Ms. Vanessa is an educator raised in international schools in Hong Kong and Beijing. She holds a B.A from Swarthmore College, graduating with high honors in Philosophy and Peace and Conflict Studies. Her final thesis exploring the depiction of China-Africa relations in the Western Media won a national award by the Peace and Justice Studies Association.

Her interest lies in creative writing, reading and speaking as a way to deepen one’s understanding of the world around them as well as themselves. She believes this is especially important for teenagers, and for students with multiple cultures such as herself.

She started her teaching journey in India as an intern with the organization New Light, creating a poetry curriculum for daughters of red-light district workers. Since then she has taught numerous creative writing classes in a variety of settings, and in 2020 began teaching classes online. Over the years she has taught over 150 students across platforms such as Outschool with many students winning awards or receiving publication for their poetry and writing. Her own love of language and experience in writing, speaking and reading is what drives her to teach.

She is a published writer, both in academic journals such as in In Factis Pax (2023) and she has also published numerous poems in different anthologies, such as in Rising Phoenix Review and Spillwords. She also has served as editor for an academic magazine and has extensive experience providing feedback for a variety of professors and scholars.

She has extensive experience in public speaking, being part of spoken word teams since high school and representing her school in national competitions such as CUPSI in 2016 where her team won 2nd place overall. She has performed poetry in venues all over New York, Washington D.C and Philadelphia, and continuously gives speeches regarding poetry and the environment in academic conferences such as in UC. Berkeley’s Root Sprout Blossom Conference (2019, 2021), in Ohio University Peace and Justice Studies Association Conference (2022) and in the International Peace Research Association’s conference in Trinidad and Tobago (2023).

She was also the Last Collection graduation speaker for her class at Swarthmore. Overall it is her vast experiences in these forms that inform her classes, giving students a wide perspective on the topic.