ranging from food, beauty, to comedy skits about growing up in a Hispanic family to her over 4 Million fans.
To my big brother Erick,
I can’t believe it's been 8 years since you’ve been gone. Time is flying by, but I still think about you all the time.
So many things have happened since the last time I saw you. I still live in Maryland; I got a house and a dog named Roxen! I wish you could meet him. He’s a boxer, just like you used to have. You would LOVE him. I hosted my first Christmas party last year! The fam took a flight to visit me, and there were over 20 people. And guess what? I COOKED (and it was the bomb, if I do say so myself)! It was such a good feeling to have everyone over. It felt like how we used to feel growing up, with all the Tias and Tios coming over, when we used to fight so hard to stay awake until midnight so we could open the presents. It was awesome. But of course, like always, we missed you.
Oh! Remember how hard I used to try to grow my social media accounts?
Well, all that hard work finally paid off, bro! There’s a social media platform called TikTok where I started posting random, funny videos, and they blew up! Who would have thought? Now I have over FOUR MILLION followers across all social media platforms. Can you believe it?
It's crazy because I remember how much you DID believe in me! You called this out for me, even though I never would have believed it in my wildest dreams. I still remember you handing out business cards with my social media handles to all of your co-workers and friends. I’ll never forget that.
The videos I'm making are about how we grew up! I make comedy skits about our crazy Hispanic family. (You should see the wig I use when I dress up as Mom...It's hilarious). I’ve also made some videos about us (cus you know we never had a dull moment). I also created this character called Sad Girl. She’s a hit! The funny thing is, a lot of her mannerisms and the way she talks are inspired by you!
I get to make these videos as part of my full-time job now. I’m living the dream I always told you about, bro. I get to share our memories and our culture with so many people, and they actually like it. So I want to say thank you. Thank you for always believing in me and pushing me to be myself. It wasn’t until I actually showed my true self online that I started to grow. I want you to know how inspiring you were and still are to me. A great son, brother, spouse, and friend. I hope you felt how proud we all were of you.
In your 35 years of life, you achieved so many things
I’m 35 now, and before my birthday a few weeks ago, you were heavy on my mind. I just kept thinking to myself that moving forward, I want to be the best version of myself for you. Since you weren’t able to have more years, I want to make you proud in my years to come.
I love you, and I miss you more than you can imagine. Just know that I’m ok. Mom and Dad are good. Victor and the kids are good too (they’re huge, btw). Life isn’t the same without you, but we’re ok.
Te quiero mucho, bro.
From the best sister in the world (hahaha),
Jenny
If you'd like to read more of our Latino Trailblazers series, check them out here.