About ME

My name is Marie Varghese (they/them; she/her), and I'm a desi diasporic queer nonbinary femme. My umbilical cord was built in the Bronx (unceded land of the Lenape) and I trace my roots across homelands that stretch from New York City skylines and New Jersey suburbs, to mango trees that grow in Kerala, India. I come from a long lineage of storytellers and community organizers and my creative writing explores the contours of immigrant family life, queer (in)visibility, grief and resilience.

MY WORK and EDUCATIONAL JOURNEY:

I currently serve as the Senior Advisor for the CUNY Start program at Bronx Community College. As an educator, I have devoted over 20 years of my career to college advising across multiple institutions including the City University of New York, Columbia University, Rutgers University, and the NYC public school system. All along my professional journey, my goal has remained the same - to help students chart their educational goals and to connect them to resources that are meant to expand their deepest longings and visions for the future. This collaborative conjuring work is aimed at helping students tap into their own intuitive brilliance.

I graduated with a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and in 2018, I received the Livingston College Distinguished Alumni Award for my work as an educator and activist. I earned my M.A. in Cultural Anthropology from Columbia University and this is where I discovered my passion for teaching. I identify as a lifelong learner and scholar of the heart.

In addition to my role in CUNY Start, I have been a College Consultant for the Sadie Nash Leadership Project, an organization designed to strengthen, empower, and equip young women and gender-expansive youth of color as agents for change in their lives and in the world. My lifelong commitment to expand college access is focused on uplifting the dreams of first-generation college students.

WRITING and CREATIVE LIFE:

I wrote my first poem at the age of 10 and co-authored my first publication by the age of 22. I love a good writing workshop and I have studied the craft under the guidance of writers like Roxane Gay, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Vanessa Mártir and Bushra Rehman.

In 2012 I served as dramaturg for Organic Magnetics and helped produce “Ghosts of Manhattan,” an interactive theater experience retracing 500 years of New York City history through dance.

My poem, “Rearranging the Bones,” was published in Imaniman: Poets Writing in the Anzaldúan Borderlands (2016) in homage to Gloria Anzaldúa and her iconic work Borderlands/La Frontera. I am honored to be included in adrienne maree brown’s visionary work, Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds (2017) where I reflect upon the circuitous journey of personal transformation.