Melida Rodas
Melida Rodas is founder and creative director of JCPOFEST—The Jersey City Poetry Festival, where poetry, activism, and environmental justice converge. Jersey City’s inaugural Poet (2013) and Poet Laureate (2024–2026), she creates multidisciplinary works blending poetry with projection mapping, light design, and visual storytelling. Her writing explores migration, labor, and the Latin and Caribbean diaspora, with publications by Oxford University Press, Pearson, The Feminist Press, and The Sun.An advocate for eco-literacy and climate justice, Melida’s work has been featured at NJPAC, the Color & Light Festival, Poets House, Playwright Horizons, and The New York City Poetry Festival. She has performed her original poetry with the New Jersey Symphony. Most recently, she served as producer, stage designer, and projection artist for the development of the Monsters, Inc. The Musical pilot for Disney and Pixar.
Melida Rodas is founder and creative director of JCPOFEST—The Jersey City Poetry Festival, where poetry, activism, and environmental justice converge. Jersey City’s inaugural Poet (2013) and Poet Laureate (2024–2026), she creates multidisciplinary works blending poetry with projection mapping, light design, and visual storytelling. Her writing explores migration, labor, and the Latin and Caribbean diaspora, with publications by Oxford University Press, Pearson, The Feminist Press, and The Sun.An advocate for eco-literacy and climate justice, Melida’s work has been featured at NJPAC, the Color & Light Festival, Poets House, Playwright Horizons, and The New York City Poetry Festival. She has performed her original poetry with the New Jersey Symphony. Most recently, she served as producer, stage designer, and projection artist for the development of the Monsters, Inc. The Musical pilot for Disney and Pixar.