Community Studios: Fall 2024

Community Studios are open to all Mentees, Mentors & the Public.
If you don’t yet have an account, it’s easy to set one up and become a Girls Write Now Member.

Studios are held monthly throughout all program cycles.
Log in to your portal or create a portal account.
Select Events in the sidebar, click Community Studios in the top, and choose the studio you like to join.
Then submit the short registration form.

Find upcoming Community Studios at girlswritenow.org/events.

Wellness & Support Studios

Joy, Resistance, and Change: Healing through Cultural Storytelling

Within the multifaceted discussion of how to cultivate positive mental health practices, this studio discusses exploring cultural identity as a means of nurturing oneself. Learn about how writing is used as a means of personal self-care and navigating rich cultural heritage.

Christiane Calixte is a Brooklyn-based Caribbean American freelance writer. Her work has been featured in publications such as the Washington Post and YR media. She has been part of the Girls Write Now program for three years. She is currently a sophomore at Columbia University.

Soul Tracks: In Search of Self (Expressive Arts Group)

“No fight, No flight, Just Write!” –Sherry Reiter. Fight, flight, and freeze are the known coping responses to stress. But there is an alternative response to stress— expressive writing. Each workshop focuses on exercises that harvest your creativity, builds resilience, and develops a world view to support surviving and thriving.

Sherry Reiter, PhD, is a registered poetry and drama therapist and clinical social worker who has been facilitating workshops since the age of eighteen. Although she began as an actress doing voiceovers, she discovered the field of “poetry therapy,” and has taught at the New School for Social Research and Hofstra University. She is director of The Creative “Righting” Center, an international online training center for poetry therapy. She is creator of Poets-Behind-Bars, a long distance program at Indiana State Prison (max security) done with her students. She is co-author of Writing Away the Demons: Stories of Creative Coping Through Transformative Writing.

Mentor Support/Think Tank

This is a space for mentors to meet up and talk about their GWN experience, the pluses and minuses. This studio functions like a support group and a think tank, in which we exchange ideas on engaging our mentee, as well as discussing solutions for issues and sharing resources.

Kiki Tom is heading into her sixth year of mentoring at Girls Write Now, having guided three mentees to their goals. Starting right before the pandemic, I have gone with the changes in the program and had the opportunity to help two mentees off to college and then in the last two years, mentor a post graduate looking to start a career in journalism. Currently, two of my mentees are at Columbia University, as an undergraduate and graduate.

Peer Pair Support Studio

A supportive space where peer pairs come together to share experiences, explore best practices, and strengthen collaboration skills. This studio offers activities, discussions, and guided exercises focused on effective communication, creative project development, and storytelling. Participants will explore best practices in peer support, practice giving constructive feedback, and engage in creative writing prompts that inspire personal expression and growth, building a strong foundation for a successful peer mentoring relationship.

Felecia Facey is a sophomore at John Jay Criminal College, majoring in Law and Society with a minor in Psychology. This is her third year as part of Girls Write Now and second year working with her peer-mentee, Allahna. “Peer-mentee relationships are an innovative way for us to explore creativity and form deeper connections within our larger network. Community Studios have always been a space for members of the Girls Write Now community to share experiences and many forms of self-expression through written works. I think having one that caters to peer-mentees will allow us to learn from each other and grow within our own pairs. There are many ways to channel expression with the means of different mediums, and we hope to bring some of those ways to the table by offering support and a space to hone peer pairs relationships.”

Allahna Johnson is a freshman at SUNY Albany studying Social Welfare, Psychology, and Spanish! This is her second year working with Girls Write Now and she is excited to continue in the program with her peer-mentee Felecia. “This relationship was a key part in me getting my footing in the Girls Write Now program, and I hope the new peer mentee community studio can help others do the same. One thing I particularly love about the peer mentee process is the focus on our shared experiences. Working with a peer establishes a level of relatability and comfortability that is crucial for vulnerability and exploration in writing. It has also encouraged us to lean in to the things that make us similar and make the deeply personal activity of writing collaborative. I hope in facilitating these community studios we can encourage others to take advantage of the peer mentee experience and guide them along the way.”

Leadership Studios

Speak Up: Developing Effective Communication Skills for Life

In this community studio, participants learn the basics of public speaking, debate and dialogue. A room for thought-provoking conversations, collaboration and courage. Disclaimer: Participation highly encouraged for this community studio.

Ayushree Dahal is a current high school Junior from the Bay Area and a 2nd year GWN mentee. A few of her interests include debate, running, and binging romcoms. She is always on the lookout for a good new book and new random facts to share. Ayushree loves finding new ways to lead and staying curious about whatever’s next.

Sidney Madden is an award-winning music journalist, cultural critic, producer and host currently working as a correspondent for NPR Music. With more than a decade of experience on the beat of music, Sidney specializes in storytelling at the intersection of art, culture and sociopolitical shift.

Writing That Changes the World

Writing That Changes the World shows how the written word can be used in service of real life social issues. In this studio, we read mentor texts, learn various styles of journalistic writing, consider how other media can be used in advocacy work, and even start our own pieces of advocacy journalism. Bring your creativity, enthusiasm, and energy to the table!

Steph Auteri is a writer and editor from New Jersey who has written for the Atlantic, Pacific Standard, Rewire News Group, and elsewhere. She has written about everything from reproductive rights to mental health to unpaid family caregiving, but is especially passionate about advocating for access to inclusive and comprehensive sexuality education. These days, she fights for change as the BOD President for the Feminist Book Club, through her Guerrilla Sex Ed website, and through her other writings.

Chelsea Zhu is a writer from Maryland. She loves working to illuminate educational equity, sustainability, and language accessibility. She’s excited to lead a community studio that generates dialogue, ideas, and questions for the next generation of advocates.

Rooted in Nature: Exploring Native Plants through Writing & Visual Art

In this studio, we aim to inspire creative writing and art-making that reflects on the relationship between humans and native plants and encourages participants to turn their creative process into environmental advocacy projects.

Raised in Los Angeles, California, Robyn Lam grew up surrounded by nature. However, as time passed, the diversity of her environment died out, replaced with brown, flat lands. Upset by this change, she researched environmental advocacy and focused particularly native plants. Inspired to rejuvenate nature, she strives to work with others to continue to explore and implement sustainable practices.

Nonfiction Studios

Stories That Shape Us

Each of us has stories that shape us, that give us language for our experiences, and each of our languages is unique. How do you speak about being in awe of something for example? In this studio we explore your language and develop a greater familiarity and facility with it. We read texts that inspire discussions and free writes.

Melody Serra’s passion is teaching and empowering others by sharing what she has learned. She helped launch an arts and crafts program at a children’s hospital and also taught at San Quentin State. Melody hopes to inspire youth to explore and expand their creativity through web development, writing, and art.

Journalism

In this studio we explore various styles of and topics in journalism, including profile writing, personal essays, cultural criticism, and more. Community studio participants learn different techniques, try out different styles, and discover how there’s a wide range of ways to be a journalist or incorporate journalism into your writing life.

Navya Vasireddy (she/her) is a high school senior from New Jersey, and this is her third year as a Girls Write Now mentee. She is the Editor-in-Chief of her school newspaper and writes for a local newspaper, The New Jersey Hills Media Group. Navya enjoys writing about social justice issues and highlighting the hidden stories of her community through her work. In her free time, Navya loves to bike, binge-watch Netflix, and read at Barnes & Noble.

Marina Fang (she/her) is a senior culture reporter at HuffPost and a Girls Write Now mentor. She primarily covers film and television, examining their intersection with politics, race and gender, and exploring how culture reflects questions of power. Previously, she was a breaking news and national politics reporter for over five years, which included managing much of HuffPost’s evening and weekend coverage of the 2016 election. She lives in Brooklyn and in her spare time, likes reading, theater and exploring New York City.

Discovering Oneself: Creative Nonfiction Writing

Creative nonfiction, especially personal essays, comes in many different forms from memoir to nature writing to lyric essays. In this studio we delve into these many different forms through reading and prompts as a way to discover more about ourselves and the complex world we live in.

Louise Edwards (she/her) is an essayist and poet and currently works as a university fellowship advisor in Columbus, OH. She has enjoyed teaching creative nonfiction in college creative writing courses and writing essays about culture, sexuality, food, and home.

Olivia Wronski (they/she/he) is a junior in college with a passion for creative writing. They have dabbled in creative nonfiction throughout their academic career and personal life. They really love creative nonfiction as a method to blend together non-fiction and the expressiveness of storytelling. They are excited to teach and learn together with the GWN community!

Poetry, Fiction & Multimedia Studios

Spoken Word: Voices Unleashed!

Unlock your inner poet with “Spoken Word: Voices Unleashed”! Join us in learning the art of crafting and performing powerful spoken word poetry. Dive into various styles, master essential elements, and create your own captivating pieces. No prior experience is needed — just bring your voice and let it soar!

At a young age, Nyilah Bree Thomas discovered her desire to live in poetry, crafting verses that danced with the rhythm of her thoughts. Each word penned reflected her innermost emotions, a glimpse into what truly guides her soul. Whether it’s about love, loss, cults, weird train experiences, or hardly feeling the NYC earthquake on April 5, she will write about it.

Asma Al-Masyabi wrote her first poem in second grade and decided that she never wanted to stop, so she hasn’t. She is a ruth weiss Foundation Emerging Poet Award and Scholastic Silver Medal Poetry winner. Her writing can be found in The Cincinnati Review, Subnivean, the Santa Clara Review, and more. Poetry is without a doubt her favorite genre, since she believes poems are language at its most playful.

Finding Your Voice: Creating Memorable POVs in Fiction

In this community studio, we talk about all things voice: the elusive monster of narrative fiction. We do exercises to figure out how our narrators speak and how to make each character that appears in our stories each have a distinct style, personality, vocal quirks, and -isms.

Jennifer L. Brown writes middle grade and young adult novels about awesome kids having adventures. When not writing in coffee shops around NYC, you might catch her performing in plays or walking her very cute dog. As a writer who acts, she loves deep diving into character in her own stories. She’s currently writing a dual POV novel and her goal is to have a reader look at any given page and know without a doubt which character is narrating.

Writing Past the Page: Pushing the Limits of Creativity

This studio is designed to encourage writers to push the limits of creativity through unconventional and explorative means. In this studio we look at traditional ways in which fiction genres are written and tackle new ways at going about the creative writing process. Attendees engage with various media, pieces, and methods, as well as have the opportunity to bring to life their own styles and ideas. Attendees are encouraged to learn and discover how to use the most of their imagination to create stories, develop characters, and delve into world-building.

Chiamaka Okafor is a 2nd year University student and a Nigerian-Canadian American. She has a variety of hobbies and interests. She loves all mediums of art, performing, writing, reading, she loves human anatomy, learning languages, etc. What she loves about Fiction as a topic is that it can be anything you want it to be. Both fantasy and realism have a place in this genre. The ability to get lost in a story, and experience new perspectives is something worthwhile.

Visual Storytelling: Comics & Cartoons

In this animated studio, join fellow comics and cartoon enthusiasts to explore writing and visual prompts inspired by visual storytelling genres. Stop by each month with your favorite writing and image-making tools to go on a new sequential adventure to unleash your inner visual storyteller.

Kristy Cunningham Bigler is the author and illustrator of the multiverse fantasy webcomic, Infinite Spiral and a UX Designer. Long inspired by Sailor Moon, she finally fused her love of writing and drawing by making comics during the pursuit of her masters degree in game design. She creates stories full of magic and wonder, encouraging aspiring creators who want to craft imaginative worlds of their own. When not writing, drawing, wandering artist alleys, or designing for humans Kristy can be found in Ohio reading all things fantasy or making stories with her family.

The World of Prompts

Everything can be a writing prompt: books, newspapers, the conversations you overhear in coffee shops. In our studios, we teach you how to find prompts everywhere, provide you with a few writing prompts to spark your writing, and give you time to write!

Nicole Itkin and Holli Harms have been writing together for the past four years, creating prompts and writing from prompts. They believe that wherever you look you will find a writing prompt. The world of words is all around: in books and magazines and newspapers, in emails, letters and texts—all treasure to be uncovered. Both Holli and Nicole are reviewers for the Front Row Center. They’re excited to be teaching this studio!

Three Elements of Storytelling through Screenwriting

This community studio focuses on three important facets in screenwriting: story treatments, character building, and formatting. Not only does this studio teach the craft of screenwriting, but it also offers perspective and techniques that apply to other forms of storytelling.

Muna Crescent (she/they) is an emerging artist with professional experience in the film, radio, and online editorial industries. They’re especially passionate about screenwriting, having developed and written entire feature-length screenplays and short films alike. They love screenwriting for its androgynous nature and its dynamic method of storytelling! In their free time, Muna loves to draw, rollerskate, and perform improv!

Building Your Social Media Presence Responsibly for Beginners

In this studio, participants learn the essentials of establishing a meaningful and responsible social media presence. Designed for beginners, we explore how to create engaging content, build a personal or professional brand, grow a following, and connect with audiences thoughtfully. This studio aims to empower you to share your voice in the digital world with confidence and integrity.

Sophia One is a high school student in NYC and is the founder of One Letter 4 All, a series of public workshops that enables volunteers to write letters for people facing loneliness and hardship. She found joy in using social media to promote her initiative and aims to share her experience to help others.

Intersectional Voices (IV) & Career Studios

IV Edit – Print

In this Intersectional Voices in Editorial Print Studio (IV Edit-Print), we explore the publishing process from all angles, including editing, promotion, and bringing more voices to the page. This studio also provides insight into the making of Girls Write Now’s annual anthology, and in the spring cycle, members of the Print Anthology Committee work on editing the book.

Vahni Kurra (she/hers) hails from disparate parts of the American Midwest with roots in Southern India. She recently earned a B.A. in English and Creative Writing from Kenyon College, where she co-edited Hika, Kenyon’s oldest, student-run literary magazine. Vahni’s work centers on themes of displacement, and her personal essay, “Banana Republic,” was published in Oyster River Pages. She is currently the book review editor for Sweet: A Literary Confection. Vahni has always been a strong advocate for the rights of women and trans* folks, as she has interned for NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio and helped facilitate a peer support program for Kenyon students impacted by sexual assault.

Molly MacDermot, Director of Special Initiatives

Molly MacDermot is proud to call Girls Write Now her professional home for the last 10 years, leading partnerships, editing the annual anthology, and learning something new every single day from a talented community of writers. In high school, Molly won an emerging journalist award from her local newspaper, which meant receiving a hardcover, dictionary-thesaurus combo that she cherished, spending the rest of her teen years looking up words.Molly studied English and Journalism at Boston University, and wrote for the daily newspaper. One of her first internships in college was at WBAI Radio, obtained by walking into the office and asking if she could intern. Thankfully, they said yes. She has added commas to stories while at The New Yorker, worked in features at Marie Claire and Redbook, and ran teen magazines during the Destiny’s Child days. Girls Write Now is a bright spot for so many and Molly is honored to be a part of the team.

IV Edit – Multimedia

IV Edit Multimedia focuses on digital and multimedia formats at Girls Write Now , including online publications, podcasts, videos, and interactive media. Participants explore various aspects of multimedia production and envision how Girls Write Now can continue to lead in a new era of publishing, leveraging modern platforms to showcase diverse voices and stories from within the Girls Write Now community.

Emily Rigby (she/her) comes to Girls Write Now with a love of writing, meaningful experience developing curriculum for nonprofit organizations, and a long-held belief that there is no limit to the ways that people can express their thoughts and ideas. There is nothing that sparks her interest more than a complicated, messy protagonist whose story challenges and questions the status quo – and long-form,YouTube video essays. She holds a BA in Creative Writing and Psychology from Ithaca College and an MFA in Creative Writing from The New School and is excited to share her passion for stories in all forms as a member of the Girls Write Now team.

IV DEIB

The IVDEIB Committee is dedicated to creating an inclusive and equitable environment within Girls Write Now, ensuring that all voices are heard and valued. This committee promotes the integration of DEIB principles into all aspects of Girls Write Now’s operations and programming, helping to establish, review, and make recommendations on plans and policies that support underrepresented groups within the community.

Storytelling is in Chelle Carter-Wilson’s DNA. Chelle (Rochelle)’s imagination is the lens through which she experiences the world. Like many children, life obtruded upon her dreams, and bit by bit, she forgot them. Her stories never forgot her. In the wake of a career as an HR executive, she evolved into perhaps the world’s most reluctant stay-at-home mom. She raised two children, trained a beloved boxer puppy, and in quiet moments, listened to the muse. She returned to writing and hasn’t stopped. A linguaphile and lover of the oxford comma, anything, in the form of a story can engage, inform, and delight. A grateful steward of Girls Write Now’s emerging creatives, she commits to never let any writer ignore a siren’s call.

Kathryn Destin is a nonprofit researcher and writer and also was the 2022-23 Editor-In-Residence for Girls Write Now. An only child from Harlem, NYC, Kathryn looks for community in many spaces centered on her interests such as cooking, comedy, Blackness, queerness and investigative journalism. She is a Girls Write Now mentee and is fascinated by film, media and writing as avenues for social advocacy and activism. As a young creative, she is excited to utilize various mediums to speak against injustice and share stories from marginalized voices.

Career Readiness: Tips, Tricks & Triumphs

Applying for jobs and internships can be exhausting and dispiriting, but if we work together, it can be a little less painful. In this studio, mentees share their experiences, tips, challenges, and triumphs, while sharpening their interview skills, polishing their resumes and cover letters, sharing resources, defining success, finding their Ikigai, and having a few laughs. Mentors are welcome to join the December and January Studios to offer tips, support, and share their networks.

Erica Silberman fell in love with Girls Write Now when she group-taught a playwriting workshop for them in 2005. Through the years, she has stayed involved with the organization as a mentor, a teacher in various outreach programs, and a member of both the Program Advisory Committee and the Host Committee. Erica has an extensive and wide-ranging background in the theatre as an actress, playwright, director, teacher, acting coach, and producer, as well as experience in the design world. She formerly served as co-president of the Women in the Arts and Media Coalition and on the board of the League of Professional Theatre Women. Erica is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America and the Dramatic Question Theatre, where she runs a monthly literary and music salon.

A POWERHOUSE OF VOICES.
A CHAMPION OF DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES.
A PIPELINE OF TALENT.

This is Girls Write Now.

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