Born in California, but raised in Connecticut, Raina has found her cultural balance and home in Chicago, enjoying all the blues and greens of the "best coast" landscape.
Before moving to Chicago, Raina completed her Bachelor of Arts in English and Secondary Education from Stonehill College in Easton, MA. She enjoyed a 10 year career in teaching and received her Masters degree in Reading and Literacy. Raina discovered her talent as a performance poet while coaching high school slam poetry teams and decided to pursue her own writing. Upon leaving education, Raina received a Masters in Fine Arts in Writing from the School of the Art Institute, where she studied creative non-fiction and found her niche as a concrete poet, lyric essayist, and spoken word performer.
Contact Raina
If you'd like Raina to perform at an event, please include the location, date, time, and any other pertinent details.
If interested ordering prints from the Gallery, please identify if the images are from the Still Life, Portraits, or Landscapes collection and describe the images to the best of your ability. Please note: not all photographs are available in large format (8"x10"+).