Mayda Del Valle

Mayda Del Valle is an American slam poet. She is the poet laureate of Chicago.

Biography She was raised in Chicago's South Side, the daughter of Puerto Rican parents, Carmen, a homemaker, and Alejandro, a forklift operator.

Del Valle graduated from Williams College. She first performed slam poetry at New York's Nuyorican Poet's Café. She later won the 2001 Nuyorican Grand Slam Champion and the 2001 National Slam Poet individual title. She worked on Def Poetry Jam for four seasons as writer and was a cast member in Russell Simmons' Def Poetry Jam on Broadway. and Latina magazine.

Oprah Winfrey's O, The Oprah Magazine magazine selected Del Valle as one of 20 women on the publication's first "O Power List."

In May 2009, First Lady Michelle Obama and President Barack Obama asked Del Valle to perform at the White House's Evening of Poetry, Music, and the Spoken Word.