Tina Em (she/her), born in poverty, raised in a bi-racial family, serves others through her professional life as an engineer and innovator in federal public health workforce, and in her personal life as a volunteer, tutor, and writer.  Her first published poem, A Time to Rest, commemorated the bicentennial of Harriet Tubman in The Ekphrastic Review in 2022. Her recent work will appear in the 2023 Maryland Bards Poetry Anthology. Tina was awarded Honorable Mention for flash nonfiction essay in the Bethesda Local Artist Showcase in 2023. Tina co-led the Bethesda Poetry Group sponsored by The Writer’s Center, where she has been an active member since 2019. Tina is currently writing a poetry manuscript and a novel. She lives with her family in Rockville, MD.