Meet Our Team

Nate Bagonza is a second-year MFA candidate in Nonfiction at Emerson College. Coming from the North Shore of Massachusetts, Nate is interested in writing about memory, home, humanity, and the world around us. Through EmersonWRITES, he hopes to inspire students to think outside the box and access their inner creativity. Outside of writing, Nate enjoys going to the movies, listening to pop culture podcasts, and going on walks to his local library, where he first fell in love with reading.

Jules Heatley is a second-year MFA candidate in Fiction at Emerson College. She tends to write queer romance stories with a horror twist, but loves to write the occasional flowery poem or melodramatic personal narrative. She believes a multigenre approach is beneficial to all writers and loves to play with conventions, tropes, and form in her stories. Outside of writing, she loves to bake, watch bad reality TV, play video games, and hang out with her cat, Tilly. Jules believes that writing is power and hopes to help her students discover their own voices, build confidence in their writing, and experiment freely in the classroom.

Jashvina Shah is a third-year MFA fiction candidate at Emerson College who’s also a passionate sports fan, hockey journalist and a non-fiction author. She uses fiction to explore the deeper meaning behind sports, cultural identities and the human spirit (but is also working on a historical pirate novel). In her free time she crochets and plays with her dog, S’mores. She’s excited to foster students’ writing skills and empower students to tell their stories through creative writing. 

Sandra S. Smithers is a Mexican writer and book designer residing in Boston, she is the author of three poetry books, the last one in both English and Spanish. (Cartas a un Astronauta, 2020. Relatos de Mujer Mujer, 2023. Logbook of a Journey Down The Abyss, 2025. Bitácora de un viaje al vacío, 2025.)  She was included in two anthologies for promising Latin American authors in Spain. Her poetry, essays and books have been published internationally, covering topics such as self-love in Mexican women, women relationships, activism in Latin America, identity and travel. She has a background on artisanal book binding and book design, and is currently a tutor and book designer at 826 Boston.

Meredith Tabor is a second-year MFA candidate in Emerson's Popular Fiction Writing and Publishing program. Her focus is on speculative fiction and romance; however, Meredith refuses to commit to a single genre, preferring to push her creative boundaries and discover everything fiction writing has to offer. No matter the genre, she's drawn to character-driven stories and believes reading and writing are spaces for exploration and self-discovery. When not writing, Meredith can be found traveling to new cities, playing in every sports league imaginable, and talking to anyone who will listen about her favorite books. With aspirations to be a Creative Writing professor, she is excited to bring her love for both teaching and writing to her EmersonWRITES classes and hopes to help her students find their voices and their confidence through their writing.

Katya Zinn is a California-born, Boston-based writer and educator. She is a current MFA candidate at Emerson College, and the author of two poetry collections: the chapbook Human Verses (Finishing Line Press '21) and Manic-depressive Pixie Dream Girl (Game Over Books '22). You can find Katya online at @zinnvisibleink, or by performing a simple conjuring spell at the next full moon.
 

Mary Kovaleski Byrnes is the co-founder and Curriculum Director for EmersonWRITES and a senior lecturer in the Writing, Literature & Publishing Department. Her debut collection of poetry, "So Long the Sky" was published in 2018 by Platypus Press. She is a recipient of the 2015 Alumni Award for Teaching Innovation.

Alayne Fiore oversees the College Pathway Programs as Executive Director of HIVE in the Division of Community, Culture, & Belonging . She has been part of EmersonWRITES since 2016 through the EmersonPUBLISHES workshop and the editing and design of the annual EmersonWRITES anthology SPINE (Student Produced Interconnected Narratives at Emerson). Alayne has a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and Certificate in Literary Publishing. Her work has appeared in Gravel Magazine and ROAR, and published by Haunted Waters Press.

Christopher Grant is Co-founder of EmersonWRITES alongside Mary K. Byrnes and he supported the development of EmersonTHEATER at Emerson College alongside Bethany Nelson. Chris also designs and leads the Circle of Creative Scholars Program as well as resources for First-Generation students. Chris’s leadership informs the strategic direction of college access programming at HIVE.
 

Crystal M. Gómez coordinates the College Pathway Programs as Program Manager for HIVE in the Division of Community, Culture, & Belonging . Her role includes support and coordination of the college pathway programs. Crystal helps with recruitment, student engagement, professional development for EmersonWRITES Ambassadors, and lunch programming. Crystal has a MFA in Creative Writing (poetry) from Emerson College.