Mae Verano is a Filipina-American poet from East Side San Jose in the Bay Area. A part of the Brown University CUPSI 2015 and 2016 team, she hopes to challenge her writing in the upcoming years to branch beyond her comfort zone of the stage. Her body is currently an ongoing project in recovering from a short-lived relationship with Metro Manila and discovering radical self love in the imagined remains of U.S. imperialism. Currently working towards her bachelor’s degrees in Public Health and Ethnic Studies at Brown University, she will pursue a Masters in Public Health and learn how to exist as a pseudo-adult in the world.