Welcome to the Bridgetown Church Podcast.

From September 15th, October 15th, we are honoring Hispanic Heritage Month.

Each week, members of our Church Family will be sharing stories that acknowledge and celebrate

Latino and Latina history from their lived experiences to the world at large.

Oha and hello to you. My name is Jaron Oda and I have the honor of getting to chat with

Bella today about her story and her experiences as a Latina woman at Bridgetown Church

in Living in Portland, Oregon. And a really fun fact.

Bella and I currently serve together in Bridgetown's high school ministry and we've been friends

since 2016. So today's interview is a real honor for me to do with her. So Bella, why

don't you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Sure. My name is Isabella McCarthy-Solaya, whereas I'm better known here. Bella, I work

at David Douglas High School and I'm a graduation mentor and I identify as mixed race. I'm

Hunter and American. My mom's from Honduras. My dad's from Michigan. And I was born in Arizona

but I grew up mostly in Oregon and Sandy. So moved here when I was five. So most of my

life has been in Oregon and yeah, for the past nine years I've been going to Bridgetown

and then been serving with Bridgetown youth for like three and a half and pretty new to

the Bridgetown Racial Justice Committee as well.

Awesome. So why don't you share with us a little bit about how you identify yourself in terms

of your race and ethnicity?

Sure. Yeah, I think. Well, I definitely identify as Latina and I have always had a pretty

strong connection to like my Honduran roots. My brother, my older brother is actually born

in Honduras. My parents met there and everything and so they moved here not too long before

...