Raffi Joe Wartanian is a writer, musician, and educator who teaches writing at UCLA and serves as the inaugural Poet Laureate in the City of Glendale, California. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, University of Texas Press, Los Angeles Review of Books, The Baltimore Sun, Miami Herald, Outside Magazine, Lapham’s Quarterly, No Dear Magazine, and elsewhere. Raffi has taught writing to numerous groups including veterans at the Manhattan VA, incarcerated writers at Rikers Island, and youth in Armenia. As a musician, Raffi has released two albums of original compositions: Critical Distance and Pushkin Street.

Teresa Mei Chuc was born in Sài Gòn, Việt Nam shortly after the Việt Nam War and grew up in Pasadena and Altadena, California. Altadena Poet Laureate, Editor-in-Chief from 2018 to 2020 and Pasadena Rose Poet since 2016, Teresa Mei Chuc is the author of three books of poetry, Invisible Light (Many Voices Press, 2018), Keeper of the Winds (FootHills Publishing, 2014) and Red Thread (Fithian Press, 2012). Her recent poetry chapbook, Incidental Takes, was published by Hummingbird Press in 2023. Teresa is a public school English teacher in Los Angeles in her twentieth year teaching. Teresa sits on the Beyond Baroque Board of Trustees (Secretary) and is the Youth Engagement Committee Chair. Teresa also sits on the Board of Directors for the San Gabriel Valley Community Land Trust.

Niku Kashef, MFA, CMT-P, is an interdisciplinary artist, writer, and educator working across studio art, relational practices, site-specific installation, participatory projects, public speaking, mindfulness facilitation, and advocacy. Her work examines geography, biography, and place—both as physical location and our perceived relationship to home/site. Informed by personal experience, her scholarship addresses identity, scientific inquiry, collective memory, and care through community-building via shared experiences: healing, loss, motherhood, displacement, environment, sacred practices, and the ephemeral. Kashef has exhibited and taught internationally. With over twenty years producing arts programming, she has served on the College Art Association's Board of Directors, is past-President and Advisory Council member for the Southern California Women's Caucus for Art, and emeritus Board Member for the National Women's Caucus for Art. Niku is a Lecturer at California State University, Northridge and has curated for organizations including the USNC for UN Women in Los Angeles, where she lives and works.

Sehba Sarwar is a multidisciplinary writer and artist whose work has been published in Asia: Magazine of Asian Literature, Poetry in English from Pakistan, Altadena Poetry Review, LA Times, New York Times and elsewhere. The second edition of her novel Black Wings was released in 2019 (Veliz Books), and her short stories have been anthologized in Feminist Press, Akashic Books, and Harper Collins India. Sarwar designs and teaches workshops at all levels and spaces for communities, universities, and high schools. Born and raised in an activist home in Karachi, Pakistan, Sarwar is the recipient of multiple artist awards through organizations including LA’s Department of Cultural Affairs, Pasadena’s Cultural Affairs Division, Mid-America Arts Alliance amidst others. She serves as Altadena Co-Poet Laureate (2024-26).

Dr. Alene Terzian-Zeitounian is a globally minded leader, poet, and educator with a deep commitment to advocacy and identity. She currently serves as the Humanities Department Chair and teaches creative writing at College of the Canyons. Dr. Terzian-Zeitounian holds an M.A. and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing, with a concentration in poetry, and a doctorate in Education, specializing in Leadership and Innovation. Her debut book, Deep as City’s Ache, examines the Lebanese Civil Conflict through both environmental and psychological lenses. Her work has been featured in esteemed publications such as the Bellevue Literary Review, Colorado Review, Mizna, and Rise Up Review. In addition to her academic endeavors, Dr. Terzian-Zeitounian serves as a Principal Advisor and Senior Facilitator at Culturally Intelligent Training and Consulting, where she empowers people to develop cultural curiosity, lead with empathy, and create atmospheres of belonging through compassionate action.

Carla Rachel Sameth was the 2022-2024 Co-Poet Laureate for Altadena and a 2023 Poet Laureate Fellow with the Academy of American Poets. Her books include the memoir One Day on the Gold Line, the chapbook What Is Left, and the poetry collection Secondary Inspections. Her writing on blended/unblended, queer, multiracial, and single-parent families appears in a variety of publications and has been selected three times as Notable Essays of the Year in Best American Essays. Her story, “Graduation Day at Addiction High,” originally appeared in Narratively and was selected for Longread’s “Five Stories on Addiction.” A Pushcart and Best of the Net nominee, a Pasadena Rose Poet, a West Hollywood Pride Poet, and a former PEN Teaching Artist, she teaches creative writing to high school and college students, incarcerated youth, and other diverse communities.