Marquita Niles is a poet, facilitator, and event organizer born and raised in Boston, with roots in Dorchester and Mattapan. She grew up in foster care, an experience that shaped how she sees art — not only as performance, but as a place to process, to hold what’s unspoken, and to find your way back to yourself. That same experience has also shaped her calling to pour back into young people, meeting them with the understanding only lived experience can offer. Writing found her early, and it grew into a lifelong practice across spoken word, theatre, and the visual and performing arts.

She proudly studied psychology in Chestnut Hill and has spent her career working with children, youth, and families — work that’s brought her through countless cafés and coffee shops along the way, each one a quiet second home for thinking, writing, and connecting.