Meres-Sia Gabriel is the writer and producer of the one-woman show about growing up in the Black Panther Party entitled “I Was There Too!"  She is the bestselling author of I Twirl in the Smoke and a co-author of the KQED watch guide for the BE-IMAGINATIVE emmy-nominated film When the Waters Get Deep. Poet, performer, playwright, lyricist, and educator, her work deals with helping marginalized groups center themselves through artistic expression and personal narrative.

She has collaborated as a poet and performer with de Young Museum of San Francisco, Legion of Honor Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and Oakland Museum of California where her poetry is featured in the permanent installation “Black Power in California.” In 2024, Meres-Sia launched a series of interactive community events honoring the perspectives of adults who grew up in the Black Panther Party.  “Year of the Panther Cub: We Were There Too!” panel discussion and her one-woman show “I Was There Too!” act as catalysts for intergenerational conversations around self-care in activism and caring for children in revolutionary movements.

In addition to her artist practice, Meres-Sia is a former high school teacher of 20 years, an adjunct French instructor,  a teacher consultant for the Bay Area Writing Project at UC Berkeley, and the founder of her own creative writing program, Life-Changing Writing.  When she is not teaching, writing and performing, she is dreaming, and enjoying being the mother of two adult children. Meres-Sia currently resides in the Bay Area, California.