Taylor Mali

TAYLOR MALI is a poet, an educator, a four-time National Poetry Slam champion, a TED "Best of the Web" speaker, and the author of What Teachers Make: In Praise of the Greatest Job in the World and the children's book The Teachers I Loved Best. He spent nine years in the classroom and now performs and lectures for teachers around the world, helping them share a love of poetry with their students. He has performed or taught poetry in forty-two countries and in every state of the U.S. (except Wyoming!). Taylor is the former president of Poetry Slam, Inc., the nonprofit organization that oversees all poetry slams in North America. Learn more about Taylor's work at taylormali.com, and follow him on Twitter at @TaylorMali and on Instagram at @taylor_mali.

ERICA ROOT is a Philadelphia-based artist and designer. Learn more about her work at ericaroot.com, and follow her on Instagram at @illustrate_this_life.