OUR STAFF
Navin desai
Founder and Editor-in-Chief
Navin is a student at Georgetown Day School in Washington, D.C and an incoming freshman at Harvard College. He has been recognized by the National YoungArts Foundation and District of Columbia Commission on the Arts and Humanities, and is a Scholastic Art & Writing Awards national Gold Medalist. Because of his deep involvement in political advocacy and environmentalism, he decided to launch Active Voice as a way to inspire youth to engage in activism through writing and art. He also absolutely loves running—find him on Strava!
Naomi Ling
Managing Editor
Naomi is a student in Maryland and is a 2023 YoungArts Finalist in Poetry, American Voices Winner, and Kenyon Review‘s Patricia Grodd Poetry Prize Winner. Naomi has also been recognized by the National Student Poets Program, Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, and Best of the Net, among others. Her poetry weaves motifs of girlhood, heritage, and growing pains between each line. If there was one dream she could make true, it would be to ride along the French countryside with a baguette under her arm.
Ariana Thornton
Managing Editor
Ariana is a rising senior at Phillips Exeter Academy. She enjoys all genres of creative writing and has a lifelong passion for environmental action. She is a national Gold Medalist in the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards and has been published in various publications, such as Aster Lit. She now serves as Editor-in-Chief of Ecosystemic Magazine, a youth environmental magazine. Find her on Instagram @ar.i.tistic.
Britney Simbana-J
Visuals & Layout Editor
Britney is an artist from Towson, Maryland and a student at Rhode Island School of Design. She is a 2023 YoungArts Finalist in Photography and U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts Nominee, has received a National Gold Medal and American Visions Medal in the 2022 Scholastic Arts & Writing Awards, was a Finalist in the Smithsonian 2022 Teen Portrait Competition, and won first place in the 2022 Drexel University High School Photography Contest for “Lo Que Tu No Miras.” She is passionate about creating work that challenges perspective and representation of working-class immigrant families like hers.
Sophia Hall
Literary and Visuals & Layout Editor
Sophia, a student at the University of Pennsylvania, is the 2023 DC Youth Poet Laureate, a 2023 U.S. Presidential Scholar, and has been recognized nationally by the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, the Library of Congress, and several other organizations. In 2022, she won the Smith College Poetry Prize for High School Girls, selected by Leila Chatti. Sophia is also the Art and Social Justice Fellow at Strathmore Arts Center and Woolly Mammoth Theater Company. Her haiku, selected from 2,900-plus submissions from 71 countries, have been displayed in prominent locations in the Washington DC Business District.
Ulysses Hill
Literary Editor
Born in Los Angeles, raised in Pasadena, and now studying at Dartmouth College, Ulysses is a 2023 YoungArts Finalist in Creative Non-Fiction and U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts Nominee. His writing progressed over time from only short stories about love into narratives surrounding different themes such as social commentary. Inspired by his own personal heritage, Ivan Turgenev, and James Baldwin, Ulysses’ current work is self-reflective. To date, some of his awards and recognitions include being a member of The Gates Scholarship Class of 2023 and The Gordon Parks Foundation Scholarship.
Olivia Le
Literary Editor
Olivia is in the Creative Writing Conservatory at Orange County School of the Arts and is a second-year Get Lit Player, where she was selected to perform for Women’s History Month for Fox Studios Entertainment. Olivia was the runner-up for California Youth Poet Laureate, placed third in Poetry Out Loud, and won Poetry Ourselves. At the national level, Olivia has also been recognized by the National YoungArts Foundation for Spoken Word and the Academy of American Poets. She was invited by CA Poet Laureate Lee Herrick to perform at Newport Beach Public Library and has recited her poetry at various venues around LA.
Kyra Ezikeuzor
Literary Editor
Kyra is a 16-year-old student at St. Agnes Academy in Houston, Texas. She was awarded the national American Voices Medal in the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards and has been recognized by the America Library of Poetry National Student Poetry Contest with a feature in their 2022 Fall poetry book, “Resilience.” Inspired by her heritage, Chinua Achebe, and Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie, Kyra enjoys writing poetry and short stories about culture and memory. Alongside her passion for writing, Kyra has also co-founded Compute the Future Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to teach computer science concepts to local elementary and middle schools.
Breanna Crossman
Literary Editor
Breanna is a writer from Orange County, California who has resided in New York and attends George Washington University. Her work has been recognized by the Adroit Prizes, Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, and NCTE. She is the Editor-in-Chief of Spiritus Mundi Review, an interdisciplinary arts magazine for emerging artists.
Ava Chen
Literary Editor
Ava is a rising senior at Phillips Academy. Her writing has been recognized by Columbia College Chicago, Smith College, the national Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, among others, and has been published in various literary magazines. She is also an Adroit Journal Summer Mentee and the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sophon Lit. When not writing, you can find her taking very long walks or playing piano for her two pet turtles.
Jessica Nwosu
Literary Editor
Jessica is a senior in a high school located in Texas. She enjoys writing and views it as a creative outlet to share her thoughts and beliefs. She is a published writer and the editor-in-chief of the International Youth Economic Conference. Besides writing, Jessica enjoys reading classics such as The Metamorphosis and The Stranger, as Franz Kafka and Albert Camus heavily influenced her writing style. Besides literary activities, Jessica also enjoys content-creating and reading Webtoons!
Ariel Zhang
Literary Editor
Ariel is a student from California who strives to create a space of healing and transformation in her writing. She believes that words are a form of empathy and a way of celebrating the world and each other, capturing human nuances in unique and beautiful ways. She is inspired by the youths around her to keep telling stories and to say to the world that “we are here.” Ariel’s work has been recognized by the National High School Poetry Contest and Scholastic Art & Writing Awards.
Pranavi Vedula
Literary Editor
Pranavi is a junior at Phillips Exeter Academy. She has received Exeter’s 2022 Lamont Younger Poets Prize and 2023 Vasilou ’67 Writing Prize. She has also been recognized by the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards and has been published by The WEIGHT Journal, The Good Poetry Zine, and the Lune Spark Young Writer’s Short Story Contest. She has served as a member of the New Hampshire Teen Poets Laureate Team, and additionally serves as a reviewer for the New Hampshire Flume and Isinglass Committee. Pranavi is also an editor for both her school’s literary journal and blog. Catch her practicing her French, watching too many movies, or riding her bike outside.
Margot Ratchman
Literary Editor
Margot is currently a student in Connecticut, but has lived in various parts of the United States. She was in the 2021-2022 Seattle Youth Poet Laureate Cohort, was a finalist for the Thornton Wilder Writing Competition, and has been published in Cathartic Youth Literary Magazine. Currently, she writes for her school newspaper, yearbook, and local historical society. She always intends for her writing to make others feel seen and heard.
June Oh
Literary Editor
June is a student at North Hollywood High School. She has been recognized by the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, LA Times High School Insider, Hollywood Script Awards, and various literary magazines. Through writing, a passion she discovered at six, June is able to transcribe her deepest thoughts and perspectives into words for others to enjoy, which is one of the primary reasons that drives her to write. As a student and writer, she hopes to inspire many with her works as other authors have inspired her.
Audrey Wu
Literary Editor
Audrey is a 16-year-old student in Cambridge, Massachusetts who has a passion for words and writing. She particularly enjoys writing poetry in her free time and writes and edits for The Teen Magazine and Ecosystemic.
Seohyun Ryu
Website Manager
Seohyun (Saya) is a high school student who attends school in Southern California. She loves connecting the study of language and social activism through art. She has a strong passion for poetry and is even the founder of a poetry magazine, WRITIE POET. Her works were recognized by various platforms such as the LA Youth Poet Laureate, the Scholastic Awards, the Outland Magazine, PERIOD, and more. She is currently working to fight against Asian discrimination and women’s struggles through period poverty.
ADVISORS
A.B. Spellman
Poet, Jazz Critic, and Arts Administrator
Alfred Bennett (A. B.) Spellman, a founder of the Black Arts Movement, was born on August 7, 1935, in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. After receiving a B.S. Howard University and attending Howard’s Law School, Spellman published his first poetry collection, The Beautiful Days (Poets Press). He published his second collection, Things I Must Have Known (Coffee House Press, 2008), more than four decades later. Spellman developed a career in the 1960s as a jazz critic, publishing his first work of nonfiction, Four Lives in the Bebop Business (Pantheon Books), in 1966. Spellman has taught at Emory, Harvard, Morehouse, and Rutgers universities. In 1975, he was appointed director of the Arts in Education Study Project for the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA), and in 1998, was appointed the deputy chairman for the Office of Guidelines, Panel, and Council Operations.
Eduardo Martínez-leyva
Poet
Eduardo Martínez-Leyva’s poems have appeared in The Adroit Journal, Apogee Journal, Nepantla: A Journal for Queer Poets of Color, The Journal, Best New Poets 2015, and elsewhere. He was born in El Paso, TX and received his MFA from Columbia University, where he was a teaching fellow. He is a CantoMundo fellow.
AMBASSADORS
Ava Min (WA)
Rylie Wright (NE)
James Grant (OK)
Kaylee Condon (MN)
Ciarra Bell (WI)
Mia Caballero (TX)
Amna Fadel (CA)
Da’Taeveyon Daniels (TX)
Jaylin Hemphill (MS)
Ethan Villarreal (CA)
Maria Ayala (CA)
Robin Lumbard (VA)
Amanda Rodas (CA)
Ava Park (CA)
Haadia Hader (OH)
Lauren Kim (NH)
Pisey Taing (PA)
Christiana Zidor (FL)
Chloe Bosma (NH)
Layla Mohamed (IL)
Junyu Chen (NY)
Inioluwa Orimalade (GA)
Xanaria Jackman (NJ)
Lily Mortensen (NY)
Noelle Wu (CA)
Carsten Oyer (AZ)
Riley Shea (CA)
Abesalom Webb (NV)
Sierra Boring (PA)
Isabel Silva (TX)
Jasman Padam (MA)
Sena Tamene (CA)
Katie Nguyen (FL)
Jonah Gatoff (CA)
Harlow Yappen (NJ)
Janani Rajeshwer (NC)
Lexi Anglin (VA)
Shantosmita Biswas (MN)
Dhanush Malempati (MN)
Nevaeh Moffatt (SC)
Ayomide Lowo (GA)