Maria Meli earned a BS in Therapeutic Recreation at Lehman College and an MSW at Hunter College School of Social Work. She is an interdisciplinary artist who has worked extensively with intergenerational groups in both creative and therapeutic settings. Her poetry and essays have been featured in several anthologies such as The Bronx Memoir Project Vol. 1 and The Bronx Memoir Project Vol. 2, and some have been performed in diverse venues in the U.S. Meli's insights into the human psyche are informed by her work as a performance artist, painter, clinician, Yoga teacher, single parent, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and housewife.