Palacio Podcast
Replay: Melina Paris Writes to Illuminate and Inform
Melina Paris is a Southern California-based writer who writes to illuminate, inform, and yes, get paid for it. Just because this is serious work doesn’t mean she shouldn’t be compensated for it. In describing her writing in her bio, she speaks about “…blending her passion for writing and connecting people to their local community.”
I met Melina Paris at an event at Long Beach City College where I spoke about Palacio Magazine and a career in journalism. She impressed me with her questions and maturity. There was a world-wise quality about her. Eventually, I would ask her to write for the then print version of Palacio Magazine. She’s good. Read some of her writing HERE, HERE, HERE, and on PalacioMagazine.com.
Melina Paris
The Melina Paris Interview
We recently met outside of a Starbucks in San Pedro on a very windy day. Hence, the occasional wind blasts that distorted the sound, especially mine. It was so bad one time, I had to re-do one of my questions in post editing (It’ll be obvious). Otherwise, she’s not bad as an interviewee for someone who is usually the interviewer.
Melina Paris is Passionate about Writing
For Melina Paris, the passion for writing professionally came later in her life after her child was born.
“I always enjoyed writing but it was personal…creative writing. Stuff that sort of played around with.”
Her publications and websites include Amass Magazine, Random Lengths News, and Palacio Magazine, DTLA-Weekly, The Urban Howl, Tour Worthy and Infinity Artists Group.
When she began writing professionally, she gave it away.
“That was my learning ground. I wrote for free for about a year and, I figured, those were my dues.”
The experience taught her a lot.
“I fell in love with the writing process and the part about connecting people to their community.”
Today, she writes about food, music, cultural events, the arts, and significantly, the intersection of art and social justice.
Melina Paris credits an online Facebook group of women writers with supporting her writing, 30 Days of Writing: Write yourself Alive. This is a Facebook page administered by Andréa Balt (Founder, Rebelle Society) and Kristi Stout (Creator & Owner at She is Wild)
“It was started as writing thirty days of writing. Write every day for thirty days whatever you’re inspired by.”
A subgroup of the online group became her mentors.
“These are my mentors. These are the people that encourage me, I would say, from the beginning and I’m still in touch with them.”
From there, Paris branched out to meet other writers at writers’ workshops and poetry readings. That commitment to learn as much as possible and to seek support is reflective of Melina Paris’s passion for the arts.
“I think artists have a valid voice, especially in times like these where it does intersect with politics. I think they need to be heard.”
Driving Melina Paris to Write
With all the voices on cable and talk radio, artist voices are a counterbalance. For Paris, she considers herself lucky to add to that counterbalance with her access to platforms. It’s important, she says, because artists are often “…on the cusp of what’s going to happen, where culture is going, and even where our emotions may lead us.”
For Melina Paris, the driver of her writing is simple.
“Inform. Inform. I think people need to be informed on truth, on art, culture…those are the things that I focus on.”
Now, if you can just get paid real dollars instead of pennies.
“I write my butt off and I get paid pennies. That’s it. I hope to get more money, not to be rich, but just to make a living.”
Paris talks about the options for writers. Whether it’s writing for a major publication or video or even podcasting, it’s all about finding a way to get your writing out there. And for her, that is the ongoing challenge. In mega-Los Angeles, that can be an even bigger challenge in an environment where major platforms for storytelling sometimes seem out of reach for writers of color.
“We are a cultural patchwork and it needs to be…we need to resemble that in our media in L.A.”
Finding Melina Paris
You can find out more about Melina Paris at melinaparis9@gmail.com and on Twitter @parismelina (she mistakenly said “@melinaparis” in the interview).
