Marguerite Maria Rivas, a native New Yorker, is a poet, a scholar, and a storyteller. The author of two poetry collections, she has published both poetry and essays widely. Her work touches on the way the world and the heart are broken and mended. An Associate Professor at Borough of Manhattan Community College of The City University of New York, Rivas teaches both literature and creative writing and mentors first-generation college students. A welder in her spare time, she also performs improvisational poetry with blues and jazz musicians. In 2019, she was appointed the first Poet Laureate of Staten Island.