Maurisa Li-A-Ping, M.S.Ed., M.F.A

My journey began with poetry; it was one of my first languages for making sense of the world. I began writing around 12 years old, and I was slamming competitively by the time I was 15.

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My passion and commitment to poetry opened doors. It led to a fully-funded scholarship at St. John’s University, where I became curious about how identity, belonging, and community shape who students become. This curiosity inspired me to further my education in Higher Education Student Affairs at Indiana University. At IU, I explored how poetry and creative practices deepen belonging and develop critical consciousness.​

 

As I worked with educators and organizational leaders, I noticed that best practices for organizational success often overlooked creative and somatic wisdom. Organizations were tracking productivity, but had no language for how people were experiencing the work. Learning Praxis Consulting emerged from this realization. We bridge organizational data with somatic practices to build tangible cultures of care. Our retreats and workshops bring performance metrics, engagement surveys, and retention rates, in conversation with meditation, yoga, and creative writing, helping team members reconnect to their bodies and lead from a place of presence versus burnout.

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As Learning Praxis grew, I continued to deepen my creative writing practice. I was awarded a Nancy Craig Blackburn Fellowship in Randolph College's Creative Writing MFA program. At Randolph, I began to explore: What might it feel like to make more space to honor the interiority of Black Queer Women, our tenderness, our longing, our quiet, not just our strength and survival.

 

That question reshaped my creative work and led to the creation of Tulips in the Garden: A Black Queer Supper Club. We are a soft landing space for Black Queer millennials in Durham, North Carolina. We queer Sunday dinner, celebrate Black Queer joy, and engage in place-based solidarity. 

 

When I’m not writing, facilitating retreats, or stewarding community, you’ll find me taking a trail walk, painting my nails pink, or practicing yoga.