For those who know me, it is no secret that I am obsessed with pop culture. I love television, music, movies, books, and the drama, comedy, and pure entertainment that comes with it all. For so much of my life, the entertainment industry has helped me find my way and helped me discover who I am as a person. That may sound strange or far-fetched, but it is the complete truth.

Now, I am not saying that without entertainment, I would be lost, alone, and unsure. I am a confident woman, and I am sure that I would have been well-off as a person who is not greatly affected by television and fictional characters, but I am. From the time I was little, specifically with musicals and movies, I have seen entertainment as a way of escaping into worlds that were different, where I could connect with characters and become engrossed in the twists and turns of different plots.

I think the first world I became obsessed with was that of Harry Potter. Like the millions of other fans absorbed in the books and movies, I loved the stories of wizards and witches at Hogwarts and was so excited every time a new movie came out. I always felt like the world was very magical and was a great place to escape from the everyday realities of not being a Hogwarts student (still waiting on that letter). In high school, I admired The Hunger Games and Divergent, and what teenage girl didn’t fall in love with the Twilight Saga? Maybe it is because I love to write and appreciate creativity that inspires not only my work but my character— those stories were huge parts of my adolescence and I was greatly impacted by them.

Growing up in the arts, I have admired Broadway shows since the first one I saw in the fourth grade — Mamma Mia! I can appreciate all the hard work that goes into being a professional triple-threat and would gladly admit to anyone that I listen to show-tunes on a regular basis. In the Heights, however, was the show that changed me forever. (I am listening to the soundtrack as I write this.) Being half Puerto Rican and half Irish, I have always had that internal struggle of what culture I belong to, like Nina does in this show. Every character had a personality trait that had a bit of me in it, and it was easy for me to connect to all of them. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s genius writing changed the way I viewed story-telling.

As a kid, I loved to read and used to beg my parents to bring me to Barnes & Noble. I just found it to be a very enjoyable activity and found authors like John Green and Huntley Fitzpatrick to change my views of the world with every novel. It always was and still is one of my life goals to write a novel that changes the life of someone like mine was changed by Paper Towns. I spent countless summers reading new stories and sometimes reliving the ones I have come to adore.

I can’t explain how or why I am so moved by movies, music, television, or books. I love meeting new characters, exploring fictional places, and getting lost in exciting stories. All I know is that these stories have affected me at pivotal points in my life and have in some minute or extensive way changed my character and view on the world. I owe a lot of who I am to all the entertainment that I was exposed to from a young age. I’ve got a little bit of Hermione Granger, Elizabeth Bennett, Katniss Everdeen, and Nina Rosario inside of me, and I owe it to the great minds that are reached through the world of entertainment.