NYWC Workshop Leader Winter 2019 Cohort

We’re excited to welcome our Winter 2019 cohort to the NYWC Workshop Leader Community: Alisha Acquaye, Alon Andrews, Michael Cooney, Marae Hart, Sharon Her, Takiyah Jackson.

After an extensive interview process, these talented individuals were chosen for NYWC’s Winter training and will be getting ready to facilitate our signature creative writing workshops in New York City soon. Meet NYWC’s Winter 2019 Workshop Leader Cohort:

Alisha Acquaye

ALISHA ACQUAYE is a writer, artist and event organizer with a passion for mutual empowerment across POC communities, and self-imagination as an instrument for resistance. Her work – ranging from journalism, creative nonfiction and multi-media collaboration  – explores the relationships between art, identity, culture and intersectionality. Alisha is particularly inspired by the creative and afrofuturistic methods Black people use to reclaim their narratives, and self-care and community building as formative weapons against oppression.

In addition to documenting and storytelling, Alisha co-founded Sister Circle Brunch, a womxn of color event for sharing food and discussing self-care, and Unblended, a photo and interview series that celebrates the importance of Afro Asian friendships. You can find Alisha at alishaacquaye.com and read her essays in Teen Vogue, GQ, Allure, OkayAfrica, ELLE, The Establishment, Catapult, and more.

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Michael Cooney

After forty years as a teacher and administrator in the New York City public schools, MICHAEL COONEY published a series of novels inspired by the history of his native Mohawk Valley. He recently returned to the City and has been volunteering in a high school for students learning English as a new language.

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MARAE HART is the Associate Non-Fiction Editor at SLICE Magazine and has been a volunteer with NYWC for two years. She is a freelance writer living in Brooklyn and is currently working on a novel.

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Sharon Her

SHARON HER is a Brooklyn based writer and filmmaker who comes from a non-profit and film production background.  A 2001 Jerome Travel and Study Grant recipient and former instructor for the Loft Literary Center and SASE: the write place, Sharon brings a passion for multi-cultural and social equality programming and storytelling.  Sharon’s writing has been published in Asian Week, City Pages, New York Press, and the Hmong creative writing anthology, “Bamboo Among the Oaks” (Minnesota Historical Society Press).

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Takiyah Jackson

TAKIYAH JACKSON is an educator, mother, and believer in the power of words. She recently returned to her Brooklyn native in what she calls a journey toward self-rediscovery as she walks her mother’s sidewalks.  When not writing, reading, teaching, or helicopter parenting, she enjoys cuddling on the sofa with her dog Rico and binge watching past episodes of Greenleaf and This is Us.