Yosimar Reyes
County of Santa Clara
San Francisco, CA USA
"Poetry is a weapon and a medicine."
Career Roadmap
Yosimar's work combines: Writing, Art, and Communicating / Sharing Stories
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Day In The Life
Skills &
Education
Here's the path I took:
High School
Associate's Degree
Evergreen Valley College
Bachelor's Degree
Creative Writing
San Francisco State University
Life & Career Milestones
My path in life has been direct
1.
I began journaling and writing poetry at age 16 to process my frustrations as an undocumented teen growing up in East San Jose, California.
2.
Even though I was too embarrassed to perform, one of my poems won second place in a poetry competition and I realized my voice had value.
3.
Going to community college changed my life—I met students with non-linear paths like mine and learned that lived experience is its own kind of education.
4.
While in college, I started giving talks at universities like UC Santa Cruz, speaking with authority on my lived experience.
5.
I rejected the narrative of the “struggling artist” and built a business model around my art that allowed me to care for my grandmother until she passed.
6.
I created an LLC to turn my poetry into a sustainable living, offering writing workshops, public speaking, and commissioned work.
7.
Becoming Santa Clara County’s Poet Laureate felt like poetic justice—now I get to represent a place that wasn’t built to celebrate people like me.
8.
I currently serve as the performing artist-in-residence at MACLA (Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana).
Defining Moments
How I responded to discouragement
THE NOISE
Messages from Peers:
Oh, you're a poet? That's cute but what do you actually do for work?
How I responded:
People often laugh when I say I'm a poet, like it’s not a real job. But I've actually created stability from poetry. Poetry is how I pay my bills, teach others, and build platforms for underrepresented voices. I turned my art into a business and now live off the very thing they said wasn’t possible.
Experiences and challenges that shaped me
I didn't realize how much being undocumented would affect me until I was a teen. All of my peers were getting jobs and driver's licenses, and I couldn't. That struggle prompted me to start writing in order process and comment on my lived experience.