MEET OUR PRINCIPAL & FOUNDER, TINA

Poetry tests my courage. 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. 

Poetry comes with me in each classroom I’ve walked into the last 30 years, and during each workshop I now prepare for when I turn on my computer to open zoom.   The participants don’t see poetry at my side, but I know she’s there. And when I observe and listen to each participant I know they have a piece of her with them, too; unbeknownst to them, of course because they are poetry: flailing her arms, trying to open her eyes: becoming. 

“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

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.