MEET OUR PRINCIPAL & FOUNDER, TINA

Poetry is courage both for me and for all my students and workshop participants. It is through poetry that I find a safe space to explore experiences, express feelings, and visualize my life. It is also my commitment to students and all workshop participants to provide a safe space from which to write and to speak out loud.

Moments in time define my work; everyday observations create impact.  The use of the five senses relay memory or re-create a moment.  This integrates how I live and see others live; the individual life morphs into the shared experiences of the collective. This is how teams are built. This is how leaders are developed through time.

Read a recent interview in 2023 in SHOUTOUT LA that talks about my journey as a writer, arts educator and culture bearer. My published works include the book IMPRINT and poems in Birthmark: A bilingual Anthology of Armenian American Poetry, and in the journals High Performance, MORIA Literary Magazine, Aspora, Midwest Poetry Review, and the Texas Observer. I received grants from the Durfee Foundation, the California Arts Council, Glendale Arts Commission & the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs. I have performed my poetry in Los Angeles and at The Bowery in NY.

“Tina’s images, so exact and stunningly fresh, reach deep into the experience and give expression to her feelings with such delicacy and sensitivity that the world she represents becomes our own.” - Dr. Arpi Sarafian, Associate Professor, CSULA