HarlemLIVE

Jaylene is a soon to be senior at Fredrick Douglas Academy.   Besides poetry she enjoys acting, singing and writing. She intends on pursuing a career as a professional actress.   The key to a great poem she says "is making sure your feelings are creatively and uniquely expressed through your words." Jaylene hopes to continue competing and to get a book of poetry published.  

She's been writing poetry since the fifth grade, but nothing big just expressing her feelings.   She really started taking it seriously this March when a friend told her about Urban Word, nonprofit organization that teaches teens how to expand their skills in poetry.   They have workshops that help writers grow and develop and they also give criticism to those who want it.   Jaylene was obviously talented before she joined the program but she credits Urban Word with making her better.   "I received so much inspiration from my mentors and fellow poets at Urban Word that it made me want to come harder with what I had to say,," Jaylene confesses.

Poetry is a means of expression for Jaylene.   She loves to write but the feeling she gets from writing a poem is so much greater.   She usually writes when she is feeling a certain way, whether it be joy, fear, or even hatred. If she feels passionately about something she will write about it.  

Before the HarlemLIVE Poetry Slam Series she competed to be on Urban Word's Slam Team.   She was one of the six finalists to make the team They flew out to San Francisco, California to be part of the 8 th Annual, Brave New Voices Poetry Festival where they won first place for the first time for New York City in that competition. They beat out poets from all over the country and one team from Europe.   What a experience for your first competition .

"A lot of people think poetry is boring and when they hear someone's going to read poetry they sigh, but they don't know poetry can actually relate to their lives."   Jaylene feels that she is definitely here to break that myth.   With a program like Urban Word their will definitely be more talent out there to help her cause.

Jaylene is now ready for anything.   She wants to do more open mics and more spoken word. "I can see myself publishing a lot of my poems." She wants to reach out to people with her poetry and hopefully she can inspire them.