On Monday, the 17-year-old became Philadelphia's newest youth poet laureate, an honor she didn't think was possible.
"When you don't see yourself in the spaces, it's hard to think you can be part of it; but now I'm here and part of it, and clearly you can too," she said.
That's her message to other teens in the city.
The Cristo Rey High School senior is a student journalist and mental health advocate.
She says her hope this year is to set up writing workshops and reach out to trans youth who are experiencing homelessness.