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In the news
The city of Long Beach invited its young poet citizens to participate in its inaugural Youth Poet Laureate program through the Long Beach Public Library. As an emerging writer, poet and activist, Helena enthusiastically answered the call and started attending poetry events and classes beginning in early Fall 2022. In October 2022, she was honored to read an original piece along with four notable local poets as part of Mercadito Literario, a celebration of Latinx literature and art. In February 2023, as part of its teen programming to honor Black History Month the library asked Helena to teach a poetry class — a workshop where she modeled the creation of a phrase poem using her own public service videos as a prompt. Along the way she discovered the library not only for its treasure trove of books and media, but as a center of civic engagement, a safe refuge for youth to just be themselves, a hub of creation and exploration, and most of all a warm community anchored by loving librarians.
Journalist-storyteller Loureen Ayyoub of Spectrum News 1 beautifully profiles Helena as a participant in the program who describes the power of poetry and imagination, and the potential for role of Poet Laureate as a platform for her work as an intersectional activist and Disability Justice advocate. The 2-minute segment aired on February 18, 2023.
December 2022. Helena is featured as part of 8 young “trailblazers” in a recent article on DoSomething, “one of the largest nonprofits exclusively for young people and social change.”
An excerpt:
“🤩 Why we’re so obsessed: I love a multi-talented queen, and Helena is one of them. Her story is super inspiring not only for neurodivergent folks but for anyone who is facing challenges or barriers to their STEM dreams.”
— Emily Becker, Writer
*From “8 Young People Who Are Changing the Future of STEM”
Journal Mention: Commissioned Art
Girls Learn International, Landing Page, March 2022
