Staff: Joe Lozano

Joe Lozano was born in Mesquite, TX but moved to Austin when he was two years old. A first-generation US citizen, Joe is the son of hardworking, tenacious, and loving immigrant parents from Mexico whose commitment to family and the pursuit of a better life provided Joe with the support he needed to become the first person to graduate from a university. While the pressure to succeed was immense, Joe used this to motivate himself to be an inspiration to his younger siblings and others from his community to seek out new opportunities both academically and beyond. Upon graduating from UT-Austin with a degree in English and Creative Writing, Joe welcomed an adorable baby girl, Sophia, and began teaching high school English for a few years, just as the COVID pandemic began. During his time as a teacher, Joe was able to navigate teaching his students and develop their literacy while being a full-time dad. Despite his passion for educating and advising youth, Joe left teaching in 2021 to explore and develop his writing at Texas State University's MFA program in Poetry. As he continues his education (and hopefully has work published), Joe is excited to continue serving the youth in the greater Austin community and make the necessary connections to empower them and expand their horizons to reveal a whole new world of possibilities.