Author Archives: Vallerie Matos

Bio & Contribution

Vallerie Matos received a BS in Speech Pathology & Audiology from NYU, an MA in English Literature from Hunter College, and is currently a PhD student in the English department at the Graduate Center. Her research and scholarly interests are in Black and Latinx literature, Digital Humanities, and Sound Studies.

Vallerie has 5-6 years of experience as Program Director for arts & social justice-based youth programming in both Bushwick, Brooklyn, and Inwood, Manhattan. She has managed teams that consisted of 15-20 staff members and programs with 90+ participants. Vallerie and her team were responsible for program design, curriculum development, community collaborations, outreach/retention, and overall programmatic implementation and execution.

Vallerie is a Research & Outreach Co-Coordinator on the Covid Student Archive project. As a Co-Researcher, she will be responsible for helping to develop the narrative structures and tools of the archive. She will also provide overall research support during the length of project planning and execution. As an Outreach Co-coordinator, Vallerie will build and sustain relationships with school administration, parents, and students. She will also be responsible for collecting and organizing archival materials. Because Vallerie is looking to learn new skills with audio/video software, she will be shadowing and assisting Maggie Delgado with any sound projects.

Skillset – Vallerie

Hi everyone!

I have a BS in Speech Pathology & Audiology, an MA in English Literature, and I am currently a PhD student in the English department. I have 5-6 years of experience as Program Director for arts & social justice based youth programming. I have managed a teams that consisted of 15-20 staff members and programs with 90+ participants. I had to plan a year’s worth of programming at a time as well as adjust and pivot when necessary. We had many stakeholders to consider and did all of our own outreach.

Project Management/Outreach: This is probably where I have the most experience (as per my Program Director days). I am good at planning, developing, and  managing systems. I am happy to contribute to a project in this way.

Research: I am also just as comfortable with research because of my background in the academy. Though my focus has primarily in literature, I am confidant my abilities will transfer to what is necessary.

Design/UX/Developer: I am least confident in these positions. I don’t have any real coding or tech skills. BUT I am very interested in anything sound/audio related and would love to learn and contribute a sound portion to any one of the projects. I am committed to learning any basic audio software that would be useful. I am also happy to think through design/ux ideas.