Marcelline Santos-Taylor
has worked in fields as diverse as education, fashion styling and
journalism, broadcasting, graphic design, and television production
in Manila, Philippines, but has always remained a writer throughout
her career, regardless of what happened to be printed on her calling
card. “My maternal grandfather was a writer and he was always my
inspiration. I used to wear his old Panama hat and type stories
on his old Remington--I loved the clickety-clacking sound of the
keys. Growing up I don’t remember saying ‘I want to be a writer’
because I always considered it something I could do. I have always
put my writing skills to good use in every field I have been involved
in.”
Marriage brought
the author to the United States in 2000, shortly after which she
began to look for an outlet for her writing. ‘”After scanning the
local Filipino-American newspapers and magazines, I realized there
were hardly any articles, let alone columns that addressed people
like me – new immigrants who are fresh off the boat and yet not
really too naïve about American life, having already been exposed
a great deal to Western culture.” She pitched the idea of a series
of articles to publisher Lito Gajilan of the Filipino Express, who
encouraged her to write a regular column; “Manila Girl” was born.
“I like to say I have a love-hate relationship with the city of
my birth,” says the author. “I like that she’s very cosmopolitan
and, in my opinion, comparable in many ways to other capital cities
in the world, but I’m also sad that she’s poor and polluted. But
then Manila is where I’m from, it’s what nurtured me and made me
who I am now.”
In addition
to writing the “Manila Girl” column upon which this book is based,
she also contributes to regional food and parenting magazines, and
trade publications. The author lives with her husband and two young
sons in a 250-year-old house in the historic town of Burlington,
New Jersey. “Missing Mangoes—For Filipinos and those who love us”
is her first book.
