Team - Street Poets

Executive Director

Shanae Sharon has dedicated the last 20 years to working in arts education and administration. She is thrilled to lead Street Poets as the new Executive Director, helping to advance its mission during this pivotal time for the organization. Her transformative journey as a young artist not only guided her to this career but also keeps her deeply connected to the work.Shanae previously worked with organizations such as: WACO Theatre Center overseeing the Tina’s Angels & Richards Warriors program, the Cayton Children’s Museum, leading the youTHink program, and the LA County Department of Arts & Culture within the Arts Ed Collective in Juvenile Justice. Shanae has an extensive background in Marketing Communications, Public Relations and Grant Writing. She has an MA in Educational Theatre for Colleges and Communities from NYU; a BA in Theater Arts and Political Science with a Certificate in African Studies from the University of Pittsburgh; and a Certificate in Marketing, Social Media and Web Analytics from UCLA Extension.

Youth Outreach Coordinator

Yazmenne Archer is a creative writer, poet, and spoken word artist currently serving as Youth Outreach Coordinator within Street Poets Inc. Originally from South Jersey, Yazmenne is a graduate of The California Institute of The Arts (CalArts) obtaining a MFA in Creative Writing. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts from Montclair State University. With previous experience as a teaching assistant and in various youth spaces, Yazmenne has brought to Street Poets her unique and warm high energy, vision and organizational skills. Continuing her thesis work from CalArts, she is steadily working on her poetry manuscript while enrolled in Community Literature Initiative’s 10-month publishing program within the Sims Library of Poetry. She fearlessly ventures to new places, and we are so excited that she chose to venture to ours. Yaz’s main work with Street Poets will focus on connecting youth from our school and probation writing workshops with Street Poets’ after-school program offerings and beyond.

Director of School Programs

Known in the streets and open-mic venues of Los Angeles as “Bus Stop Prophet” for his propensity to bust rhymes in unexpected places, Frank has been deeply engaged in creative peace-making work for over 16 years, both here in LA, and as far away as South Africa and Sweden. A gifted poet, spoken word-artist, open-mic host, community-builder and teacher, Frank first connected with Street Poets in 2013 and has been working with us ever since. As our Director of School programs, Frank oversees Street Poets school partnerships, community events and outreach. In his capacity as a master teaching artist, Frank facilitates writing workshops for everyone from Compton elementary school 5th graders to formerly incarcerated adults at Homeboy Industries. In any setting, his passion for the healing power of poetry and storytelling is truly infectious.

Director of Community and Probation Programs

Matthew ‘Cuban’ Hernandez is a poet, emcee, speaker, actor, and performance coach from Jacksonville, Florida. He has toured as far as Abu Dhabi and nearly every major city in the United States and Europe, performing, teaching and coaching poetry. A teaching artist for over 15 years, Matthew has spent the last ten years working in youth detention centers across Los Angeles County, currently serving as the Director of Probation Programming for Street Poets, Inc. In addition, he is a current Lead Teacher and Co-Founder of Spoken Literature Art Movement. Cuban has opened for artists such as Wu-Tang, performed for platforms such as BuzzFeed and NPR and even appeared on the award-winning television show, Better Things. Matthew is also a three time Southern Fried poetry slam champion and an award-winning poetry coach. Cuban’s favorite activity is making people feel great; sometimes he does this through hip hop and poetry.

Director of Visual Media & Programs

Jaynese ‘Ladybug’ Poole is a multi-passionate creative from South Central and Compton, California. They met Street Poets in 2010 as a youth and are now Managing Artist for Visual Media and Special Projects. Jaynese is the Writer/Director of ‘Hey Stacy’ short film that has screened in festivals like Outfest, PINK APPLE in Zurich, Switzerland, NewFest: New York LGBT Film Festival, and Mardi Gras Film Festival in Sydney, Australia. For 6 years, Jaynese has been a part of the Sunday Jump team as the stage manager and co-resident DJ which has opened the door to support to concert venues and festivals like Levitt Pavilion and Community Arts Resources in Los Angeles County. They are a former member of 4CLab (a non-profit, providing opportunities for young creative visionaries to share their stories through artistic expression), OutSet (The Young Filmmakers Project from LA LGBT Center and Outfest) and the LA County Arts Ed Collective’s Youth Advisory Council. They love Queen Latifah and roller skating to disco music.

Facilities and Recording Studio Manager & Director of Music Programs

Art is a music producer, engineer and rapper/recording artist with a passion for inspiring youth to realize their full potential. He began at Street Poets in 2007 as an intern through the Poet-in-Residence program and gradually expanded his skills and capabilities until on the responsibilities of recording studio engineer. He performs his poetry and music with Street Poets in a variety of public venues, and co-facilitates music production and rapping/writing sessions in the SP recording studio. Art is an interdisciplinary artist, writing and producing music and shooting video projects for Los Angeles’ underground hip-hop scene. As a teaching artist, he has over 12 years of experience mentoring youth in and around Los Angeles’ public high schools and probation facilities. Art is a graduate fellow of the National Juvenile Justice Institute’s Leadership Training program, and serves as Street Poets representative on the Arts for Incarcerated Youth Network’s advocacy team.

Director of Operations

Bryan Silva is a strategic operations leader with over 10 years of experience across nonprofit, corporate, and startup environments. As Director of Operations at Street Poets, he leverages his strengths in systems thinking, cross-functional leadership, business acumen and process improvement to build structures that drive meaningful, lasting impact. Bryan (with a Y) is known for challenging the status quo and asking “why?”-a question that fuels his curiosity and drives continuous innovation. Whether refining existing systems or launching new initiatives, he approaches every challenge with a problem-solving mindset and a commitment to excellence. Currently pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies at Arizona State University, with concentrations in Business and Communication and a minor in Fashion. Bryan has earned multiple Dean’s List honors for academic excellence since returning to school after a 10-year hiatus. His interdisciplinary approach allows him to bridge creativity and strategy in ways that move organizations forward.

Director of Program Development

Alyesha Wise (she/her) is a Los Angeles-based, award-winning educator, teaching artist, speaker and published poet. Originally from Camden, N.J. Alyesha is the Director of Program Integration for Street Poets, Inc., an organization mostly serving juvenile injustice-involved youth with mentorship and arts programming. Alyesha has also served as an educator for various non-profits from Philadelphia to LA, including the organization she co-founded, Spoken Literature Art Movement, and Da Poetry Lounge, where Alyesha is also a host. Wise has been featured on platforms and in publications such as OWN TV, BET, LA Times, Bustle, Afropunk, PBS, Buzzfeed and more. Other collaborations include the ACLU, The Shabazz Center, The Nantucket Project, Brave New Films and the Google Interstellar Project. Ron Howard once wrote about Alyesha’s work, “Very Powerful.”

Grants Director

Michelle oversees the development of Street Poets’ foundation and government grant database, in addition to tracking and reporting on overall program impact. She is in charge of researching and developing new financial opportunities for Street Poets, in addition to maintaining our current grant partners. Michelle is also a poet and former teaching artist and at Street Poets, Michelle also helped design a 12-week poetry curriculum specifically geared toward pregnant girls and teen mothers, and created a comprehensive resource book of poetry and writing exercises. Michelle holds an M.F.A. in Poetry from the University of Maryland and B.A. in English and Creative Writing from the University of Michigan. She brings to Street Poets a vast knowledge of contemporary and classical poetry.

Teaching Artist

Born and Raised in Culver City, CA , Dahlia discovered the transformative power of music from a young age. With multifaceted passion for music production, lyric writing, dance, and DJing, she has left an indelible mark on the industry. Notable achievements include features on platforms like Sirius XM, BReal TV, and Shade 45. Beyond the spotlight Dahlia is committed to nurturing the next generation of artists. She passionately engages with young minds, bringing music and design education to schools and juvenile camp facilities. This dedication to mentorship reflects Dahlia’s beliefs in the profound impact of art on personal development. In addition to Dahlia’s music endeavors, Dahlia explores the realm of digital design and poetry, adding layers to her creative canvas. With roots deeply embedded in both community and artistry, Dahlia continues to craft a narrative that transcends genres, resonating with the heartbeats of those touched by her diverse talents.

Teaching Artist

Xitlalic Guijosa (she/her) is a poet, writer, printmaker and community organizer from Southeast Los Angeles. For the past 10 years she’s been part of Alivio open mic and SELA Arts Festival. Her work has been published in different literary magazines, zines and anthologies. Currently she has been on the journey of teaching surrounding communities about printmaking, journaling and creative writing as a form of reconnecting with self. Xitlalic’s new art form has been teaching poetry and gardening.

Teaching Artist

PAGES Matam is a genderqueer med school drop-out turned award-winning multi-hyphenate, pleasure advocate and agent of imagination. Born and raised in Cameroon then blossomed in the DMV (Piscataway Land), they love Mario Kart, anime and fried plantains as much as crafting High-concept TV Dramas and poetry that is immigrant AF, Black AF, Queer AF. A national poetry slam champion with fellowships at Callaloo, Circle of Confusion, Artist Disruptors and more, their two decades of creative writing and performance work and radical teaching practice with a focus on social justice is fueled by Toni Morrison’s words: “the function of freedom is to free someone else.”

Teaching Artist

Vanessa Tahay is a young Mayan poet from Totonicapan, Guatemala. Vanessa graduated from Cleveland high school, she was named captain of the 2017 classic slam team and took first place for finals. 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.

Founder

Chris served as Street Poets’ Executive Director for over 25 years before stepping aside in 2022 to make room for new leadership. He continues to support the Street Poets community through his development work on our Capital Campaign committee, his mentoring work with our Men’s Alumni Fire Circle, and his producing work on the Street Poets Podcast. Originally from Boston, Chris is a graduate of Duke University (B.A. English) and the American Film Institute (M.F.A. Screenwriting). He worked as an arts journalist in New York City and later as a screenwriter in Hollywood before a volunteer teaching stint in an L.A. County juvenile detention camp back in 1995 inspired him to create Street Poets. Since then, Chris has had the great privilege of facilitating over a dozen homecoming retreats for adult State prison parolees via the Anti-Recidivism Coalition, and has served as a keynote speaker and on numerous conference panels exploring youth rites of passage, arts-based violence intervention strategies, multicultural community building, the healing arts and alternatives to incarceration.

Nick Streets – Los Angeles, CA

Our board chair, Nick is a product design engineer in the consumer electronics industry and currently works at Snap Inc. on camera development. He helped to start SnapNoir which provides a forum for fostering cultural understanding, diversity, and professional development for people of the African diaspora at Snap and in the community.

Alison Tatlock – Los Angeles, CA

Alison is a tv writer/producer and playwright. She has extensive experience as a community organizer and served for many years on the staff of Street Poets, where she facilitated a writing program for teen mothers.

Chenjerai Kumanyika – New York, NY

Chenjerai Kumanyika is an assistant professor in NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute. His research and teaching focus on popular culture and social justice. Alongside a variety of other scholarly and journalistic writing, scholarly work, Professor Kumanyika specializes in using narrative non-fiction audio journalism to critique the ideology of the American historical myths about issues such as race, the civil war, and policing. Professor Kumanyika was the Co-Executive Producer and Co-Host of Uncivil, Gimlet Media’s Peabody award-winning podcast about the Civil War. He is also the Collaborator for Scene on Radio‘s Season 2 “Seeing White,” and Season 4 on the history of American Democracy. Professor Kumanyika is currently working on a podcast with Crooked Media about the history of the police in American popular culture. In addition to his work on the Street Poets Board, Dr. Kumanyika also serves on the Board of the Moth, and on a number of other advisory boards for organizations working through arts and advocacy.

Chirag Menon – Los Angeles, CA

A recording/performing artist, writer, facilitator, educator and former Street Poets Program Director, Chirag now serves as a Principal with the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Consulting firm Third Settlements, while continuing to record and release music under the name Chee Malabar.

Don Flood – Rancho Mirage, CA & San Miguel de Allende, MX

Don Flood is a veteran photographer specializing in celebrity portraiture and beauty advertising. He also is founder and creative director of FliePaper, a photo-based wallpaper line that’s included in the permanent collection of the Cooper Hewitt/Smithsonian Design Museum. He is a huge advocate of architectural preservation and is active in the architecture & design community near his home in Rancho Mirage, CA.

Julie Arias Young – Santa Monica, CA

Julie is a full-time mediator and founder of Julie Arias Young Mediation. Julie has served on the Street Poets board since 2012.

Ricardo (Ric) Torres – Los Angeles, CA

Recently retired as a Partner and Portfolio Manager in the London office of Capital International Investors (a division of LA-based Capital Group Companies), where he worked for 28 years. He is active with the Center for Action and Contemplation’s Living School, and also Camino Nuevo Charter Academy where he chairs the college scholarships committee. Ric is Mexican-American and fluent in Spanish and Portuguese.

Rona Mercado – Los Angeles, CA

Sean Scott – Los Angeles, CA

Despite his best efforts, Sean learned a lot about the shoe business at great brands like Nike, ASICS, and Vans. Later, he struck out on his own helping to build companies like TOMS, and now COMUNITYmade who are manufacturing great designs locally while serving the community. Sean believes that there are very few valid excuses not to be happy and he rides his bike almost everywhere.

Susannah Grant – Santa Monica, CA

Susannah is a screenwriter/producer/director. Her credits include such projects as Netflix’s Unbelievable, HBO’s Confirmation, Ever After, and Erin Brockovich.

Taylor Code Maxie, Jr. – Houston, TX

A founding member of Street Poets’ first performance group in the late 90s, Taylor later served as a teaching artist with the organization, returning to many of the same juvenile probation facilities that once housed him as a youth to mentor and facilitate writing workshops for our next generation of Street Poets. He is currently in the process of finishing up his college studies and professional certifications in Computer Science/Information Technology (specializing in Cyber Security).

Travis Heath – San Diego, CA

Travis is a licensed psychologist and is an Associate Professor at San Diego State University where he serves as Chair of the department of Counseling & School Psychology. Past work he’s been involved with looked at shifting from a multicultural approach to counseling to one of cultural democracy that invites people to heal in mediums that are culturally near. His most recent work involves incorporating the work of Black abolitionist scholars into psychotherapy, community healing, and uprising. His writing has focused on the use of rap music in narrative therapy, working with persons entangled in the criminal injustice system in ways that maintain their dignity, narrative practice stories as pedagogy, a co-created questioning practice called reunion questions, and community healing
strategies. He is co-author, with David Epston and Tom Carlson, of the first book on Contemporary Narrative Therapy released in June 2022 entitled, “Reimagining Narrative Therapy Through Practice Stories and Autoethnography.” The book is part of the “Writing Lives” series with Routledge publishing. Travis has been fortunate to run workshops and speak in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Hong Kong, India, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, United Kingdom, and United States.