Full Name:
Elena Maria Ramos
Preferred Name
Elena or Lena
Age:
22
Birthday:
September 1st
Sexuality:
Heterosexual
Hometown:
Bronx, NY
Length of time on the street:
She's been on and off the streets since she was eighteen, but her most recent stint began about a week ago
Role:
The Old Friend
Elena Maria Ramos
Preferred Name
Elena or Lena
Age:
22
Birthday:
September 1st
Sexuality:
Heterosexual
Hometown:
Bronx, NY
Length of time on the street:
She's been on and off the streets since she was eighteen, but her most recent stint began about a week ago
Role:
The Old Friend
Disposition:
A hard life tends to lead to a hard personality, and that's at least partially the case for Elena. There's still a little bit left of "her" somewhere inside, but it's hidden by a thick shell of defensiveness. Becoming defensive and cold is something that seems like a necessary survival skill for getting through a life like her, and at this point, she's embraced it. She cares about very few people and doesn't try to hide that. She doesn't sugarcoat things, suppress her opinions or act out of character to comfort anyone's sensitivity or ignorance. It's partially because she doesn't care, and partially because she feels like the world has done the same thing to her for most of her life, and it's time for her to return the favor.
It goes against how she wants to be, but there's also a competitive spirit in Elena. She wouldn't mind if that pushed her to do well in school, go to college and make something out of herself, but it only shows up in relationships with people. She spent her whole life feeling like who she was wasn't good enough. For her, she grew to believe that a lot of it was her race, something that she couldn't change, rather than her own personality. That translated into her now, feeling like she needs to prove to the world that she can't be messed with and that she's not just equal to everyone else, but better than them. To be fair, this has grown past just wanting to prove herself, and into a tendency to lie and create a fantasy life to make up for her sub par one. It started with white lies when she would run into old friends. She would say that she was attending a local community college and on her way to become an RN, and that she visited her family in Colombia a couple times a year thanks to her great job. But that grew into her claiming she had met a wealthy guy who she shared an apartment with in Manhattan, and then that she also spent half the year in California, that she was pursuing an acting career, and so on. The lies have become completely outrageous but in some sick way, being able to pretend that that's her life has become comforting to her. None of these fantasies would be considered dreams because they wouldn't come true in her wildest dreams but they're momentary escapes and all she really has.
Likes:
Colombian cuisine, vodka, having money, treating herself, speaking to her family
Dislikes:
Dogs, white people, reading, maple syrup, black coffee, beggars, Taco Bell, wine coolers, her reality, prison, being single
Fears:
It would probably be more reasonable to fear being raped, beaten and murdered when she used to prostitute, but the biggest thing that was always on her mind was getting an STD. It extends past the obvious point of her not having money to throw away on treating it or seeing a doctor, but her personal hygiene is one of her top priorities and she's easily grossed out by being dirty, despite always having lived in less than desirable places. She also reasonably fears that she will never see her family again and that she'll always be a disappointment to them.
Dreams:
Who doesn't dream of getting off the streets, living in some nice, white picket fence house, with the perfect partner and having a cute little family? It's the American Dream... but in Elena's eyes, and experience, it's the American Dream for white people. People like her will always be the ones mowing the lawn or cleaning the toilets of those houses and even if she tries her hardest, tries ten times harder than some white kid, she'll always been ten steps behind. Elena dreams of all of that but is convinced that it's never going to happen. There are days when she really wants to go back to school and make something of herself, days when she dreams of being six feet under, and days when she dreams of just conjuring up enough cash to get a one way flight to her family in Colombia. She doesn't have enough motivation to do any of them at this point, and her current goal is just to never get arrested again.
A hard life tends to lead to a hard personality, and that's at least partially the case for Elena. There's still a little bit left of "her" somewhere inside, but it's hidden by a thick shell of defensiveness. Becoming defensive and cold is something that seems like a necessary survival skill for getting through a life like her, and at this point, she's embraced it. She cares about very few people and doesn't try to hide that. She doesn't sugarcoat things, suppress her opinions or act out of character to comfort anyone's sensitivity or ignorance. It's partially because she doesn't care, and partially because she feels like the world has done the same thing to her for most of her life, and it's time for her to return the favor.
It goes against how she wants to be, but there's also a competitive spirit in Elena. She wouldn't mind if that pushed her to do well in school, go to college and make something out of herself, but it only shows up in relationships with people. She spent her whole life feeling like who she was wasn't good enough. For her, she grew to believe that a lot of it was her race, something that she couldn't change, rather than her own personality. That translated into her now, feeling like she needs to prove to the world that she can't be messed with and that she's not just equal to everyone else, but better than them. To be fair, this has grown past just wanting to prove herself, and into a tendency to lie and create a fantasy life to make up for her sub par one. It started with white lies when she would run into old friends. She would say that she was attending a local community college and on her way to become an RN, and that she visited her family in Colombia a couple times a year thanks to her great job. But that grew into her claiming she had met a wealthy guy who she shared an apartment with in Manhattan, and then that she also spent half the year in California, that she was pursuing an acting career, and so on. The lies have become completely outrageous but in some sick way, being able to pretend that that's her life has become comforting to her. None of these fantasies would be considered dreams because they wouldn't come true in her wildest dreams but they're momentary escapes and all she really has.
Likes:
Colombian cuisine, vodka, having money, treating herself, speaking to her family
Dislikes:
Dogs, white people, reading, maple syrup, black coffee, beggars, Taco Bell, wine coolers, her reality, prison, being single
Fears:
It would probably be more reasonable to fear being raped, beaten and murdered when she used to prostitute, but the biggest thing that was always on her mind was getting an STD. It extends past the obvious point of her not having money to throw away on treating it or seeing a doctor, but her personal hygiene is one of her top priorities and she's easily grossed out by being dirty, despite always having lived in less than desirable places. She also reasonably fears that she will never see her family again and that she'll always be a disappointment to them.
Dreams:
Who doesn't dream of getting off the streets, living in some nice, white picket fence house, with the perfect partner and having a cute little family? It's the American Dream... but in Elena's eyes, and experience, it's the American Dream for white people. People like her will always be the ones mowing the lawn or cleaning the toilets of those houses and even if she tries her hardest, tries ten times harder than some white kid, she'll always been ten steps behind. Elena dreams of all of that but is convinced that it's never going to happen. There are days when she really wants to go back to school and make something of herself, days when she dreams of being six feet under, and days when she dreams of just conjuring up enough cash to get a one way flight to her family in Colombia. She doesn't have enough motivation to do any of them at this point, and her current goal is just to never get arrested again.
Background:
Elena was born in the Bronx to two Colombian immigrants who were in the country illegally. They didn't want it to be that way and tried for years to get the court to grant them and their older son citizenship to no avail. They spent thousands of dollars on a lawyer, only to find out that he represented them fraudulently and because they weren't citizens to begin with, there was little that they could do to get the money back or seek justice in anyway. Both of her parents worked endlessly to try to give Elena and her brother Diego a better life than they had in Colombia. Her father worked with a landscaping business and her mother with a housecleaning company, but even with the two working schedules of fifty or sixty hours a week, it was hard to survive. They were sending money back to Colombia where the rest of their family was struggling to survive, trying to keep up with the rent and bills, and attempting to obtain any resource that could help them become Americans. Their story was the epitome of that of many immigrants, but it all came to an end when she was thirteen and one day, came home from school to an empty apartment. It was revealed to her later from neighbors that her parents and older brother were seized and deported that morning, and because she was the only one born on American soil, she was the only one who could stay.
She moved only two floors up in her apartment building to reside with another Colombian family who her family trusted her with, but despite the minimal move, the transition was hard on her. Her childhood wasn't filled with sunshine and rainbows but she had her family and for a kid, that was the most important thing. Having them literally sent to another country without a chance to say goodbye or explain things was traumatizing at best. When she was able to speak to her parents again, it was only for about five minutes on a phone call two weeks after they disappeared. Despite her begs and pleas, they refused to allow her to leave the US and come to Colombia with them. They insisted that they had worked this hard and she needed to be the one Ramos that did something with herself. She would stay in school, graduate and attend a nice college so she could one day, get a job that paid well enough to finally get them the legal help to become rightful American citizens. She did her best to live up to their expectations for a little while, but she soon got caught up in the wrong crowd. When she was fifteen, she started dating twenty-year-old Miguel Escobar. He and his older brother basically ran the drug scene in the Hispanic neighborhoods in the Bronx and dating him seemed like an honor to her young, naive self. When he was murdered by his own cousin for being caught cheating, it didn't even resonate in her that he wasn't her prince charming. She was devastated which is understandable to some degree, but considering how unfaithful he was to her in the first place, she probably shouldn't have valued him more than her own future. His death left her at a point where she was pretty much over going to school and trying to make something out of herself. She ended up dropping out in the middle of her junior year and started working with her "tia", the woman who was now looking after her, at the cleaning company her mother had once worked for. She spent her days scrubbing the floors of the rich and privileged and her nights acting as a server for their grand house parties.
Miguel's passing and her involvement in legal work didn't mean she was on the right track, though. Her jobs were bringing her money but she resented having to bow down to rich white people who treated her like a second class citizen. She hated it. Prostitution didn't make her feel any more human, but the cash she got made that unimportant and she was finally able to send some of it back to her parents in Colombia. She told them she had gotten a job in an office and that's where the cash was coming from, but the lie was only to protect them. When she was eighteen, she was arrested for the first time for prostitution. She spent a week in jail before the family she was living with were able to bail her out. Her parents found out and were devastated by her actions, but it wasn't enough to stop her from doing it. She was arrested a second time only a few months later and ended up spending her full forty-five day sentence in jail since no one would bail her out. At this point, her second family wouldn't keep her in their home so she ended up with some of Miguel's old friends. She would couch hop but it seemed like every connection she had could only tolerate her for a few weeks before kicking her out. Either she was badmouthing them, causing fights with other roommates, stealing or not paying her share of the rent. When she was twenty-one and on a drug run for one of her dealer friends, she was stopped by a cop and ended up being arrested for possession with the intent to sell. She spent seven months in prison before being sentenced to a halfway house while on probation for another six months, only becoming a "free woman" about a week ago.
Job:
Right now she's unemployed but prostitution and drug-related jobs have gotten her by in the past.
Elena was born in the Bronx to two Colombian immigrants who were in the country illegally. They didn't want it to be that way and tried for years to get the court to grant them and their older son citizenship to no avail. They spent thousands of dollars on a lawyer, only to find out that he represented them fraudulently and because they weren't citizens to begin with, there was little that they could do to get the money back or seek justice in anyway. Both of her parents worked endlessly to try to give Elena and her brother Diego a better life than they had in Colombia. Her father worked with a landscaping business and her mother with a housecleaning company, but even with the two working schedules of fifty or sixty hours a week, it was hard to survive. They were sending money back to Colombia where the rest of their family was struggling to survive, trying to keep up with the rent and bills, and attempting to obtain any resource that could help them become Americans. Their story was the epitome of that of many immigrants, but it all came to an end when she was thirteen and one day, came home from school to an empty apartment. It was revealed to her later from neighbors that her parents and older brother were seized and deported that morning, and because she was the only one born on American soil, she was the only one who could stay.
She moved only two floors up in her apartment building to reside with another Colombian family who her family trusted her with, but despite the minimal move, the transition was hard on her. Her childhood wasn't filled with sunshine and rainbows but she had her family and for a kid, that was the most important thing. Having them literally sent to another country without a chance to say goodbye or explain things was traumatizing at best. When she was able to speak to her parents again, it was only for about five minutes on a phone call two weeks after they disappeared. Despite her begs and pleas, they refused to allow her to leave the US and come to Colombia with them. They insisted that they had worked this hard and she needed to be the one Ramos that did something with herself. She would stay in school, graduate and attend a nice college so she could one day, get a job that paid well enough to finally get them the legal help to become rightful American citizens. She did her best to live up to their expectations for a little while, but she soon got caught up in the wrong crowd. When she was fifteen, she started dating twenty-year-old Miguel Escobar. He and his older brother basically ran the drug scene in the Hispanic neighborhoods in the Bronx and dating him seemed like an honor to her young, naive self. When he was murdered by his own cousin for being caught cheating, it didn't even resonate in her that he wasn't her prince charming. She was devastated which is understandable to some degree, but considering how unfaithful he was to her in the first place, she probably shouldn't have valued him more than her own future. His death left her at a point where she was pretty much over going to school and trying to make something out of herself. She ended up dropping out in the middle of her junior year and started working with her "tia", the woman who was now looking after her, at the cleaning company her mother had once worked for. She spent her days scrubbing the floors of the rich and privileged and her nights acting as a server for their grand house parties.
Miguel's passing and her involvement in legal work didn't mean she was on the right track, though. Her jobs were bringing her money but she resented having to bow down to rich white people who treated her like a second class citizen. She hated it. Prostitution didn't make her feel any more human, but the cash she got made that unimportant and she was finally able to send some of it back to her parents in Colombia. She told them she had gotten a job in an office and that's where the cash was coming from, but the lie was only to protect them. When she was eighteen, she was arrested for the first time for prostitution. She spent a week in jail before the family she was living with were able to bail her out. Her parents found out and were devastated by her actions, but it wasn't enough to stop her from doing it. She was arrested a second time only a few months later and ended up spending her full forty-five day sentence in jail since no one would bail her out. At this point, her second family wouldn't keep her in their home so she ended up with some of Miguel's old friends. She would couch hop but it seemed like every connection she had could only tolerate her for a few weeks before kicking her out. Either she was badmouthing them, causing fights with other roommates, stealing or not paying her share of the rent. When she was twenty-one and on a drug run for one of her dealer friends, she was stopped by a cop and ended up being arrested for possession with the intent to sell. She spent seven months in prison before being sentenced to a halfway house while on probation for another six months, only becoming a "free woman" about a week ago.
Job:
Right now she's unemployed but prostitution and drug-related jobs have gotten her by in the past.
Height/Weight or build:
5'2 and 110 lbs
Eye color:
Brown
Hair color:
Dark brown
Other:
Ear piercings
Face claim:
Diane Guerrero
5'2 and 110 lbs
Eye color:
Brown
Hair color:
Dark brown
Other:
Ear piercings
Face claim:
Diane Guerrero
