Cecilia Rodríguez Milanés was born in New Jersey to Cuban parents. At age 14, she moved with her family to Miami where she earned a B.A. in English / Creative Writing at the University of Miami and a Masters at Barry University. She married in Miami and then moved to upstate New York where she studied writing with Toni Morrison at the State University of New York at Albany.

- full biography

Women's Writing Retreat - Oaxaca 2012

Back when I was a quinceañera
I had my name
written in flowers
on a altar where I was queen

As a quinceañera, I ruled the night
everybody paid attention and homage to me

When I was a quinceañera, I was sweet, innocent
wore white with meaning
a peach boa-trimmed chiffon cape floated behind me
I wore pearls around my slender neck
      a tiara
      spiraling curls