Acosta didn’t consider herself “girly” or into jewelry while she was growing up because she was focused on playing sports, such as baseball and soccer. It took until Acosta went into her Grandmother’s bedroom and played in her jewelry that she began to understand the importance of it. Acosta’s Grandmother was obsessed with jewelry, specifically “medallas", which are gold pieces that usually have the Virgin Mary displayed on them. Acosta’s Grandmother also liked wearing jewelry all over hands, and this dates back to the 50’s, said Acosta. Mexican artist Frida Kahlo also inspired Acosta to dive deeper into her love of jewelry.

Hoop earrings are not just earrings to Acosta. According to Acosta, it’s her culture’s tradition for baby girls to get their ears pierced young and then receive their first pair of gold hoop earrings. They then graduate to bigger gold hoop earrings and gold rings at their Quinceañera, which is a coming of age celebration for 15-year-old Hispanic and Latina women.

Along with sharing her hoop earring story, Acosta is beginning to write down the hoop stories of the people she’s photographing for the project.

“Hoop earrings are magical [and] sometimes society makes you reject these types of things because they have stigma attached to them,” Acosta said. “I want people to start sharing their own hoop stories.”