Christianne Meneses Jacobs
Encyclopedia
Christianne Meneses Jacobs (born March 28, 1971) is a Nicaraguan
American
writer, editor, and teacher. She is also publisher of Iguana, the United States
' only Spanish-language magazine for children.
, Nicaragua
. Meneses' family included her brother Enrique, mother Thelma, who was a legal secretary, and father, Enrique Meneses, who was an internationally known lawyer and vice president of the National Liberal Party, who had been jailed more than once in Nicaragua for political reasons. Her grandfather was Dr. Ildefonso Palma Martinez, who was a respected lawyer, law professor, and a justice on the Nicaraguan Supreme Court. Due to the Sandinista National Liberation Front
and their coup d'état
, the main opposition was the Contras
. The hectic situation tied a lot of foreign countries into the mix to choose sides, including the United States
among many others. The fighting and the food shortages were massive problems at this time. She recalled that "The Sandinista revolution
occurred when I was eight years old. I remember the civil war and the attacks on small towns." The Meneses family fled Nicaragua via Los Angeles
in 1988 when Meneses was only 17. The reason they had to flee was because her father was an attorney. She said "My Father was on the defense team for an American pilot whose plane was shot down by the Sandinista artillery at the border of Nicaragua
and Costa Rica
in December of 1997. The American pilot was accused of being a CIA agent." Three months later, she would leave the country on March 19, 1988. Her parents and brother would arrive a week later.
and she attended Los Angeles High School
, where she served as editor in Chief
of both the Spanish and English newspapers. She described her childhood as privelaged, saying "I attended private school and ballet lessons. We had domestic servants that performed several jobs:nannies, cook, chauffer, gardener, cleaning, laundry, and ironing." She was astonnished when she arrived at the amount of food wasted in the United States
. She describes her time in NIcaragua, "We had a food rationing card in Nicaragua and had to pick up one pound of rice, one pound of beans, one pound of sugar, and one quart of oil per person in the household for a two week period."
Her biggest difficulty when moving here was the language barrier. She said, "The most challenging part was that I was a senior in high school in Nicaragua but I was placed in 10th grade at Los Angeles High School
because I did not speak English well. It was also challenging that although I had studied English in Nicaragua I could not understand it in the U.S. That lasted for my first four months and was very frustrating." She credits her high school teachers in helping her to overcome her difficulty with the language. She said, "They encouraged me every day to rise above expectations. I will always be grateful to them for I would not be who I am now without their nurturing and encouragement.". She was inspired by Today in L.A.
anchorwoman Carla Aragon. "One of my role models was anchorwoman Carla Aragon (who is now in Albuquerque with KOB
). I met her in high school and established a friendship with her for several years while we lived in L.A. She once called me a 'diamond in the rough waiting to be discovered'. She was my role model for an educated, professional, and successful Latina." She would go on to become the Editor-in-Chief of both the Spanish and English school newspapers. She said of life in the U.S. that "I am glad that I moved when I was 17 years old. I had a strong educational foundation and a sense of who I was. As a result, I was not an easy target for peer pressure." She also enjoyed her new home in the U.S., saying, "As I began to understand the American way of life, I began to like the idea of meritocracy
. I admired Americans that worked hard and became successful in their careers. I believe that one's dreams are possible when one had the motivation and willingness to work hard." She graduated from L.A. High when she was 20 years old.
in Middletown
, Connecticut
. At Wesleyan University, Meneses Jacobs majored in Government
with an emphasis in International Relations
. Meneses began her career as a second grade elementary school
teacher
in Los Angeles after graduating from Wesleyan. In 2001, Menedes received a Master of Arts
degree in Education, and in 2005 she received her Reading Specialist Certification. She was a bilingual teacher for several years in Los Angeles before the program was eliminated by a state wide proposition. Meneses moved to Arizona in 2002.
In 2007, Meneses was awarded $5,000 as one of 10 honorees of the Anna Maria Arias Memorial Business Fund. The Anna Maria Arias Memorial Business Fund recognizes entrepreneurial Latinas.
Meneses is President of NicaGal, LLC. She continues to work as an educator, she currently teaches 1st grade in Phoenix
, Arizona
. She is a supporter of bilingualism
.
with her husband and their two daughters. She was raised Catholic
but converted to Judaism
after graduating college. "When I met my (future) husband, Marc Jacobs, I asked if he was Jewish, but I didn't tell him I was studying Judaism. After graduation, I moved back to Los Angeles
and studied with a rabbi for three more years. In March 1998, I converted. It was very emotional. I felt I was detaching from my parents, but my father gave me a big hug and said in Spanish, 'God of any religion is a good God.' In May of that year, my husband proposed, and we got married in October."
Meneses founded Iguana Magazine with her husband, Marc, and its first issue came out in 2005. Iguana is an acclaimed educational Spanish language magazine
aimed at children ages 7–12 who grow up learning and speaking Spanish. The magazine features fictional stories with characters, experiences, and settings that are familiar to the targeted readership. Additionally, it will present biographies and interviews with personalities that have influenced the lives of Latinos in America; historical articles; stories about children around the world; science articles with related experiments to be tried at home; nature articles; interesting facts; recipes that kids can make at home; craft projects; artwork; reader-submitted works and much more. Meneses Jacobs serves as the editor and her husband serves at the art director. The magazine would go on to receive the 2009 Multicultural Children's Publication Award from the National Association for Multicultural Education.
and in El Sentinel
in Orlando
and South Florida (Broward/Palm Beach counties) with a monthly distribution of over 750,000 copies.
Published magazines
Nicaraguan
Nicaraguans are people inhabiting in, originating or having significant heritage from Nicaragua. Most Nicaraguans live in Nicaragua, although there is also a significant Nicaraguan diaspora, particularly in Costa Rica and the United States with smaller communities in other countries around the world...
American
Nicaraguan American
Nicaraguan American are Americans of Nicaraguan ancestry who were born in or have immigrated to the United States. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there were 177,684 Americans of full or partial Nicaraguan ancestry living in the U.S...
writer, editor, and teacher. She is also publisher of Iguana, the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
' only Spanish-language magazine for children.
Nicaragua (1971-1988)
Christianne Meneses Jacobs was born in ManaguaManagua
Managua is the capital city of Nicaragua as well as the department and municipality by the same name. It is the largest city in Nicaragua in terms of population and geographic size. Located on the southwestern shore of Lake Xolotlán or Lake Managua, the city was declared the national capital in...
, Nicaragua
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
. Meneses' family included her brother Enrique, mother Thelma, who was a legal secretary, and father, Enrique Meneses, who was an internationally known lawyer and vice president of the National Liberal Party, who had been jailed more than once in Nicaragua for political reasons. Her grandfather was Dr. Ildefonso Palma Martinez, who was a respected lawyer, law professor, and a justice on the Nicaraguan Supreme Court. Due to the Sandinista National Liberation Front
Sandinista National Liberation Front
The Sandinista National Liberation Front is a socialist political party in Nicaragua. Its members are called Sandinistas in both English and Spanish...
and their coup d'état
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
, the main opposition was the Contras
Contras
The contras is a label given to the various rebel groups opposing Nicaragua's FSLN Sandinista Junta of National Reconstruction government following the July 1979 overthrow of Anastasio Somoza Debayle's dictatorship...
. The hectic situation tied a lot of foreign countries into the mix to choose sides, including the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
among many others. The fighting and the food shortages were massive problems at this time. She recalled that "The Sandinista revolution
Nicaraguan Revolution
The Nicaraguan Revolution encompasses the rising opposition to the Somoza dictatorship in the 1960s and 1970s, the campaign led by the Sandinista National Liberation Front which led to the violent ousting of that dictatorship in 1979, and the...
occurred when I was eight years old. I remember the civil war and the attacks on small towns." The Meneses family fled Nicaragua via Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
in 1988 when Meneses was only 17. The reason they had to flee was because her father was an attorney. She said "My Father was on the defense team for an American pilot whose plane was shot down by the Sandinista artillery at the border of Nicaragua
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
and Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
in December of 1997. The American pilot was accused of being a CIA agent." Three months later, she would leave the country on March 19, 1988. Her parents and brother would arrive a week later.
High School in Los Angeles (1989-1991)
When her family left Nicaragua, they were only allowed to take $500 with them. When her family got settled, her parents worked at the Los Angeles International AirportLos Angeles International Airport
Los Angeles International Airport is the primary airport serving the Greater Los Angeles Area, the second-most populated metropolitan area in the United States. It is most often referred to by its IATA airport code LAX, with the letters pronounced individually...
and she attended Los Angeles High School
Los Angeles High School
Los Angeles High School is the oldest public high school in the Southern California Region and in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Its colors are blue and white and the teams are called the Romans....
, where she served as editor in Chief
Editor in chief
An editor-in-chief is a publication's primary editor, having final responsibility for the operations and policies. Additionally, the editor-in-chief is held accountable for delegating tasks to staff members as well as keeping up with the time it takes them to complete their task...
of both the Spanish and English newspapers. She described her childhood as privelaged, saying "I attended private school and ballet lessons. We had domestic servants that performed several jobs:nannies, cook, chauffer, gardener, cleaning, laundry, and ironing." She was astonnished when she arrived at the amount of food wasted in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. She describes her time in NIcaragua, "We had a food rationing card in Nicaragua and had to pick up one pound of rice, one pound of beans, one pound of sugar, and one quart of oil per person in the household for a two week period."
Her biggest difficulty when moving here was the language barrier. She said, "The most challenging part was that I was a senior in high school in Nicaragua but I was placed in 10th grade at Los Angeles High School
Los Angeles High School
Los Angeles High School is the oldest public high school in the Southern California Region and in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Its colors are blue and white and the teams are called the Romans....
because I did not speak English well. It was also challenging that although I had studied English in Nicaragua I could not understand it in the U.S. That lasted for my first four months and was very frustrating." She credits her high school teachers in helping her to overcome her difficulty with the language. She said, "They encouraged me every day to rise above expectations. I will always be grateful to them for I would not be who I am now without their nurturing and encouragement.". She was inspired by Today in L.A.
Today in L.A.
Today In L.A. is a local early-morning local newscast airing over NBC's west coast flagship, KNBC-TV, in Los Angeles. It became the first morning local newscast in Southern California when it debuted on KNBC in 1986, as a half-hour lead-in to The Today Show...
anchorwoman Carla Aragon. "One of my role models was anchorwoman Carla Aragon (who is now in Albuquerque with KOB
Kob
The Kob is an antelope found across Sub-Saharan Africa from Senegal to South Sudan. Found along the Northern Savanna, often seen in Murchison Falls and Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda; Garamba and Virunga National Park, Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as grassy floodplains of...
). I met her in high school and established a friendship with her for several years while we lived in L.A. She once called me a 'diamond in the rough waiting to be discovered'. She was my role model for an educated, professional, and successful Latina." She would go on to become the Editor-in-Chief of both the Spanish and English school newspapers. She said of life in the U.S. that "I am glad that I moved when I was 17 years old. I had a strong educational foundation and a sense of who I was. As a result, I was not an easy target for peer pressure." She also enjoyed her new home in the U.S., saying, "As I began to understand the American way of life, I began to like the idea of meritocracy
Meritocracy
Meritocracy, in the first, most administrative sense, is a system of government or other administration wherein appointments and responsibilities are objectively assigned to individuals based upon their "merits", namely intelligence, credentials, and education, determined through evaluations or...
. I admired Americans that worked hard and became successful in their careers. I believe that one's dreams are possible when one had the motivation and willingness to work hard." She graduated from L.A. High when she was 20 years old.
College Years and after
Having excelled in all academic subjects Meneses received a four year scholarship to Wesleyan UniversityWesleyan University
Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college founded in 1831 and located in Middletown, Connecticut. According to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Wesleyan is the only Baccalaureate College in the nation that emphasizes undergraduate instruction in the arts and...
in Middletown
Middletown, Connecticut
Middletown is a city located in Middlesex County, Connecticut, along the Connecticut River, in the central part of the state, 16 miles south of Hartford. In 1650, it was incorporated as a town under its original Indian name, Mattabeseck. It received its present name in 1653. In 1784, the central...
, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
. At Wesleyan University, Meneses Jacobs majored in Government
Government
Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...
with an emphasis in International Relations
International relations
International relations is the study of relationships between countries, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations , international nongovernmental organizations , non-governmental organizations and multinational corporations...
. Meneses began her career as a second grade elementary school
Elementary school
An elementary school or primary school is an institution where children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as elementary or primary education. Elementary school is the preferred term in some countries, particularly those in North America, where the terms grade school and grammar...
teacher
Teacher
A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...
in Los Angeles after graduating from Wesleyan. In 2001, Menedes received a Master of Arts
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
degree in Education, and in 2005 she received her Reading Specialist Certification. She was a bilingual teacher for several years in Los Angeles before the program was eliminated by a state wide proposition. Meneses moved to Arizona in 2002.
In 2007, Meneses was awarded $5,000 as one of 10 honorees of the Anna Maria Arias Memorial Business Fund. The Anna Maria Arias Memorial Business Fund recognizes entrepreneurial Latinas.
Meneses is President of NicaGal, LLC. She continues to work as an educator, she currently teaches 1st grade in Phoenix
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
, Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
. She is a supporter of bilingualism
Multilingualism
Multilingualism is the act of using, or promoting the use of, multiple languages, either by an individual speaker or by a community of speakers. Multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. Multilingualism is becoming a social phenomenon governed by the needs of...
.
Personal life
In October 1998, she married graphic artist Marc Jacobs, and they had their first daughter, Isabelle, in 2001, and their second, Katherine, in 2005. Meneses currently resides in Scottsdale, ArizonaScottsdale, Arizona
Scottsdale is a city in the eastern part of Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, adjacent to Phoenix. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2010 the population of the city was 217,385...
with her husband and their two daughters. She was raised Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
but converted to Judaism
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
after graduating college. "When I met my (future) husband, Marc Jacobs, I asked if he was Jewish, but I didn't tell him I was studying Judaism. After graduation, I moved back to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
and studied with a rabbi for three more years. In March 1998, I converted. It was very emotional. I felt I was detaching from my parents, but my father gave me a big hug and said in Spanish, 'God of any religion is a good God.' In May of that year, my husband proposed, and we got married in October."
Iguana
This magazine was created because both Meneses and her husband had a hard time teaching their children how to read in Spanish. The only thing available was poorly translated books from English to Spanish. "My husband and I realized that a magazine could deliver a variety of original Spanish-language materials for parents. We researched the idea for over a year. He believed in my idea from the very beginning and had stopped supporting me and encouraging me. My husband and I initially used our own savings and personally financed the launch of the magazine."Meneses founded Iguana Magazine with her husband, Marc, and its first issue came out in 2005. Iguana is an acclaimed educational Spanish language magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
aimed at children ages 7–12 who grow up learning and speaking Spanish. The magazine features fictional stories with characters, experiences, and settings that are familiar to the targeted readership. Additionally, it will present biographies and interviews with personalities that have influenced the lives of Latinos in America; historical articles; stories about children around the world; science articles with related experiments to be tried at home; nature articles; interesting facts; recipes that kids can make at home; craft projects; artwork; reader-submitted works and much more. Meneses Jacobs serves as the editor and her husband serves at the art director. The magazine would go on to receive the 2009 Multicultural Children's Publication Award from the National Association for Multicultural Education.
¡YO SÉ!
¡YO SÉ! (meaning "I Know!") was created after the massive popularity of Iguana. ¡YO SÉ! is a Spanish-language children's magazine which will include articles about popular culture, celebrities, upcoming movies and television shows, short stories, the animal kingdom, biographies and interviews with Latino personalities, features on young Latinos who are making a difference in society, comics, reviews and much more. ¡YO SÉ!, debuting nationwide at the end of January 2008, is a full color, 16 page glossy magazine which will feature only five pages available for kid-friendly advertising. The magazine will be freely distributed in Spanish-language newspapers of Hoy Fin de Semana (weekend edition) in Los Angeles and ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
and in El Sentinel
El Sentinel (Orlando)
El Sentinel also known as El Sentinel de Orlando is a weekly Spanish-language newspaper published in Orlando, Florida for Florida Central area by the Sun-Sentinel Company, a subsidiary of the Tribune Company of Chicago, which also publish the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.The South Florida area on the...
in Orlando
Orlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...
and South Florida (Broward/Palm Beach counties) with a monthly distribution of over 750,000 copies.
External links
Published magazines