MUSEWRITE PARTNERS
MICHELLE DUSTER
is a writer, speaker, professor, and champion of racial and gender equity. She wrote Ida B. the Queen: The Extraordinary Life and Legacy of Ida B. Wells; co-wrote the popular children’s history book, Tate and His Historic Dream; co-edited Michelle Obama’s Impact on African American Women and Girls; and edited two books that include the writings of her great-grandmother, Ida B. Wells. She has written articles for several publications including TIME, Essence, HuffPost, Teen Vogue, Washington Post, Glamour, and The North Star. Her advocacy has led to street names, monuments, historical markers, and other public history projects that highlight women and African Americans. For more details visit her website. Follow her on Twitter and IG @MichelleDuster and Facebook @MLDwrites
TRINA SOTIRA
is an Associate Professor of English/Creative Writing. She produced television news in Chicago and Rockford. A single mother of two young adults and active educator, Trina writes on a variety of social topics and has published poetry, flash fiction, creative nonfiction essays, and articles on writing. Her young adult novel In Her Skin: Growing Up Trans was a 2017 Rainbow Book List Nominee and Lambda Literary "Lammy" Nominee. She is the advisor of the college literary journal The Prairie Light Review, where her students won the American Scholastic Press Association’s First Place Magazine award several years in a row. A passionate advocate for educational equality, Dr. Sotira holds an Ed.D. in curriculum leadership. Her dissertation investigates marginalized community college students taking honors courses for the first time and exposes their experiences with tracking.