Closing out our poetry series, Yesika Salgado curates a night rooted in the fierce joy of simply existing — loud, soft, brown, brilliant. With her trademark blend of heart and unapologetic honesty, she brings together poets whose stories demand to be held, celebrated, and honored. This is a night for the voices we almost missed — and the ones we need most.
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Yesika Salgado
Yesika Salgado is a Los Angeles-born Salvadoran poet who writes about her family, culture, city, and fat body.
Salgado is a leading voice in poetry, both in performance and social media. She has garnered a large online following across multiple social media platforms through her poetry and her determination to make poetry accessible to everyone in everyday scenarios. Her combined following stretches out to over 200,000 readers. She is the co-founder of Chingona Fire, a poetry collective that curates and hosts poetry-based events in Los Angeles serving Women and Non-Binary folks of color. She is also a long-time production staff member of Da Poetry Lounge, the country's largest-running weekly poetry venue.
She is a two-time National Poetry Slam finalist, Long Beach Slam Champion, and recipient of the 2020 International Latino Book Award in Poetry. Her work has been taught in the curricula of the most prestigious universities in the nation and continues to gain traction as a staple of modern poetry taught in schools.
Yesika’s work has been celebrated and featured in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Teen Vogue, Univision, HBO, CNN, NPR, TEDx, Spotify, Sundance Film Festival, and many more. She has successfully partnered and created with Planned Parenthood, Voto Latino, California Latinas for Reproductive Justice, CARECEN, LA County Public Library, Los Angeles Public Library, and countless community centers and organizations in California.
She is an internationally recognized body-positive activist and the writer of the columns Suelta for Remezcla and Relaciones for R29 Somos. Yesika is the author of the best-sellers Corazón, Tesoro, and Hermosa, published with Not a Cult Media, and is represented by Folio Literary Management.
Jasmine Williams
Jasmine is an artist, writer, and producer from South Central Los Angeles. She holds 16 years of residencies that provide equitable creative art programming and is a Creative Corps Fellow. She has worked with Youth Speaks, Say Word LA, B.R.I.D.G.E. Theatre Co., ArtworxLA, & Angels Gate Cultural Center. She has created work featured on FOX, HBO, PBS, & Facebook just to name a few. Jasmine is the Executive Director of Da Poetry Lounge Co. and serves the community to amplify the voices of those brave enough to be heard. She loves mint chocolate chip ice cream, and on her time off she is a UNO champion, a VIP member of Twilight #TeamEdward, before falling asleep to episodes of Hey Arnold or The Office.
Vanessa Tahay
Vanessa Tahay is a Guatemalan poet. Vanessa has been featured on the front page of The Los Angeles Times, has been part of Vogue Magazine, The Huffington Post, NPR and many more.
She has also performed and spoke in over 100 schools nationwide, and had the honor to perform at the 2017 women’s rally. Vanessa has had the privilege to work alongside Mitú, Brown Issues, and
Undocumedia to spread awareness for undocumented families, women’s rights, and empowering the youth to find their own voices.
This program is made possible in part by Ahmad Tea and our community partners at Yelp LA.
