Cheyenne Avila is a Black and Mexican poet and spoken word artist from Southern California. She will be graduating from the University of La Verne in January of 2019 with a Bachelor's degree in creative writing and Spanish. In 2017, Cheyenne’s nonfiction essay, “The House on Elburg Street,” won the undergraduate creative writing contest and was published in the University of La Verne’s Prism Review. Her poetry has also been published by Crack the Spine and Bird’s Thumb. She has competed at slam poetry competitions around the country and was the president of her university’s spoken word club for two years. Cheyenne believes that poetry is an important tool for healing and reconciling lost and/or misplaced identities. After graduating, she plans on pursuing her MFA in poetry, and she hopes to combine her writing with environmental activism to help uplift marginalized communities.