Modele: Joan Smalls

 photos edited by me.!

One of my favorite models of the season is new comer (well not that new) Joan Smalls. Joan Smalls is from Puerto Rico and is 22 years old. She is signed with IMG Models {New York, Paris, London, Milan}. This season the Puerto Rican beauty walked in total 44 shows (NYC, Paris, London, Milan combined). 

Click here to view more runway shows Joan Smalls walked this season.

View more photos of Joan Smalls below

Sylvia del Villard, Actress & Dancer

Sylvia del Villard (February 28, 1928-February 28, 1990), was an actress, dancer, choreographer and Afro-Puerto Rican activist.  Del Villard was born in Santurce, a section of San Juan, Puerto Rico. As a young child, Del Villard would entertain her parents, Agustin and Marcoline Del Villard, with her dances. Her family considered her very talented and she was also a good student at school. She received her primary and secondary education in Santurce and when she graduated from high school the government of Puerto Rico awarded her with a scholarship to attend college.

Del Villard studied Sociology and Anthropology at Fisk University in Tennessee. However, Del Villard had to deal with the anti-black discrimination which was rampant in the southern regions of the United States at that time. She returned back to Puerto Rico and enrolled in the University of Puerto Rico where she earned her degree.

Upon graduating, Del Villard traveled to New York City and enrolled in the City College of New York. It was during this period that she was to develop a passion and love for Africa. She joined the song and ballet group called the "Africa House". She was also able to trace her African roots to the Yoruba people of Nigeria. Del Villard took dance and voice lessons with Leo Braun at the Metropolitan Opera.  Read more/source

Rafael Cepeda "The Patriarch of the Bomba and Plena"

Rafael Cepeda Atiles a.k.a. "The Patriarch of the Bomba and Plena" (July 10, 1910 – July 21, 1996) was the patriarch of the Cepeda family, known internationally as the exponents of Puerto Rican-African folk music.  Cepeda was born in Puerta de Tierra, San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Modesto Cepeda and Leonor Atiles.

 Cepeda was born into a family who have passed the traditional dances of the Bomba and Plena from generation to generation. The Bomba is a music, rhythm and dance that was brought to Puerto Rico by the West African slaves. The Plena is another form of folkloric music of Puerto Rico of African origin. According to Cepeda, he was born while his mother Leonor was in the middle of a Bomba dance. He attended San Augustin Catholic School until the 8th grade in San Juan. After Cepeda finished 8th grade he took up amateur boxing and worked as a carpenter. During his free time he continued to practice dancing the Bomba and Plena. Read more/source

Mayra Santos-Febres, Author

Mayra Santos-Febres (born 1966) is a Puerto Rican author, poet, novelist, professor of literature, and literary critic who has garnered fame at home and abroad.

One of her most famous books is Sirena Selena vestida de pena (published in English as Sirena Selena), in which she describes the life of a teenaged homosexual male drag queen who works in the streets and has a talent for singing boleros. Read more here

Puerto Ricans, Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico (pronounced /ˌpwɛrto ˈriːko/ or /ˌpɔrtə ˈriːkoʊ/), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (Spanish: "Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico"), is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of theDominican Republic and west of the Virgin Islands.

Puerto Ricans often call the island Borinquen, from Borikén, its indigenous Taíno name. The terms boricua and borincano derive fromBorikén and Borinquen respectively, and are commonly used to identify someone of Puerto Rican heritage. The island is also popularly known as "La Isla del Encanto," which translates in English to "The Island of Enchantment." source

The Puerto Rican musical genres of bomba and plena are of African and Caribbean origin respectively and danced to during parties and African-derived festivals. Many Boricuas who claim West/Central African ancestry are descendants of enslaved Congo, Igbo and Yoruba from Africa. After the abolition of slavery in 1873 and the Spanish-American War of 1898 a number of African Americans have also migrated and settled in Puerto Rico.

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African history in Puerto Rico