Maurisa Li-A-Ping is an Afro-Caribbean Black Queer Woman. She is an educator, storyteller and performer raised by a village of Black women in Brooklyn, New York. She utilizes poetry and storytelling (Communal Poetry Environments) to promote student success on college campuses. Maurisa’s student affairs experience range from orientation, residential life, retention, diversity education, programming and more. Her commitment to higher education and poetry has allowed her to perform and present at the 10th Annual Herman C. Hudson Symposium, The National Conference on Student Leadership (NCSL), The North Avenue Knowledge Exchange and more. Maurisa has touched stages at the World-Famous Apollo Theater, United Nations, Poetic License Festival, Barclay Center and more. Her dedication to her craft has led her to receive The Ernst Pawel Award for literary excellence, national and regional honors from The Scholastic Art and Writing Awards and publication, or forthcoming, in Black Diasporas, On Sisterhood Anthology and Wusgood Mag.