Oral History: Estela Pereda Cisneros

Estela Pareda Cisneros was born in the 1970’s, to a family of farmers in Guerrero, Mexico. Having lost her mother when very young, Estela worked the land with her three siblings, learning from her father and grandfather and participating in agricultural traditions like the annual San Miguel celebration. In 1998, she joined her great-aunt in Los Angeles, later moving to Fresno to harvest grapes with her uncle and his wife, before relocating to New York City to work on the night shift at a bakery, and then cleaning a restaurant on the Upper West Side, where she was promoted to salad preparer and eventually line cook. Around 2015, after noticing activity in the green space she would pass while taking her daughters to school, Estela began gardening at the New Roots Community Farm, where refugees, asylees, and immigrant communities relax and connect with their cultures through agriculture. Her involvement has helped her reconnect with the farming knowledge her grandfather passed on to her and implement a healthier diet for her family.