SELINA “CVGEBIRD” CARRERA
For Selina “Cvgebird” Carrera, music has always provided a safe space. “I remember being homeless as a teen after being outed as LGBTQIA, going through some serious experiences of betrayal and let downs, on top of losing people close to me through violence,” she says. “Being able to get the intensity of what I was feeling out creatively was the only real release I had at the time that was healthy for me.” Now a youth advocate and musician whose sound combines acoustic, trap, and soul with Caribbean undertones, Cvgebird has toured worldwide with Grammy-winning artists, was featured on Sofar Sounds’ “Best of the Listening Room,” and won Best Music Video in the Georgia Latino Film Festival for their music video “Frida Trap,” an ode to Frida Kahlo, Carrera’s beloved Philadelphia, and revolutionary joy. Cvgebird also received the 2020 Lindback Award for Educator of the Year and works with young artists and families affected by incarceration. “As I got older, it felt extremely important for me to provide that same space for young people that I had found for myself: a safe and brave space to express, create and process the world around me,” Cvgebird says. Eventually, she’d like to launch the The Frida Trap Tour, taking these young artists and mentees “from incarceration to liberation” and giving them “a literal global stage to share our stories of transformation,” she says. Carrera, who is of Puerto Rican, Cuban, and Brazilian descent, comes by this advocacy honestly. “Being a first-generation born in the States and coming from parents that were also community leaders and advocates, it laid a lot of the groundwork for me to continue building upon.”
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