Jaira Placide is a Ph.D. student in City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center. She is the author of the young adult novel Fresh Girl (Wendy Lamb Books, Random House), which won the Golden Kite Award from the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and was an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults Jaïra has written and self-published two poetry chapbooks: Yellow Sky & Silhouettes (2017) and Drinks, Dreams & Kisses (2019). She was formerly the Associate Director of the Institute of African American Affairs & Center for Black Visual Culture at New York University.