Natasha Kochicheril Moni received her bachelor's degree in Child Development from Tufts University. While at Tufts, she had
the honor of interning at the NICHHD-funded Center for Reading and Language Research, under the direction of Dr. Maryanne
Wolf. Once in Washington State, Natasha cultivated her passion for working with at-risk youth, acting as an on-site supervisor, program manager, and later transitioning to a small private school where she expanded an extended day program. Through this process, she found she had a skill for taking small programs, non-profits with threatened resources/funding
to a place of solvency.
Three months into acting as an editorial assistant for a small Seattle-based journal, Natasha was offered the chance of taking it on
as the sole owner, publisher, main editor, or to let it go under before its 25th birthday. Knowing virtually nothing about that side
of publishing, she couldn't resist the challenge. While she worked multiple jobs and was in the process of starting her own massage
business, Natasha cobbled together and lead a volunteer editorial and graphic design staff until she headed to the Bay
in 2008. That journal is now beyond its 30th year and is thriving under new leadership.
Once in Oakland, she decided to pursue her other first love, medicine. With a background in massage and craniosacral therapy,
she initially considered traditional osteopathic medicine, but ultimately decided that naturopathic medicine was the best fit.
Natasha completed the post-baccalaureate pre-medical program at Mills College and is within her fourth year at Bastyr University.
While she worked in the health and child development fields, she continued to write. Natasha had the opportunity to study
poetry briefly with Deborah Digges at Tufts, to stumble into a few months of work at Copper Canyon Press where the highlight
was meeting poets, Sam Hamill and W. S. Merwin, and to create and host a spoken word venue at a Port Townsend cafe
(created as a safe place for youth). She has also enjoyed sitting on panels at Centrum during the Writers' Conference as well as
helping to select literary art recipients for Artist Trust's GAP grants. In the Bay, she transcribed original audio of Alan Watts
for the Alan Watts Mountain Center and interned at Small Press Distribution Books, where she returns annually to get lost in the
hundreds of rows of excellent poetry collections.
Overall, she feels very fortunate for her many varied experiences and teachers, formal or not. She looks forward to fostering
what feels like her first language, medicine, alongside her writing.
the honor of interning at the NICHHD-funded Center for Reading and Language Research, under the direction of Dr. Maryanne
Wolf. Once in Washington State, Natasha cultivated her passion for working with at-risk youth, acting as an on-site supervisor, program manager, and later transitioning to a small private school where she expanded an extended day program. Through this process, she found she had a skill for taking small programs, non-profits with threatened resources/funding
to a place of solvency.
Three months into acting as an editorial assistant for a small Seattle-based journal, Natasha was offered the chance of taking it on
as the sole owner, publisher, main editor, or to let it go under before its 25th birthday. Knowing virtually nothing about that side
of publishing, she couldn't resist the challenge. While she worked multiple jobs and was in the process of starting her own massage
business, Natasha cobbled together and lead a volunteer editorial and graphic design staff until she headed to the Bay
in 2008. That journal is now beyond its 30th year and is thriving under new leadership.
Once in Oakland, she decided to pursue her other first love, medicine. With a background in massage and craniosacral therapy,
she initially considered traditional osteopathic medicine, but ultimately decided that naturopathic medicine was the best fit.
Natasha completed the post-baccalaureate pre-medical program at Mills College and is within her fourth year at Bastyr University.
While she worked in the health and child development fields, she continued to write. Natasha had the opportunity to study
poetry briefly with Deborah Digges at Tufts, to stumble into a few months of work at Copper Canyon Press where the highlight
was meeting poets, Sam Hamill and W. S. Merwin, and to create and host a spoken word venue at a Port Townsend cafe
(created as a safe place for youth). She has also enjoyed sitting on panels at Centrum during the Writers' Conference as well as
helping to select literary art recipients for Artist Trust's GAP grants. In the Bay, she transcribed original audio of Alan Watts
for the Alan Watts Mountain Center and interned at Small Press Distribution Books, where she returns annually to get lost in the
hundreds of rows of excellent poetry collections.
Overall, she feels very fortunate for her many varied experiences and teachers, formal or not. She looks forward to fostering
what feels like her first language, medicine, alongside her writing.
