GrubStreet Lip Up
November 6, 2025
“Watch writer, storyteller, and filmmaker Lorena Hernández Leonard read at GrubStreet’s Lit Up 2025 celebration, where we honored Jodi Picoult, celebrated founder Eve Bridburg, and reflected on 28 years of building a vibrant community for writers.” Watch here.
Life is Sweet in the Belly of the Beast
Pangyrus
February 21, 2025
“Dressed in waist-cinching leather corsets and tassel pasties, I embodied Bettie; positioning my body for the camera with torso leaning forward, chest and booty curving upwards, giving my back a sultry, concave effect. Like my icon, I was a chameleon passing for a femme fatale. I acted without inhibition, transforming myself into someone who was provocative and sensual, confident and dominant. I made myself the object of desire in front of the lens. Behind the lens, however, there was a nuanced reality. Paralyzing fear and overwhelming insecurity permeated all aspects of my life. Nightmares were a constant companion, vigilance and panic were my permanent state of mind.” Continue Reading.
Fairyland, an Interview with Alysia Abbott
Solstice
Spring, 2023
“During our first week of class Alysia Abbott asked “If your memoir was made into a movie, what actor or actress would play you?” The next week, all ten of us memoirists came back with our answers: Salma Hayek, Annette Bening, Claire Danes, Sigourney Weaver… It was June 2021 and I had just embarked on a rigorous, year-long memoir incubator program with Alysia guiding the way. During this time, Alysia became a mentor and a friend; and along with the other writers in the program, we forged a bond unlike any other I had experienced before. It was an experience of vulnerability where we got to know each other intimately––learning about everyone’s fears, aspirations, and even some secrets.” Continue Reading.
Learning to Throw Axes
Tasteful Rude
October 7 2022
“In the era of Trump, during which conservative Republican agendas have built momentum, during which white nationalist groups have come out of the shadows to play dirty, and during which insurrectionists nearly dismantled the country’s democracy (sounds like the Seventh Kalvary, doesn’t it?), the devastating outcome of Roe was to be expected. But I felt violated no less. In the same way a predator can make their victim feel powerless, SCOTUS’ recent rulings––Roe and all the other disastrous decisions––left me feeling abused and impotent. As a woman, a Latina, an immigrant, and a mamá of two girls, this was a personal attack.” Continue reading.
I Saw Gun Violence as a Child
WBUR Cognoscenti
May 31 2022
“Despite how safe I felt in the streets of the suburb where we settled, I had a difficult time integrating, making friends, trusting people. Like a shadow, nightmares followed me by night and paranoia kept me looking over my shoulder by day. Sudden, loud noises put me in a catatonic state––the roar of a motorcycle, a dish breaking in the kitchen, someone sneaking up on me and yelling BOO!––accelerated my heart rate, rendering me immobile.” Continue reading.
El Palomero
Corporeal KHÔRA
May 2022 | Issue 16
“I can’t say that any of us saw our pigeon coop as a home. Whenever he could, Papi traded life at home with his wife and three daughters for the freedom of bachelorhood, spending most of his days out with friends and his many rumored lovers. As for my mother, she became my grandparents’ caretaker; never mind that she wasn’t blood-related to them. Her days were tied up at their place—cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, and acting as Papito Martín’s personal nurse, administering his daily shot of insulin and tossing the cookies he used to hide in his night stand. All the while, me and my sister spent most of our time playing out on the streets when we weren’t in school.” Continue reading.
The Witching Hour
Corporeal KHÔRA
April 2022 | Issue 15
“Maybe the mountains might have changed Mami’s mood, as it changed mine, as it seemed to change everyone else’s. Such was their magic. This was our brief escape, our heaven for a couple of weeks out of the year. The loud roars of motorcycles in a drive-by shooting, the commanding military police holding machine guns, and the anxiety of everyday life were all left behind the further we traveled up the mountains. Our only concern was the tiring trek on foot as we lugged our things up the steep and muddy trail—clothes, blankets, pots and pans—along with my baby sister Alexandra, who, at the time, was a wobbling toddler. In the city, bullets flew fast and we ran for cover. In the Andes, hummingbirds flapped their wings in a frenzy and came to feed from all sides of the forest like buzzing bullets. We watched in wonder. Our anxiety drifted. ” Continue reading.
What Encanto Means to Me as a Colombian-American
WBUR Cognoscenti
March 24 2022
“As a Colombian immigrant, I too have carried this stigma in the 30 plus years I have lived in the U.S. I’ve been scrutinized by customs agents at the airport — my bags thoroughly inspected, shampoo bottles checked, and underwear unrolled. Acquaintances have joked that I’m connected to narcos. A boss once even implied I was a drug mule. When I was 12, my family escaped the violence in Medellín and migrated to Boston. It was 1989 and Medellín had been dubbed the most dangerous city in the world. I witnessed atrocities no one, especially a child, should ever experience.” Continue reading.
Children of the Sun
Corporeal KHÔRA
March 2022 | Issue 14
“The terrorizing sound of gunshots became more frequent as I got older, but no random shootings nor the increasing amount of wakes at our neighbors’ homes could keep us kids out of the streets. We were children of the sun, our skin permanently caramelized like delicious Panela, the hardened form of raw cane sugar, a rich shade of brown and complex golden tones. Between the Equator and the Tropic of Cancer, we carelessly played for hours each day whenever we were not in school—day and night, weekday and weekend. The infernal heat typical in this part of the world was never a problem for us either. El Valle de la Eterna Primavera, the Valley of Eternal Spring, as Medellín is known, was our dystopian playground.” Continue reading.
Salsipuedes: Leave If You Can
Corporeal KHÔRA
February 2022 | Issue 13
“I remember the day I left Colombia remarkably well. It was May 5, 1989. A Friday. I was twelve years old, and I shivered in the new pleated shorts and button-down shirt my mother had made for me. Medellín’s international airport had been built high up in the cloud forest of the Andes, in the municipality of Rionegro. In contrast to Medellín’s warmth, Rionegro was often cold. Mist would cling to the surface of the verdant pastures in the early morning hours like a spectral apparition.” Continue reading.
Demi’s Panic
Rock Farm Productions | Animated Short Film
2021 – 2022
Co-Founder of Rock Farm Productions and Co-Producer of Demi’s Panic, an animated short film about a young Latina who is overcome with fear as a deadly virus spreads around her. Written and produced by Danny Leonard, directed and animated by Oscar-nominated indie animator Bill Plympton.
Award-winning Demi’s Panic was longlisted for the 94th Academy Awards and has screened at film festivals around the world. Watch here.
Stories From The Stage “Next Stop”
WORLD Channel
Season 03 | Episode 6
“A change of place, temporary or permanent, can transform our perspectives – and our lives – forever. A bathroom remodeling project transports Lorena Hernández Leonard to her childhood in Medellín during the Colombian drug war of the ’80s.” Continue reading.
Thriving in the Face of Adversity
Latinas in Tech
August 2020
“Latinas in Tech is a non-profit organization with the aim to create a tech industry where Latinas are well-represented throughout all levels of the ecosystem by empowering them to be innovators and leaders. We partner with top tech companies to ensure that there is equal representation in the decision-making table.” Watch.
Suitcase Stories
International Institute of New England
May 2020 Interview
After participating in various Suitcase Stories events I was interviewed by the program’s Director.
“IINE’s Suitcase Stories program has featured over 200 storytellers since the program launched in 2017. During these virtual conversations, meet different participants and hear more about their backstories.” Watch.
Practicing Mindfulness
Thrive Global
April 2020
“Funding, awareness and education, tolerance, and compassion are key. Our government needs to do a better job at funding initiatives that educate the public, and even mental health professionals, on this topic. Creating awareness campaigns around mental health conditions can positively impact everyone, especially communities that would otherwise not have access to resources and aid.” Continue reading.
Suitcase Stories
International Institute of New England
September 2019
“The mission of the International Institute of New England (IINE) is to create opportunities for refugees and immigrants to succeed through resettlement, education, career advancement and pathways to citizenship. Suitcase Stories® provides a unique way for a community to explore migration through the art of storytelling and foster a more welcoming and inclusive environment for newcomers in neighborhoods, schools, and workplaces.” Watch.
Fugitive Stories
Fugitive Productions
June 2019
“Fugitive Stories Month-inspired True Stories Told Live is the brainchild of producer David Gerratt of Fugitive Productions. David produces and hosts live storytelling, comedy, and music events around the western suburbs of Boston.” Watch.