Angelica Flores Decided to Pursue Writing While at DU. Today, She Works for Chicago’s Poetry Foundation

Angelica Flores ’17 entered Dominican University as a psychology major with a dream of also stepping into the world of live theater.

But a childhood passion for writing ultimately steered her in another direction.

Today, Flores, who served as an editor of DU’s literary magazine, works for the Chicago-based Poetry Foundation while also crafting her own poetry on the side.

Flores joined the Poetry Foundation five years ago, holding roles of Poetry Magazine ambassador and as a receptionist and fiscal assistant before being named an education programs assistant in March 2022.

“I’m really loving my role at the Poetry Foundation because I get to work with different students, teachers and schools,” Flores explained.

This work has included providing administrative support for schools and students participating in Poetry Out Loud, a national poetry recitation competition for high school students. Flores also worked with colleagues to organize the Poetry Foundation’s Summer Poetry Teachers Institute, which included panels, performances and discussions of poetry-related events of interest to teachers.

Flores was in third grade when she discovered a knack for writing poems and published her first poem in an anthology for students created by the Chicago Poetry Center.

Finding solace in writing, Flores began filling journals after entering Dominican and realized during her sophomore year that psychology was not her first passion. She changed her major to English, joined Dominican’s Honors Program and jumped into creative writing, producing her first collection of poems for her distinction project. These poems centered around Flores’ identity as a Mexican-American woman, family relationships, travel experiences and mental health.

Flores also served as assistant poetry editor of the university’s literary magazine, Stella Veritatis, and as president of the Creative Writing Club.

“I think I got a really good introduction to the poetry world,” Flores said of her time at Dominican. “When it came to writing, I also got a lot of guidance, especially for the draft of my first poetry collection.”

After graduation, Flores created the Southwest Nest/El Nido Suroeste, a series of bilingual interviews with artists from Southwest Side Chicago neighborhoods for the website Sixty Inches from Center. She also wrote freelance book reviews for Newcity, a Chicago publication and has since received a Master’s in Higher Education from UIC.

“My career goals are to continue working in programming,” Flores said. “I really enjoy it and I want to work on creating more programs for students, teachers and writers. Personally, for my creative writing, I would love to one day publish a book of poems and a novel.”