Tina Fakhrid-Deen is an award-winning professor, playwright, author, and LGBTQ family activist. She is a Distinguished Professor at Oakton College where she teaches writing and literature. Her Jeff-recommended play, Dandelions, premiered through MPAACT at the Greenhouse Theater in spring 2023. Tina’s 2023 Jeff-awarded play, Pulled Punches, premiered through MPAACT in 2022 at the Greenhouse Theater. She is a 2024 Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Fellow, 2024 Studios of Key West Fellow, 2020 MacDowell Fellow, 2018 Kimbilio Fellow, and VONA Fellow in Fiction and Playwriting (2011, 2017). Her website is shespeaksrivers.com.