Stephanie Arbaiza - August 2022

Born in New Jersey, Stephanie has been a Mainer since moving here when she was just one. She lived in Portland, Biddeford, and Saco before graduating from Thornton Academy in 2016, and currently works for Catholic Charities Maine’s Independent Support Services, where, she says, she’s found her calling, “where I really want to be.” Even though she’s lived in Maine virtually all her life, she has encountered both a lack of education about her Hispanic heritage as well as more hurtful attitudes. “Some people say really rude things, which really affects me. I feel that sometimes Caucasians ask inappropriate questions. They think all of us are Mexican or ask ‘Are you Mexican? Do you celebrate Cinco de Mayo?’ They assume we don’t speak English and we don’t know what they’re saying.”

Usually quiet and soft-spoken, she is not afraid to speak up when she thinks it’s called for, and her hope for creating greater racial equity in Maine is for people like herself and others in the Hispanic community to do the same — but acknowledges it can be a challenge. “They don’t think that they have a voice, but they do and they can speak up and be listened to. But most of them don’t think that that’s okay and that they’re able to.” She is hopeful that seeing our differences can lead to greater understanding and unity: “Of course I want to be acknowledged for my community, the Hispanic community, but also, at the end of the day, I’m also American. I guess just seeing each other as one, because really we’re all the same.”