Dania Ayah Alkhouli was born on February 23, 1989 in Santa Monica, California. She lived there for six years, until her family moved to Huntington Beach. Education was always an emphasized priority in her family, and it became something Dania truly enjoyed. English immediately stood out to her as a favored subject, one in which she truly excelled. Essays and papers were always assignments she looked forward to.

 

Dania began experimenting with poetry and creative writing when she searched for a means of emotional expression in her freshman year of high school. Her first poem came after experiencing the first crushing of a crush. The words flowed straight from her heart to her paper—and poetry soon became her outlet. With this new talent growing, Dania began submitting her new poetry to contests and her teachers in school. Three of her poems won various contests and received recognition in two of her English classes.

 

Soon after her sophomore year, Dania began looking into early high school graduation to get a head start on her future goals. At 15 she received her GED and completed community college in one year. She contemplated the study of Literature or Creative Writing, but her focus soon shifted into Sociology and Child Development/Family Studies (CDFS). Dania graduated at 19 with a B.A. from California State University, Long Beach (CSULB), in Sociology and a Minor in CDFS. Although her area of study was not directly related to writing, she gave her writing just as much attention as her schoolwork and planned to one day publish a collection of her poetry, as well as an autobiography—which she is currently working on.

 

Soon after graduation, Dania began volunteering full time at a social services agency in Anaheim, called Access California Services. There she was exposed to many new experiences and ideas, bringing her back to CSULB for a Master’s Degree in Public Policy and Administration. She hopes to get into Administrative and Management consulting after graduation. Throughout her time at Access California Services Dania was able network and expose herself to numerous groups. She even coordinated the agency’s annual fundraising dinner.

 

Following the fundraiser, Dania decided to focus all her time on her studies and publishing her first poetry book. She complied 91 of her best written poetry into the soon to be published book, 91 at 19.

 

Along with her studies, and first book, Dania continues to work on her autobiography and plans to keep writing, as a part of her daily life—parallel to her future career of administrative management in the public/nonprofit sector.