Aileen Cassinetto

Born and raised in Manila, Philippines, Aileen Cassinetto is an Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow and served as the Poet Laureate of San Mateo County, California from January 2019 to June 2022. The founder of Paloma Press and author of two poetry collections, her work has appeared in POETRY and Fellowship Magazine, and in exhibitions including Public Art at Belameda Park, The TRANSCENDIENTS Exhibitions at the Japanese American National Museum, Chromatext Rebooted at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, and the Hay(na)ku Permanent Exhibition at the San Francisco Filipino American Center, among others. She also produced the short ecopoetry films, “Breathe” (an official selection in the Nature & Culture Poetry Film Festival in Copenhagen) and “decompose” (in collaboration with the Documentary Film Institute). She received a Special Congressional Recognition and was appointed Commissioner on the San Mateo County Commission on the Status of Women in 2021.