Mayda Del Valle

Chosen by Oprah's O Magazine as one of 20 women on the first "O Power List," Mayda del Valle has been described by the Chicago Sun-Times as having, "a way with words." Indeed, the powerhouse performance poet does.

Winner of the 2001 Nuyorican Grand Slam Championship, she went on to win the 2001 National Poetry Slam Individual Championship, the first Latino to do so.  Del Valle has been featured numerous times on HBO's Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry, and was an original cast member and contributing writer of the critically acclaimed Tony Award-winning production of Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam on Broadway. She was also a cast member of Norman Lear's Declare Yourself Spoken Word Tour, a national campaign created to encourage young voter participation in the 2004 presidential elections.

Del Valle has also made her mark outside the world of poetry. Her one-woman show The Insecurities of an Eagle won an Audience Favorite Award at NYC's 3rd Annual Downtown Urban Theatre Festival and she recently premiered an excerpt of a new show Salida as part of the Living Word Festival, while an Artist in Residence with Youth Speaks.  She has been featured in numerous publications including Latina, The Source, and the New York Times, and has performed for President Obama and the First Lady.

Del Valle is a unique, powerful voice who fuses profoundly personal and thought-provoking work with the rhythm and pulse of Hip Hop culture.