Yesika Salgado

Salgado's parents immigrated from El Salvador and she grew up in Los Angeles.[1] Her father encouraged her reading habits, but wanted her to become a teacher.[2] Salgado dropped out of John Marshall High School when she was 18 years old, then worked a series of retail jobs while working on her poetry.[3]

In 2005, Salgado started posting her work online at HipHopPoetry.com, where she had created a false identity under the name Yesika Starr. After she was banned three years later for plagiarizing a Ricardo Arjona song, the site's founder encouraged her to read at the open mic night at Da Poetry Lounge, where she began performing under her own name.[3] In 2014, Salgado performed at the National Poetry Slam for the DPL. She later qualified for the 2016 Da Poetry Lounge Slam Team.[4] During this time Salgado frequently shared her work on Instagram, building a large social media following.[5]

Salgado's first book, Corazón, was published in 2017. Salgado frequently mentions fruit throughout the book, specifically mangoes, and the cover of the book reflects this theme.[6] Corazón was listed on Amazon's best seller list.[4] Her second book, Tesoro, was published in 2018. Its poems draw on Salgado's family history to examine women, Los Angeles, and identity.[3] Her most recent book, Hermosa, was published in September of 2019 and deals with love, loss, and gentrification.[7]

Salgado and Angela Aguirre founded the feminist poetry collective Chingona Fire.[8] The organization hosts frequent open mic/performance nights for women-identified poets of color to share their work.[4]