Shanaya Sales is an Iranian-American poet born and raised in the Bay Area. After training at the University of Southern California BFA Acting program for two years, she left school in hopes of creating revolutionary art rather than following a path paved by the white man's ideal. As the daughter of Iranian immigrants, Shanaya hopes to create poetry that captures her experience in the Iranian diaspora while mirroring untold stories like those she has witnessed in her own community and of anyone who's voice remains silenced.