Our Team
Our Board of Directors:
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Jenniffer Charles - President
Zulay Tomayo - Treasurer
Anita Aurora - Secretary
Our creative team:
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is circle of dreamers, cultural workers, technologists, philosophers, and listeners who believe in the power of the people. We honor curiosity and innovation.We celebrate collaboration. And we trust that when we gather with care, something sacred happens. We are united in our commitment to human connection—and to the magic that happens when disciplines intertwine. ~ SYNERGY ~
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We stand in the radical potential of poetry and community-driven celebration.
We build spaces where people feel seen, held, and inspired.
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JCPOFEST is shaped by the understanding that lasting impact grows from the collective.
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We are a 501-C3 Non-Profit Organization devoted to Year Round programming and an Annual Festival Weekend.
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MeLida Rodas
Founder / Creative Director Executive Producer / Interdisciplinary Curator
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In collaboration with Disney and Pixar, Melida Rodas is contributing to the development of the musical theater pilot for Monsters, Inc. Jr., helping bring the beloved story to the stage for young performers while advancing the power of storytelling, imagination, and wonder as transformative tools for learning and creative expression.
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Melida serves as the Poet Laureate of Jersey City (2025–2026) and is the Founder and Executive Director of The Jersey City Poetry Festival (JCPOFEST), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization established in 2024. Under her leadership, JCPOFEST has developed a year-round model of public programming and an annual multidisciplinary festival that advances civic engagement, climate justice, innovation, and equitable access to the literary arts. She oversees strategic planning, partnership development, grant management, artist contracting, budget administration, and community engagement initiatives, ensuring artistic excellence and fiscal responsibility.
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An award-winning educator with over 20 years of experience, Rodas has dedicated her career to youth empowerment through literacy, memoir writing, and culturally responsive teaching. A first-generation Guatemalan immigrant, her writing on the immigrant experience and the American working class has been recognized by SaveEllisIsland.org and published by Oxford University Press, The Feminist Press, Pearson Press, and other national platforms.
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She has served on the Jersey City Arts Trust Fund Committee, is a current board member of the Jersey City Public Library Foundation, a Trustee at The Museum of Jersey City History, a team member of the international Color and Light Festival in partnership with Luma Festival, and a group leader at The New York City Poetry Festival, reflecting her continued leadership internationally and within Jersey City’s cultural landscape.
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I. Buenaventura, a.k.a Patrick
Producer
Panelist Curator
Zine / Editor​
I. Buenaventura (a.k.a Patrick) is a New Jersey-based poet. They hold an MFA in Design & Technology from Parsons School of Design. They have a background in art, literature, filmmaking, and the web, and have worked in various roles in marketing, communications, and information technology.
Patrick has practiced both self-defense and martial arts for three decades. They self-published a book on self-defense for women called “Your Body is Your Weapon: The Little Self-Defense Handbook,” which they illustrated and wrote in free verse poetry. The book was awarded an Honorable Mention in the Inspirational / Self-Help Category of the 31st Annual Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Awards.
Additionally, they have been published in Slant’d Magazine and By the WAYE, and have been a featured reader at events in New Jersey and New York, including the Paterson Poetry Festival and the NYC Poetry Festival.
An activist for LGBTQ+ rights, Patrick fought for marriage equality in New Jersey in 2013. He began transitioning full-time in 2022 and identifies as transmasculine and non-binary. He has been documenting his transition in a series of poems, and much of this work serves as a form of activism in support of the trans community.
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