Bengi is a PhD Candidate in Environmental Psychology, at The Graduate Center, CUNY. With an interdisciplinary background and perspective bridging human development and environment, she advocates for young people’s meaningful expression and participation in everyday life, familial and local decision-making processes and social change at different levels. She researches and writes on children’s and families’ changing environments from geographical and sociological perspectives (Children’s Geographies; USApp – American Politics and Policy Blog; The Critical Childhoods & Youth Studies Collective; forthcoming in International Journal of Sociology of Leisure) and contributes to international research projects on immigration (in Qualitative Psychology). As a teaching fellow and adjunct lecturer of Developmental or Child Psychology at CUNY, she is inspired to follow ideas from the field, and its interdisciplinary connections, to show that the topic is not just to be taught but is to be practiced in the undergraduate classroom to create a space for listening, comfort and support.

Ash Marinaccio is a multidisciplinary documentarian dedicated to storytelling that highlights the socio-political issues defining our times. Ash is listed as one of Culture Trip’s 50 Women in Theatre You Should Know, a recipient of a 2019 Drama League First Stage Residency, and a 2019-2020 NY Public Humanities Fellow. Currently, Ash is a Ph.D. Candidate in Theatre and Performance at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York. Her research investigates theatre practices in war zones, applications of theatre in social justice movements, politics and performance in times of crisis, community-based theatre, intersections between anthropology and theatre, and documentary theatre. Ash holds her M.A. in Performance Studies from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and BA in theatre directing and sociology/anthropology with minors in women/gender and Middle Eastern studies from Pace University. She is a member of AEA and SAG/AFTRA. ashmarinaccio.com 

Kara Laurene Pernicano is a multidisciplinary artist, poet-critic and teacher-scholar. She has a MA from the University of Cincinnati, is a MFA Candidate at Queens College and currently serves as a Lecturer in English at CUNY. Kara explores a mixed practice, finding creative expression through studies in critical theory, research and teaching, often inspired by shared reflections on digital literacy, internet speech, selfie culture, the remix and social media. Her central project in narrative medicine contests the boundary between writing and therapy. Moved by the embodiment of holistic healing practices and the polyvocality of musical performance, Kara often hears a lyric quality in text messages and presents attention to the resonances in the porous mind as a means to conceive of an interpersonal approach to trauma, recovery and mental health. She is passionate about transformative justice and dedicated to community projects. She advocates for young voices as a volunteer for 826 NYC, and she amplifies marginalized voices through independent publishing as a volunteer for Ugly Duckling Presse and a book reviewer for Full Stop. Kara’s writing has been published by Snapdragon, Waccamaw, Rabbit, The Humanities in Transition, Full Stop, the winnow magazine and ang(st). Her visual art has been on view in the Whitney Staff Art Show and LIC Artists’ Plaxall Gallery. 

Madeleine Barnes is a writer, visual artist, and English PhD student. Her research focuses on women’s domestic embroidery and poetry as forms of public and private resistance. A co-curator of the Lunar Walk Poetry Series, Poetry Editor at Cordella Magazine, and Publicity Assistant at Press Shop PR, Madeleine is dedicated to showcasing the work of underrepresented groups within and outside of academia, dissolving boundaries between art and scholarship. Her debut poetry collection was published by Trio House Press in July 2020, and she has taught creative writing and humanities research at Brooklyn College and NYU, where she earned an MFA in Creative Writing.