Founder & Director

Diamond Gizelle Braxton

Diamond Braxton "MANTÉ" (they/she) is a queer, mixed-race Black and Mexican American writer, editor, and educator based in Texas. She has work published or forthcoming in Southern Humanities Review, Autostraddle, Best Microfiction 2023, Sundress Publication's Best of the Net anthology, The Forge, Foglifter, and others. They are a Lambda Literary and Tin House workshop Alum and attended Hedgebrook in 2025 where she was named the 2025 Fellow for The Carol Shields Prize Foundation Residency. In 2026, she was named the Residency Fellow for Black and/or Indigenous writers from SAFTA. They hold an MFA in Fiction Creative Writing from Texas State University. She is the Founder and Director of Abode Press, a 501(c)3 nonprofit publishing press based in the American South dedicated to uplifting underrepresented voices. She is currently working on a novel and a collection of genre-bending Texan stories. Learn more at www.diamondgizellebraxton.com.

Senior Prose Acquisitions

Addie Tsai

​Addie Tsai (any/all) is a queer nonbinary artist and writer of color who teaches creative writing at William & Mary. They also teach in Goddard College's MFA Program in Interdisciplinary Arts and Regis University’s Mile High MFA Program in Creative Writing. Addie collaborated with Dominic Walsh Dance Theater on Victor Frankenstein and Camille Claudel, among others. They earned an MFA from Warren Wilson College and a Ph.D. in Dance from Texas Woman’s University. Addie is the author of Dear Twin and Unwieldy Creatures. She is the Fiction co-Editor and Editor of Features & Reviews at Anomaly, contributing writer at Spectrum South, and Founding Editor in Chief at the LGBTQIA+ fashion literary and arts magazine just femme & dandy.

Senior Hybrid Acquisitions

Mike Zendejas

​Michael Zendejas (he/him) received a Fiction MFA at UMass Amherst. He runs the film blog, The Chicano Film Shelf, and was an inaugural recipient of the Rose Fellowship, a Juniper Fellow, a 2022 winner of the James W. Foley Memorial Prize and was in the inaugural cohort of the Emerging Writers Fellowship. He consults and teaches classes on Fiction, Poetry and Screenwriting via GrubStreet. His work is featured or forthcoming in: Stanchion, North American Review, Unstamatic, Five2One Magazine and elsewhere. He's currently working on a novel!

Senior Poetry Acquistions

Isaac Salazar

Isaac Salazar is an Austin-born and Houston-based poet. A winner of the 2025 Michelle Boisseau Poetry Prize, his work has been recognized by the Western Literature Association and Brooklyn Poets. His poems have also been published in AGNI, Asterales, Bear Review, Hayden's Ferry, Honey Literary, and Tinderbox Poetry Journal, among others. He is a graduate student at Rice University. 

Social Media Manager

Beck Guerra Carter

Beck Guerra Carter (they/she) is a butch poet from Austin, Texas. They hold an MFA in Poetry from Texas State University. You can find Beck's work in Lavender Review, the lickety~split, Sinister Wisdom, FEED, Defunkt Magazine, and elsewhere.

Graphic Designer

Mikayla Meachem

Mikayla Meachem is a graphic designer at Abode Press, where she combines her background in Peace & Justice and Women & Gender Studies along with her passion for advocacy, communication, and design. She is driven by the belief that thoughtful design can amplify marginalized voices and spark meaningful change. Beyond her creative work, Mikayla is a reproductive rights advocate and an avid reader whose love of books and research strengthens her commitment to storytelling, connection, and social justice.

Events Manager

Em Fullenwider

Em Fullenwider(she/they) is a queer writer/poet born and raised in Texas who received an MFA in poetry from Texas State University. They are currently working on a full length poetry collection and value building and maintaining community in Texas. You can catch them making coffee and crafts or listening to good tunes in their free time.

Administrative Assistant 

Divine Byrd

Divine Byrd is a queer, Black writer and attorney living in Austin, Texas with her two daughters. She writes primarily Young Adult novels focused on exploring Black ancestral history and culture. 

Managing Editor & Prose Editorial Assistant

Marilyn Ramírez 

Marilyn Ramírez is a writer and poeta based in California. She has works published in Epiphany Lit, The Plentitudes, ¡Pa'lante!, The Poetry Lab, and elsewhere. She has been awarded the Epiphany Literary Journal Breakout! Writers Prize, the UC Davis Dean’s Graduate Award, the Literary Women of Long Beach Harriet Williams Writer Prize, and was a finalist for the This Is Poetry prize. Marilyn was the Fiction Editor for The Plentitudes, an Editorial Intern for Huizache Magazine, and is currently the Managing Editor for Abode Press. She is an alum of the Tin House Summer Workshop. Marilyn is currently working on her first collection of short stories where she obsesses over crossings, hauntings, and cenotes. Originally from Pico Rivera, she was raised by Mexican parents and three older siblings, and (un)fortunately carries traits of youngest child syndrome. She holds a BA in Rhetoric & Composition, a BA in Creative Writing, and an MFA in Creative Writing. In past lives, she has worked as a photographer, writing center instructor, yoga teacher, archivist, proposal manager, and data entry supervisor. She is a proud tía.

Grants and Development Manager

Stuti Sharma

Stuti Sharma is a poet, novelist, music journalist, stand up comic, and line cook born in Nairobi, Kenya and raised in Chicago and the south suburbs. They were an inaugural Tin House Workshop 2023-2024 Reading Fellow. They have work in Hanif Abdurraqib's 68to05.com, Chicago Reader, Sixty Inches from Center, Belt Magazine, Hooligan Magazine, Autostraddle, Commonplace Podcast, and Lupita Nyong'o's podcast with Snap Judgement. She is a collective member at Chicago-based queer and trans printmaking org, Marimacha Monarca Press, which was recipient of the 3Arts and Andy Warhol Fund. She has worked with funding artists through the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events as well as curating the Poetry Foundation's poetry corner in the Chicago Reader.  She currently works at the Chicago Public Library and owns an oyster-shucking business called Oysterwallah. She is very excited to be part of the Abode Press team. Stuit is currently going back to school at the University of Illinois-Chicago to finish their bachelor's degree and manuscript. She also produces a bimonthly stand up comedy show in Chicago called Blue Collar Comedy, where she only books comedians from the working class. You can also find her writing at her substack, Kitchen Confit-dential, where she writes about life as a line cook and shares recipes. 

Managing Editor & Proofreader

Chase Martin

Chase Martin is a native Houstonian with a BA in Creative Writing and a passion for stories. He works as a technical writer in the medical field and has published several nonfiction articles, a fictional piece, and an audio drama.

Publicity Manager

Angela Heiser

Angela Heiser lives near Raleigh. Her work appears or is forthcoming in Full House, County Lines, Carmalarky, Arcana Poetry Press, Spark to Flame, Carolina Muse, and The Poetry Lighthouse. In her limited free time not dedicated to herding her young children, she is the Vice President of Communications for the North Carolina Poetry Society and passionately pursuing meaningful ways to involve more young poets in the organization. She is an alum of Writers in Paradise and reads for Wildscape. She is writing a book of docupoems on American women in aerospace. Find her on Instagram @angelacheiser

Programs Manager

Ravneet Sandhu

Ravneet Kaur Sandhu currently lives outside of Philadelphia with her husband. Her work has been published in The Offing, Gordon Square Review and Chainmail Poetry. Find her on Instagram at Ravneet_recommend.