Leadership
Team

Rowana has been writing young adult fiction and working in writing education for more than a decade. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, and has been awarded the 2023 Greater Philadelphia Social Innovation Award for Educational Entrepreneurship and the 2022 University of Pennsylvania President’s Engagement Prize. Her debut novel, Secrets of the Blue Hand Girls, is forthcoming from Sourcebooks in Fall 2025.

Kristen is a nonprofit professional with over a decade of experience in program direction, primarily in the youth literacy space. She is the founder of the Early Childhood Education Department at the New York Public Library. After serving as a member of the Cosmic Writers Advisory Board for several years, Kristen is now looking forward to serving the Cosmic Writers community by creating partnerships, programs, and strategies that bring equitable creative writing education to children around the country.

David Han is an undergraduate student at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, where he is pursuing concentrations in Finance and Environmental, Social, and Governance. He is an avid fan of creative writing and cinema and is involved with the Penn Film Society and the Kelly Writers House. His poetry has been published in the Blue Marble Review, National Poetry Quarterly, and The California Quarterly.

Sophia represents her hometown, Washington DC, as Youth Poet Laureate and U.S. Presidential Scholar. Her writing has been recognized by the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, the Library of Congress, Button Poetry, and several other organizations. Her poem “Multiple Choice,” won grand prize in the Sixteen River Press’s Youth Poetry Contest and was subsequently nominated for the Pushcart Prize, and her poem “What We Leave Behind” was a Frontier Poetry finalist for North America. She has taught workshops at Politics & Prose, the National Gallery of Art, the Marchutz School, Writopia Lab, and now for Cosmic Writers! She attends the University of Pennsylvania.

Mmachi is an undergraduate at the University of Pennsylvania studying both Neuroscience and Creative Writing. Having been a storyteller since the age of seven, she understands first-hand the impact that writing had on her development as both a dreamer and a creator, and she is passionate about sharing the craft with other young artists. Outside of drafting her novel, she spends most of her free time digging her nose in her favorite comfort book, figuring out new rice cooker recipes to try in her dorm, and watching bad Tubi movies with her friends.

Suhani Mittal is committed to educational equity and empowering underserved communities. At Cosmic Writers, she develops creative writing curricula that inspire and nurture a love for writing in children. Recognized for her creativity, Suhani won the New York Times Coming-of-Age Art Competition. As co-founder of Evergreen Learning Chicago, she provides tutoring and academic resources to underserved middle schoolers. She is currently pursuing her undergraduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania.

Poem is an undergraduate at the Wharton School concentrating in Legal Studies & Business Ethics. She is a U.S. Presidential Scholarship Finalist, a Trustees' Council of Penn Women Grant Recipient, and a four-time Scholastic Art & Writing Awards Gold Medalist. As an alumni of the Adroit Summer Writing Mentorship and the Iowa Young Writers' Summer Program, she is excited to give back in the writing mentorship process through Cosmic Writers. In her free time, Poem can be found puttering around bookstores, watching horror, and reading web serials.

Blake is a junior at The Beacon School in New York. She is deeply involved in her school community through various clubs and has been a Teaching Assistant for nearly two years at school at her synagogue. Blake also volunteers at her local Assemblymember’s office, assisting with community outreach. Planning on pursuing a career in education, Blake combines her passion for teaching with experience in social media.