Mercedes Hesselroth is a Peruvian-American writer contributing to Washington City Paper, DC Theatre Scene, and the Washington Independent Review of Books. Since graduating from the Split This Rock Writer’s Guild, she has trained with the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center National Critics Institute and PBS Ready to Learn Writer’s Program, developed work with the ESPN 30 for 30 Podcasts Story Workshop and CUNY/Media in Color Creators Lab, and served as a Creative Futures Collective Fellow, Day Eight DC Arts Writing Fellow, and WQED Next Generation Media Makers of Tomorrow Fellow. Following her interest in environmentalism, Mercedes earned her Permaculture Design Certificate from the Shenandoah Permaculture Institute at the University of Richmond and trained at the Institute for Journalism & Natural Resources Ocean and Climate Journalism Workshop and Knight Science Journalism@MIT Fact-checking Workshop. She will write about the challenges of providing mental health services for youth in public schools for the upcoming TalkPoverty Journalism Workshop.