A writer and storyteller at the core, Herina Ayot holds a BA in Psychology, a minor in Journalism and Mass Communications, and an MFA in Creative Writing from NYU, crafting narratives that reframe trauma, pain, and redemption from an experiential and existential approach. Find her work in the Huffington Post, Ebony.com, and The Root. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, Herina is actively exploring what it means to be human, and has joined her curiosity for research with narrative storytelling in an aim to improve and impact lives of marginalized people.
Currently serving as the Assistant Director of the PhD program in Nursing Research and Theory at NYU Meyers, she collaborates closely with doctoral students and PhD Faculty, promoting smooth operation of the program.
Further, as a Master’s student at NYU Steinhardt, Herina is pursuing a Masters in Counseling degree in Psychology with a focus on male trauma, criminal justice involvement, and masculine ideology. She also counsels sex offenders at Shiloh Consulting, a unique behavioral health outpatient clinic certified through the New York State Office of Mental Health. With future plans to pursue doctoral work in criminology, she is developing a research proposal on the role of self love in persistence/desistance from crime that may have implications for psychotherapy approaches such as creative art therapy and mindfulness. In previous roles, she has interfaced with at-risk young adult men and ex-offenders, first in a prison reentry organization called Project Renewal, and later at a New York City based prison advocacy organization called The Correctional Association of New York.
Mitchell Ugwuezi
“Ever since I learned how to hold a pencil, I’ve created art on canvas. If my words and experiences can be inspiration, encouragement or comfort for another, I’ve lived my life well. I am not so naïve to believe my writing can change the world, but at the very least, it may change my reader. I am forever a work in progress. Life is a journey. I like to take the scenic route.”