Meet Carlita Field-Hernandez | Slam Poet & NYC Teaching Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Carlita Field-Hernandez and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Carlita, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
As cliche as it sounds, I feel like I didn’t have a choice. Writing helps my brain and makes me feel better- it always has. It’s also what I’ve always been best at, so that definitely helped guide me. I tried doing other things or working towards other things, at one point I was trying to go into nursing, but it just made me depressed because it wasn’t what I wanted. For some reason I convinced myself that writing and poetry as a career was just not something that could happen to me.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Oh my goodness, getting where I am was not easy at all. At all. I never finished my bachelor’s degree, which is actually something that bothers me and something I’ve been looking into finishing lately.

I dropped out because I didn’t know what to do or what direction I should go into, honestly because I just wanted to write and that felt unattainable. I was super nihilistic and depressed over it.

So because I didn’t have a degree or a direction, I just worked a lot, usually with multiple jobs at a time. I also would get badly depressed a lot, a big contribution being because I felt like I didn’t know what to do with my life and that I was just doing nothing. It made me feel really bad about myself. I wasn’t taking care of myself, or my head, so there’d be periods in my life where I’d just be non-functioning, which then led to me working myself even harder when I’d come out of it. It was a toxic cycle.

I always would perform at open mics here and there because, like I said before, writing makes me feel better. Performing poems I wrote felt like I was able to get all this… am I allowed to curse? Let’s just call it gunk… get all this emotional gunk that would build up on my chest, that I had thrown on a page, properly out, off, and released. It’s cathartic for me. Performing leaves me at peace with things that have happened in my life.

All of my poems are incredibly personal and things that I have actually gone through. I’m shy and still learning how to communicate with people, even the people closest to me. Poetry gives me the ability to open myself up to people, so I turn my poems into almost an invitation into my life and emotions. I make the audience feel what I’m feeling and walk them through it. I can’t even count how many times people have come up to me crying or asking if they can hug me after I perform. I think it’s what sets me apart. A host one time told me how he was always blown away by how silent everyone got when I’d perform, and that’s honestly my favorite part because I know that I’m actually touching people.

When I won an open mic at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe in NYC, it put me on the Friday night docket and changed my life. After that I made all these different connections. I had audience members asking where my next performance would be. I was getting paid to perform places and had different people asking me to submit my work to anthologies.

I, at first, made a decision that Slamming and performing Spoken Word would be and could be what I did with my life and that I would just hustle my hardest to be able to do that, so that’s what I did.

I actually met Sergio Jimenez, who I mentioned before, at a Nuyorican Poetry slam, because we were slamming against each other. He taught me about being a Teaching Artist, was, taught me how to be one, and then helped me get jobs at different organizations. Now I’m a professional poet and get to teach young people how to express themselves and perform. It’s everything I’ve always wanted. It allows me to comfortably be a performer too.

I still waitress on the side, but that’s just because I’m a workhorse and I have a lot of tattoos… which are expensive…. Hahahaha. Plus, I do love the restaurant industry.

I guess if there’s anything I’d “want the world to know” is that it is possible, that creative outlet people tell you you can’t make a career out of. Also, I guess, if something makes you depressed because you’re not doing it, why aren’t you doing it? We only have a finite amount of time on this planet, and for some reason we’ve convinced ourselves that doing something that makes us happy is irresponsible and “bad.” It isn’t. There’s always a way.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Lower East Side and The Village. It’s probably my favorite place. Also Prospect Park, Central Park, Pepsi Cola sign in Long Island City, and Coney Island. Honestly, there’s so much to do in New York City and so many cool bars and places to eat.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My biggest fan was my grandmother, Carla Field, who’s actually who I’m named after. She always told me that I had to keep writing and always wanted to hear more of my poems. She was the one to push me into somehow making it into a career, even when it made me roll my eyes because I thought it was just a non-reality. I wish she could see where I am now.

I’m also lucky to have artistic parents who were always more than willing to listen to something new I wrote, my dad especially constantly helped me edit my stuff.

My aunt and uncle, who are both poets, also always encouraged me and would give me feedback on things I wrote.

Oh, and my cousin Emily. She always came to shows I’d do and was my biggest cheerleader.

I also have to give a shout-out to Sergio Jimenez. Without him, I wouldn’t have even known what being a teaching artist is or have the ability to turn poetry into a career. He’s also helped me develop my writing and poetry through classes he teaches. Honestly, he’s pretty much my mentor.

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