Our Team

Christiana Castillo is an educator, activist, urban gardener and writer. She holds an undergraduate degree from Wayne State University where she obtained an English major with a co-major in peace and conflict studies and resolution. Christiana serves as a board member for the Michigan Coalition for Human Rights. She recently finished writing a bilingual children’s book titled A Town Called Hope, which focuses on community and environmental justice. Most of her teachings focus on social justice and peace and conflict resolution. In her free time she enjoys making collages, doodling and reading. She loves her cats and all things sunflowers.

Bayan Founas is an educator and artist currently studying at the University of Michigan to receive a Master’s degree in Educational Leadership and Policy. She founded and directs a high-school poetry club at Jalen Rose Leadership Academy, where she taught for two years, to give Detroit youth a safe space to creatively heal and be themselves fully without conforming to institutional norms. In August 2018, she published her first book, Diary of a Daughter in Diaspora – a collection of her poems giving readers the narrative of a first-generation Algerian and Muslim woman growing up in a post 9/11-Trump America.

Justin Groppuso-Cook is a poet, musician, and Metro Detroit native. He holds a BA in both English (Creative Writing) and Arts & Humanities from Michigan State University. While attending MSU, he served as a mentor for the Indigenous Youth Empowerment Program, Writing Consultant for the MSU Writing Center, Outreach Assistant at the Center for Poetry, and Assistant Editor of Poetry for Red Cedar Review. His poems have appeared in Duende, Foliate Oak, Polaris, Mangrove Journal, Susquehanna Review, among others. In 2016, he served as a Youth Programmer at Ghost Ranch in Abiquiú, New Mexico. He now resides in Detroit writing/performing poetry, creating community, and playing keys for his band Asklepius.

Detroit Music Award winning singer/songwriter Audra Kubat has released 6 albums to critical acclaim in a career that spans over 20 years. A composer, performer, educator, and Wayne State University alumni, Kubat’s work has earned her a place in the community as a resource for empowerment through songwriting and music. Her methods of composition articulate grace and uncover hidden places that defy easy categorization. Kubat has created programming for a number of educational projects, including songwriting workshops for DPS, storytelling circles for Square One Education Network, and performance and lyric workshops with Girls Rock Detroit. Currently she is teaching with InsideOut Literary Arts, Living Arts Detroit, Wolf Trap, and the Detroit Institute for Music Education.

Living in Detroit, Nadine Marshall is a poet, avid reader, collaborator, and curator with an MSW and B.S. in Psychology/African American Studies. Their work intimately explores the intersection of being genderless, black, and queer – asking what was to lead to what is. Nadine is interested in using literary art, poetry specifically, to build communities with radical hope and love. Their words have reached the audiences of TEDxUofM, The National Poetry Slam, The Rustbelt Regional Poetry Slam, CUPSI, the ShadeJournal, and Freezeray Poetry Journal.

Born in the middle of the Detroit riots, Lauren Ryder Williams is a Detroit-girl, through and through. The daughter of a distinguished community activist and an elementary school teacher, she upholds the legacy of civic responsibility and word-smithing as a tool for empowerment. She has been, and will always be: a poet, singer, songwriter, stage performer, community activist, urban gardener, college English instructor, Florida A&M alumni, and the holder of an M.A. in English from Wayne State University. Her poems have appeared in Cornbread, Fish and Collard Greens: Prayers, Poems & Affirmations for People Living with HIV/AIDS, M.A.G. Quarterly, Reflections from the Edge of Womanhood and The Spirit in the Words. And she is nearing the release of her first EP. Williams lives happily with her husband, Myron, her youngest stepdaughter, Judah, and their cats Mr. Alexander O’Neal III, Abraham, Snowden and John.

Naidra Walls is a​n​ ​artist, educator, and real estate agent. ​Their current projects include assisting Michigan residents in purchasing a home or business as a real estate agent, and the launch of a black creative guild that will connect creative entrepreneurs of color in the lgbtq community to necessary resources for success. Walls also contracts with organizations in Michigan for administrative work, graphic design projects, fund development, grant writing, and website management. ​Their academic background includes an undergraduate and a graduate degree from Western Michigan University in Marketing and Public Administration.