Herrin Oum Fontenette is a senior at the School of Arts and Sciences and Douglass Residential College at Rutgers University, majoring in history with a concentration in Black studies and minoring in public policy while earning a certificate in law and history. As a historian in a Eurocentrically dominated field, she amplifies the voices of Black American freedmen and African diasporic culture, while her public policy studies focus on equity, economic restitution, and political representation. A spoken word artist and activist from Jersey City, she uses her poetry to highlight the repression of marginalized communities and inspire tangible action, centering themes of Black femininity, unity, divinity, and resistance against anti-Blackness. A dynamic leader in student advocacy, Herrin has performed at Rutgers’ Opening Convocation, the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center, and the Mark Conference. She serves on the executive boards of Verbal Mayhem Poetry Collective and Black Students for Liberation and is president of the Douglass Black Students’ Congress. Beyond the stage, she has worked as an intern for the Dr. Jewel Plummer Cobb STEAM Women’s Initiatives in the Office of Student Involvement and Leadership, acting as a liaison between the office and Rutgers women’s organizations. In this role, she facilitates programming in honor of Dr. Jewel Plummer Cobb, scientist, cancer researcher, academic, professor, and the first African American dean of Douglass Residential College (1976–1981). She has also worked as a PLEN Public Policy Intern with the NJ Division of Civil Rights, and a Riley Bold extern with the NJ Bar Association. A published researcher and Rutgers Institute for the Study of Global Racial Justice Undergraduate Fellow, Herrin contributed to a digital zine archive documenting Black student self-determination across Rutgers campuses. She is also a proud member of the Cap and Skull Senior Honor Society.