Rowena Cruz is back!

Our ally and trusted friend,




Rowena Cruz is an MFA Candidate in Creative Writing (Nonfiction) at Columbia University. She is the former coordinator of Our Word, the student group for writers of color, an officer of Quart, the queer artists group, and treasurer on the Arts Student Council. Rowena has taught writing workshops for Sumisibol, a NJ-based non-profit organization serving Filipino American youth in Jersey City. She is also participating in teaching artist training programs with Community Word and Marquis Studios.

Rowena is currently writing her thesis project, a collection of memoir/essays on the four generations of women in her family and her obsession with beauty queens and figure skaters. She hopes to start on her next project, travel essays on her years of self-discovery throughout her homeland and all 50 United States.

Born in the Philippines, raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, and a former resident of New Orleans pre-Katrina, Rowena now calls New York City, home.