In this episode of The Shift: Stories of Resistance and Resilience, Mayda Del Valle joins Mark Travis Rivera for a deeply personal and powerful conversation about creativity, loss, and returning to yourself.

Mayda shares her journey of moving back home to Chicago to support her family, navigating caregiving, grief, and major life transitions while questioning her identity as an artist. She opens up about a period where her creative voice felt distant, and how surrendering to where she was led her back to her work in a more grounded and expansive way.

Together, they explore the tension between creativity and productivity, challenging the idea that we must constantly produce in order to be considered artists. Mayda reflects on how community, cultural lineage, and intergenerational living shaped her understanding of success and belonging, while Mark emphasizes the importance of honoring our humanity in a time of collective uncertainty.

They also discuss what it means to hold joy and grief simultaneously, and how both can coexist as part of a full and meaningful life. Through reflections on heartbreak, healing, and creative rebirth, this conversation reminds us that even in our most difficult seasons, we are being prepared for something new.

Ultimately, this episode is a call to stay rooted in our humanity, trust our inner voice, and remain connected to each other as we navigate change together.

Guest Bio:

Mayda del Valle was born and raised on the Southside of Chicago. She is the author of The University of Hip Hop and a winner of the 2016 Drinking Gourd Chapbook Poetry Prize from Northwestern University Press. Her full-length collection, A South Side Girl’s Guide to Love and Sex, was published by Tia Chucha Press. She began her artistic career at the Nuyorican Poets Café, where she was the 2001 Grand Slam Champion, and went on to become the National Poetry Slam Champion in the same year. She appeared in six episodes of the HBO series Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry and was a contributing writer and an original cast member of the Tony Award-winning Def Poetry Jam on Broadway. She has performed at venues across the world, including the White House in May of 2009, by invitation of President Obama and the First Lady. In 2024, Mayda was the recipient of the Letras Boricuas Fellowship, sponsored by Flamboyan Arts Fund and the Mellon Foundation. Most recently, she was selected to be the second Poet Laureate of the City of Chicago.

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Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):

https://uppbeat.io/t/dan-snyder/returning-home

License code: ASYBPBHYUQEWOLWE

Disclaimer Note: The captions in this video are auto-generated, and while we try to ensure accuracy, you may notice a typo or error. Thank you in advance for extending grace.

Returning to Yourself and Helping One Another with Mayda Del Valle