BIO

Maseray Nyaleema found her expanded identity while studying abroad in Sierra Leone, West Africa. Born and known to many poetry fans as Quaniqua “Khemistry” Williams, Maseray traveled to Sierra Leone for a cultural reconnection and a study-abroad adventure. She became immersed in local expressions. She attended live band performances, played African Drums, and met with visual artists who write poetry and poets who carve and sculpt. She interviewed the Associate Director of Culture, Ishmeal Kamara, and had a focused conversation with writer and historian Joseph Kaifala. Additionally, she interviewed spoken word artist Anita King.

Arriving in Freetown as Quaniqua, her bonding with the culture was so incredibly transformative and utterly mesmerizing that she was honored with having a name selected on her behalf. A traditional naming ceremony made her transmutation into Maseray Nyaleema official. The name holds the gentle love she found among people who felt like home. Maseray Nyaleema means beautiful and valued one after my heart. The Sierra Leone experience initiated Maseray into a new level of self-awareness, self-expression, and self-sufficiency, sealing the deal on her establishment of poetry, community, and youth development as her life’s work and business.

Upon her return, Maseray shared her experience with fellow students at Evergreen State College with a slide presentation. The adventure was a capstone to Maseray’s service as Writer in Residence for North Sound ACH in Bellingham, Washington. During the one-year residency, she wrote poetry distributed within North Sound’s network of diverse community partners. She conducted a series of poetry and craft workshops that helped strengthen community through artistic study and collaboration. Additionally, she created 4-hour and 4-week curricula that capture the information, style, and technique of her presentations during the residency. North Sound is now equipped with an additional tool to advance its mission of promoting cross-cultural understanding through its network and larger community.

Maseray produced a documentary film and visual poem in partnership with award-winning filmmaker, musician, and humanist, Remy Styrk. The production is entitled Fascia. The film depicts the vital role that poetry has played in her life. Maseray’s poetry has been a companion, connector, and friend-in-need since middle school, helping her navigate complex emotions and feel liberated. The palpable sense of liberation she evokes resonates with those who read and hear her work. Maseray’s poetry has been featured in the Langley Film Festival, in UK poetry groups, and in KIZA BlackLit magazine. From 2021 to 2024, she received funding from the Inatai Foundation to facilitate writing workshops and open mics in her community.

Sharing the special powers of poetry with her communities is as important to Maseray as the poetry itself. Her writing workshops create spaces where writers from diverse intersections share their writing, get to know each other better, and bridge the gap between elite and beginning writers. 

Maseray carries her love for building cohesive, vibrant, and inclusive communities into her work as a cultural steward. She supports organizations and companies to enhance productivity while minimizing the stress of corporate engagement. She guides participants toward mutual respect, appreciation of differences, and shared belonging. Maseray’s cultural stewardship presentations demonstrate her abilities as a speaker who connects deeply with audiences, helping them move easily through blockages to promote a healthy organizational climate.

Maseray is a poet in action, demonstrating through her life and work that poetry and community are one. 

She will complete her studies at Evergreen State College in May 2025, earning a degree in Sociology with a focus on Cultural Studies.