RAQUEL CEPEDA is known for La Madrina: The Savage Life of Lorine Padilla (2020), Bling: A Planet Rock (2007) and Some Girls (2017). Born in Harlem to Dominican parents, CEPEDA is the author of Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina (Atria, Simon & Schuster). Bird of Paradise is equal parts memoir about Cepeda’s coming of age in New York City and Santo Domingo, and detective story chronicling her year-long journey to discover the truth about her ancestry. Her award-winning LA MADRINA: THE SAVAGE OF LORINE PADILLA (2020), is currently available for streaming on Showtime. Cepeda’s documentary film, Some Girls (2017), produced by Henry Chalfant and Sam Pollard, focuses on a group of troubled Latina teens from a Bronx-based suicide prevention program who are transformed by an exploration of their roots via the use of ancestral DNA testing, followed by a trip to the seat of the Americas. Cepeda directed and produced the award-nominated Bling: A Planet Rock (2007),  co-produced by VH1/MTV Networks and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Her writings have been widely anthologized and her byline has been featured in media outlets including The New York Times, The Village Voice, and GQ.