Educational Background

University of California, Los Angeles | 2022 - Present | Doctor of Philosophy in Chicana/o and Central American Studies

University of Cambridge | 2021-2022 | Master of Philosophy in Latin American Studies

Goldsmiths, University of London | 2019-2020 | Master of Arts in Creative Writing and Education, with Distinction
Dickinson College | 2014-2018 | Bachelor of Arts in English, Minor in Creative Writing, Magna Cum Laude, Departmental Honors

University of Oxford | 2016-2017 | Mansfield College Visiting Student Programme

Research

“(Re)Memory, Recovery, and Resistance: Towards a Process of Collective Healing in Post-War Global Salvadoran Literature.” University of Cambridge. Centre for Latin American Studies. Master’s Dissertation.
“Teaching Poetry to Young People of Color for a Liberation-Oriented Pedagogy.” Goldsmiths, University of London. Department of Educational Studies.
“The War Is Or Isn’t Over, But Coffee Still Brews’: The Salvadoran Civil War, Transnational Migration, and Navigating Legacies of Trauma in Javier Zamora’s Unaccompanied.” Dickinson College. Senior Honors Thesis.
“Resistance and Resilience in Salvadoran Storytelling: Responses to the Salvadoran Civil War.” Dickinson College. Received $3,000 grant from The William G. And Elke F. Durden International Initiative Fund. Presented at International Research Symposium, Center for Global Study and Engagement, April 2018. 

Fellowships & Grants

  • Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans (2023-2025)                                                  

  • Eugene V. Cota Robles Fellowship (2022-2025)                                            

  • California Arts Council Individual Artist Grant – Emerging Artist Award  (2023)

  • National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures (NALAC) NFA Grantee (2023)

  • UCLA Graduate Division: Graduate Research Mentorship Grantee (2023-2024)   

  • UCLA Graduate Division: Graduate Summer Research Mentorship Grantee (2023)

  • Marshall Scholarship (2019-2022)

  • The William G. And Elke F. Durden International Initiative Fund: Global Research Grant (2018)

  • Benjamin Gilman International Scholarship Recipient (2016)                                               

  • Posse Foundation Full-Tuition Leadership Scholarship (2014-2018)                                                   

Invited Talks

“Dreaming America through Latinx Poetry.” West Texas A&M University Distinguished Lecture Series. Feb. 2024.

“AI and Poetry: Ethics, Gender, and Creativity.” The Arts at St. John’s College and the Oxford Humanities Research Centre (TORCH), University of Oxford. June 2023.

“Curated Conversation(s): A Latinx Poetry Show - Episode 1 featuring Janel Pineda and Maia Elsner.” The Writer’s Center and Letras Latinas, Institute for Latino Studies, The University of Notre Dame. Feb. 2023.

“Building Belonging: Poetry and Critical Pedagogies for Community Empowerment.” Goldsmiths, University of London. Diversity in Creative Pedagogies Conference, UK, Dec. 2021.

Lineage of Rain Poetry Reading and Reflections on Central American Poetics. Central American Lecture Series, Department of Central American and Transborder Studies Department, California State University, Northridge, Nov. 2021.

“Solidarities: Poetics in Relation.” Taller Electric Marronage, Michigan State University. June 2021.

Poetry Reading. Department of Latin American and Latino Studies, DePaul University. May 2021.

Poetry Reading. Department of Spanish & Portuguese, Kansas University. April 2021.

“2 x 2 Gathering of US Central American Poets: Maya Chinchilla, Leticia Hernandez-Linares, Jenise Miller, and Janel Pineda.” Department of Spanish & Portuguese, School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures. University of Maryland College Park, April 2021. 

“A Lineage of Rain on The Blvd: Poetry as Maps of Being in and of the Central American Diaspora.” California State University, Los Angeles, March 2021. Moderated by Professor Alejandro Villalpando.

“‘Poetry is Not a Luxury’: Poems in Times of Crisis.” Centre for Feminist Research, Goldsmiths College, University of London, July 2020.  

“Veni a Comer! The Poetics and Politics of Food Storytelling in Salvadoran Culture.” La Cherada Intergenerational Working Group, The Consulate General of El Salvador in Los Angeles, August 2019.

First Annual Central American Studies Symposium at UCLA. University of California, Los Angeles. June 2019.