about
Natalia Roa (Cali – Colombia, 1988) is a writer, editor and interdisciplinary artist.
She has lived in different cities such as Bogotá, Paris, New Orleans and Amsterdam.
Interested on storytelling, Natalia has fusioned Art, Media and Literature. This led her towards the investigation of the music and oral traditions of the Colombian Caribbean through a series of trips (2013-2015) from Urabá to Guajira as an immersion in this popular musical universe. Moment when she starts her process as a folk singer.
In 2014, her graduate work in Literary Studies: “I don’t have a heart, I bring a drum: Towards a poetics of resistance in the Bullerengue songs of the Colombian Caribbean”, was awarded cum laude. In 2016 she was the winner of the Gabriel García Márquez scholarship for cultural journalism. She collaborated as a writer and editor for different media such as the German portal Solkes, the printed magazine Reloj de Arena, the digital magazines MyGRLstory, VICE, Noisey and Pacifista.
Natalia has also been an editor of magazines, art books, literature and graphic novels with Colombian publishers and as a freelance editor. She also works independently in the production and promotion of art and culture in collaboration with authors, artists and humanists from Europe, the United States and Latin America.
She is currently finishing a Master’s Degree in Comparative Literature at the University of Amsterdam and is dedicated to a writing project in narrative fiction and a musical project in Caribbean folk music.
mY storytelling shapes in the process of owning a queer, feminisT and decolonized perspective.
Natalia is co-Founder of VULVA LIBRE —a social art and intersectional feminism project—winner of the Liderando desde el Sur program (2016-2020) a four-year feminist initiative from the Mujeres del Sur Fund (Argentina) aiming to finance and support activism for women’s rights and sexual diversity in the Global South.
The project has involved community work with groups of women and LGBTQ folks from the Pacific and Caribbean coast of Colombia, a creation of network among feminisms in Latin America, embracing discomfort and creating art collaboratively.
Natalia also directs a small editorial catalog of literature and art through her label Vulva Libre Press. Currently working in a Feminist Sci-Fi literary project this 2024! 🙂
Some words from colleagues & friends.
“Collaborating with Natalia has been an incredible experience. Her leadership style is reliable and strong, yet compassionate and creative. When I was testing the scalability of bringing my SWIETstuff #artWORK #empowARTment programming to a new community, she eagerly accepted the role and responsibilities as Program Director and successfully created the La Lucha cohort in Colombia. Her work included managing and teaching 8 women the process of our project, supporting each woman's unique circumstances, and she achieved great results. The experience working with Natalia was so successful that I have returned time and time again to rely on her as a leader in my team”.
—Emily Swietlik, Director at SwietStuff (New Orleans, USA)
“Natalia made part of the Prince Claus Fund’s Special Projects Team in the production of the 2022 Impact Awards Week and the Impact Awards Ceremony. She was an efficient, organised and empathetic team member, and her communication skills are very much appreciated. She also assisted the editing process of the Prince Claus Impact Awards Book. In addition, her capability to build strong relationships with artists and cultural practitioners from diverse backrounds highly contributed to our Ceremony event at the Royal Palace in Amsterdam”.
–Fariba Derakhshani, Chief Special Projects at Prince Claus Fund (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
“Working with Natalia was a journey to the intimacy of my being, perhaps the pole to earth and the means for authenticity that my creative writing was needing. I would sail with her again on other tides and other ports. The adventure was a return to the essence of the soul and I am deeply grateful for it”.
–Juliana Garcés, book author (Medellín, Colombia)