Artist Spotlight: Yenia Jimenez

Starting her career in poetry through the discovery of fellow poets on Instagram, Yenia Jimenez is now a self-published poet and teaching artist at Bay Area Creative. Yenia grew up in San Francisco where she writes about her experience as a woman of color in an effort to connect with other women of color or anyone who’s walked a similar path who can relate. 

“Poetry helped me heal, it really saved my life”

Yenia has always been a writer from youth, starting with journaling as a child up until adulthood. Writing was a method of coping with her trauma in a healthy, self-reflective way. She grew up in the projects of San Francisco, describing how “there was no happiness in my neighborhood, there wasn't, like, parks you can go to safely.” Poetry became a way for her to cope with her surroundings, to escape the sadness and fear she felt in the real world. Yenia’s first introduction to poetry was through her first grade teacher’s love for the art form and her readings of Shel Silverstein’s poetry to her class. After this interaction, she began writing throughout childhood into adulthood. Around 2012, she began researching self-publishing her poetry and prose through seeing other writers on Instagram. Through her research, she was able to publish her poetry independently. 

Yenia’s transition into teaching poetry was seamless, Yenia expressing “I need to learn how to teach this,” as she understood just how much poetry did for her. She wanted others to use poetry as a way to cope with their trauma, issues, and emotions which motivated her to start teaching free workshops over Zoom. Through this experience, she met her mentor, poet Tony Robles, who taught her how to facilitate. From there she began to meet more people in the Bay Area art community leading her to work at Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts in San Francisco. 

“When I teach poetry at different organizations it doesn't look the same everywhere”

Yenia works as a teaching artist with multiple organizations where she acknowledges how teaching methods need to change depending on a variety of factors. At SFJAZZ she teaches students not just about poetry but its connection to jazz and African history. Meanwhile, there are other schools where she’ll focus more on writing about nature, personal struggles, or just day-to-day life. This ability to adapt is one of the ways Yenia is such a great teaching artist. She understands that not every school is the same, that there will always be some small or large shifts to make in her lesson plans. Whether it be in an effort to teach the history of jazz or poetry, Yenia’s greatest desire is to let her students know that poetry can be a way to process and release emotions that they are holding inside. Poetry changed her life in such a positive way that she recognizes how it can do the same for others, especially the youth.

“The most important thing is for kids to have an outlet to be able to release.”

Not only is poetry a method of processing, but Yenia describes how useful it is for language learners in their journey of learning English. As an Afro-Latinx woman, she teaches many Spanish speakers where instead of discouraging their use of Spanish, she encourages them to use both Spanish and English in their poetry. With her students, she helps translate their poetry into English so that they have the poem in both languages. In Yenia’s hands, poetry becomes a multi-purpose tool that she uses to help her students and teach them to help themselves.

Yenia’s own poetry is often political; she emphasizes the importance of political poetry in a time where political poetry is not often in the spotlight. She states “there's enough people writing poems about flowers” and while she doesn’t discourage these poems, she understands the importance of creating and sharing political art. There have been many people that have tried to censor her poetry but that’s never stopped Yenia from continuing to write not just about her own life but the lives of others. Many value and respect her persistence in writing political poetry even in a time where it is not as profitable nor digestible for the public. Even if she is not writing about pretty subjects or flowery topics, she is writing about what really matters. 

One of Yenia’s biggest motivations is her son; inspiring her to find ways to turn her art into a career and become the renowned poet she is today. She continues to teach, write, and perform all throughout the Bay Area. Her poetry moves her audience while her lessons move her students. She continues to write both for herself and others, sharing her passion for poetry in an effort to hopefully save lives.