About Me

I am Maritza Arroyo Pérez. My story, like so many diaspora Puerto Ricans, begins not on the main island, but with the fierce insistence of my parents and grandparents that Puerto Rico would always be the cultural anchor for our family.

I was born in St. Croix, a child of the Viequense diaspora. My maternal grandparents were among the many forced to leave Vieques and Fajardo in the 1930s when the collapse of the sugar industry unraveled their world. They left behind their home in search of work, but they carried their heritage with them like a sacred flame.

A map cannot contain a culture. Though we lived in St. Croix, my siblings and I were raised in a world that was unapologetically Puerto Rican. Spanish was the language of our home long before English. Our evenings were filled with the sounds of Telemundo and Wapa TV, often punctuated by the passionate political debates between PNP and PPD relatives. Our daily nourishment was arroz con habichuelas, and our most cherished memories were forged during summers and Christmases spent back In Puerto Rico: Santa Isabel, Ponce, Rio Piedras, and Fajardo.

For most of my adulthood, I have been a part of this large and beautiful diaspora here in New York City, holding onto the same dream that so many of us share: the dream of returning to Puerto Rico.

This constant pulse—this connection to a history that is both distant and deeply personal—is why I founded Nanichi Roots. My own story of migration and reclamation taught me that our legacy is a fortress and our history is an act of resistance. My life's work is now dedicated to helping you find the names, faces, and stories of the ancestors whose unbreakable strength beats in your heart.

¡Mil Gracias!
¡Pa'Lante!