Born Maria Teresa Fernandez, Mariposa is an award winning poet, educator and activist who has been featured on the critically acclaimed HBO Latino series, “Habla Ya!” and the HBO documentary “Americanos: Latino Life in the US”, as well as BET and PBS. She has performed at universities and major venues throughout the United States, Puerto Rico and abroad, including, The United Nations World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa, the Essence Music Festival in New Orleans, Black Enterprise’s Women of Power Summit, and the Commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington. Mariposa graduated from New York University having earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Gender Studies with a concentration in English Literature and a Master’s Degree in Bilingual Special Education. She is the author of Born Bronxeña: Poems on Identity, Love & Survival. She has also been published in The Norton Anthology of Latino Literature, The Afro Latin@ Reader: History and Culture in the United States, Def Poetry Jam’s Bumrush the Page, Breaking Ground: Puerto Rican Women Writers in NYC 1980 – 2012 and others. Mariposa has taught poetry and creative writing at public schools and senior citizen centers throughout New York City.
