KANSAS CITY, Mo. — MG Salazar grew up as a reader.
“I read through recess, and dinner, and breakfast in the morning; under the covers at night with the flashlight,” they described.
Salazar loves reading so much, they hold writers and poets to very high regards.
"I think poets and writers should be treated like rap stars, I think that our level of contribution to society is at an equal level to a rock star or a sports celebrity," Salazar said.
As an adult, Salazar has not abandoned their love of reading. So much, they created a publishing company in Kansas City, Missouri, called La Resistencia Press.
The Press specifically seeks out authors from Hispanic, Black, Indigenous and other minority backgrounds to publish their stories. Salazar decided to open the publishing company after two bad experiences publishing books in the typical, white-male-dominated publishing world.
“It's great, it's thrilling being able to find new talent and people who never thought that they could publish books or have a book of their own,” Salazar said.
The Press is a labor of love for Salazar. So far, they’ve worked with about five authors.
One of those is KSHB 41's own Christina Santiago.
Santiago works at KSHB as a producer. This month, Santiago published a book through La Resistencia Press. Her book, titled "You Can Go to Hell and Back" details her struggles and solutions to mental health challenges. Santiago said Salazar and La Resistencia Press made the process easy.
“Our voices need to be heard, minority will soon be majority. There are readers out there who want to hear a story from someone who looks like them and sounds like them,” Santiago said.
"Voices" is the key word for Salazar. They say they hope La Resistencia Press is a springboard for writers to achieve bigger things and get their voices to larger audiences.
“I want to get them out there so that they get those opportunities so that they can grow their career,” they said. “It’s not your endpoint.”
You can view books published by La Resistencia Press on its website.
