The character Estrella is based on my wife, Marlena, a Mexican woman. Given everything that the Latinx community has gone through lately with poor representation by white authors, I thought long and hard before committing to keep her character as is. In the end, the idea of whitewashing her hurt my heart too much, and her culture is inextricably woven into her personhood. I couldn't remove it without removing *her*. I did my best to write Estrella and her brother with empathy and respect, adressing my internal biases and avoiding stereotypes whenever I found them. I remain open to making adjustments if I missed anything harmful. I feel very strongly about not listing Theirs to Crave as a Latinx book, or focusing on Estrella’s race in my marketing, because I don't want to take space from the many amazing Latinx authors out there. To the end of celebrating and supporting the Latinx community, 10% of all Theirs to Crave related sales through my website (book boxes, signed books, art prints, etc) will be donated to United We Dream, a wonderful community-led organization empowering undocumented youth and their families. UnitedWeDream.org ❤️❤️❤️ https://www.instagram.com/p/CpBSDywyOKf/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=