What does it mean to be a first-generation child?

Being the first to do something can be daunting. Instead of following a map, you’re the one charting it.

Maybe you’re the first in your family to go to college, or you chose not to go to school, unlike the rest of your family. Maybe you started a small business or dropped everything and moved to New York. In some way, you chose to break from family tradition and history. This is often the case for first-generation children of people who immigrate to America.

Alejandra Campoverdi explores this in her memoir “First Gen,” and many things that may be familiar for first-generation kids: the invisible inheritances passed onto us from our family, being a “parentified child,” imposter syndrome, balancing two cultural identities, and guilt for breaking away from our families in some way.

She explores the emotional toll of these collective experiences in her memoir “First Gen.” It’s out Sept. 12.

We talk to Alejandra about what it means to be a “First and Only” in your family or any other space.