Melissa Lozada-Oliva  Melissa Lozada-Oliva (born September 7, 1992) is an American poet and educator based in New York. She is the author of chapbooks "Plastic Pajaros", "Rude Girl is Lonely Girl!" (Pizza Pi Press), and "Peluda" (Button Poetry). Her poem, "Like Totally Whatever" won the 2015 National Poetry Slam Championship, and went viral. Lozada-Oliva was born and raised in Newton, Massachusetts by immigrant parents; her mother is Guatemalan and her father is Colombian. She attended college at Simmons University, where she began to perform slam poetry, and graduated in 2014. After graduation, she published the chapbooks "Plastic Pajaros" in 2015 "and" "Rude Girl is Lonely Girl!" in 2016. Her performance of a poem called "Like Totally Whatever" won the 2015 National Poetry Slam Championship and received mainstream media coverage. Lozada-Oliva enrolled in New York University's MFA program for Creative Writing in fall 2017. As of spring 2019, she is also teaching a class there. She published "Peluda" through Button Poetry shortly after enrollment. In it, Lozada-Oliva "explores, interrogates and redefines the intersections of Latina identity, feminism, hair removal & what it means to belong." In December 2018, Lozada-Oliva started a podcast called "Say More" along with her best friend and fellow poet Olivia Gatwood. The pair interview each other on topics and answer questions from listeners.