Full disclosure: Flor Bromley is my friend. We met at the library during my early years of motherhood, when I was eagerly collecting mom friends. One afternoon, another mother announced that she breastfed in public to make doing so easier for women of color. Bromley and I exchanged a knowing look.

It was a small moment, but it captured something we would return to years later in this conversation: the distance between wanting to support people from different backgrounds and assuming you already understand their experiences.

This episode was produced by Sabrina Enayatulla. Music by Hartzmann.

Bromley is a Peruvian-born bilingual singer-songwriter, storyteller, educator, and mother. Her latest album, Herstory, which began as a love letter to her daughter, earned her a Latin GRAMMY® nomination. The album introduces children to women from around the world who refused to accept the limits placed before them. Along the way, it asks some decidedly grown-up questions about power, race, gender, and whose accomplishments we choose to remember.

It would be difficult to argue that I entered this interview without bias. I didn’t. But my bias comes from years of watching Bromley’s commitment to children’s music and cultural education. I have also heard her speak about the racism and typecasting she says she encountered while pursuing musical theater in New York City, and the creative pivot she made when she could not find a place for herself within that industry.

I was delighted to sit down with Bromley over Zoom to catch up, talk about her music, and consider what comes next as she prepares to return to Wolf Trap Children’s Theater in the Woods on July 23.

You can purchase tickets to her show here.