Lucila Vargas is a Latina author, educator, and mental health advocate. While mentoring Latiné teens, she realized the urgent need for self-care books tailored to them. So, she wrote a book on anxiety and depression for Latina teens, which is currently in search of a house. This unique cultural adaptation of mindfulness offers practical advice through a story of hope with Latiné characters who talk about Latina girls’ thrills, wonders, and worries.

Lucila is also a professor emerita at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has an M.A. in Latin American studies and a Ph.D. in communication for social change, both from the University of Texas at Austin. Along with numerous peer-reviewed articles and other scholarly writings, she has published three books: Latina Teens, Migration, and Popular Culture (2009); Women Faculty of Color in the White Classroom (2002); and Social Uses and Radio Practices: The Use of Radio by Ethnic Minorities in Mexico (1995, re-issued in 2019).

Chapel Hill, North Carolina, is now her home, but Mexico is still her homeland. As a matriarch, she delights in creating dishes and sharing family tales. When she is alone and not writing, she dives into the waters, strolls through the forests, meditates at dawn, gazes out at the ocean, and explores her dreams—magical portals to creativity and self-awareness.