Who Is Emelina Minero?
Hello! I am Emelina Minero, a Randolph-Macon Woman’s College alumna, an ardent feminist, mental health and LGBT advocate and cultivator of safe spaces.
I’m a freelance writer, editor, social media manager, publicist and journalist. My niche is queer entertainment. I’ve interviewed artists like singer Havana Brown, actresses Alexis Bledel (Gilmore Girls) and Shay Mitchell (Pretty Little Liars), and soon the cast of lesbian film Jenny’s Wedding, including Katherine Heigl (Grey’s Anatomy), two-time Oscar nominee Tom Wilkinson (Michael Clayton), Linda Emond (Julia & Julia) and Grace Gummer (American Horror Story).
I founded The Human Experience, a queer publication that showcases the diversity and validity in the human experience. I also founded Community Bucket List, an online community that encourages people to live their dreams in the present moment through action-oriented bucket lists, and I volunteered with and then joined the board of nonprofit Eating Disorder Recovery Support, Inc (EDRS) as their Social Media Chair, and received the Love Warrior award in 2013. Since 2007, EDRS has been honoring non-health professionals with the Love Warrior Award for their work and contribution in the eating disorder recovery community.
I’m a passionate self-love activist. I actively began my Self-Love Diet practice in 2010. My main Self-Love Diet tool has been self-love writing. Self-love writing is similar to journaling, but it’s different in that it asks you to foster your self-awareness. It’s different in that no self-critical talk is allowed, unless you’re addressing it to confront it, challenge it and change it. It’s different in that it gives you an avenue to explore your emotions and the messages they’re trying to tell you without getting lost in them. Self-Love writing is a tool that I use to explore any aspect of myself that I want to learn more about or that I want to learn to love unconditionally.
My self-love journey used to revolve around my sexual orientation, but now it revolves around cultivating balance, living in the present moment, letting go of thoughts that don’t serve me and accepting all of the experiences of living with bipolar disorder and paranoia.
Through my Self-Love Diet practice, I can honestly say that I love all of myself. Loving myself doesn’t mean that I never have self-doubts, insecurities or negative thoughts, but it does mean that I’m equipped to become aware of them, confront them and try to change them. Loving myself doesn’t mean that life will always be easy, but it does mean that I’ll be able to navigate it in the most loving way. Loving myself doesn’t mean that I will always choose the most loving thing for myself in each moment, but it does mean that I will be kind and patient with myself.
Everyone has a self-love journey; you just have to discover it. Once you discover it, you can choose to explore it. We’re inviting you to discover and explore yours.