When she is not writing poetry, buying Kazakh jewelry, or making her breakfast bagel, Aliya Nupbay serves as a Dear Asian Youth Current Events Writer. She is currently a senior at the University of California, Berkeley studying English literature and minoring in History. Her primary focus in her academic research and poetry is enlightening Central Asian history and its liberation. Away from her laptop, you can find Aliya watching cute cats on TikTok, making different secret coffee recipes as a barista, and adding thrifted books to her everlasting ‘to be read’ collection.