Madeleine Gravely is a May 2022 graduate of the University of Virginia located in Charlottesville, Virginia. During her time as an undergraduate, she studied African-American and African Studies, and Anthropology.

She worked for the Carter G. Woodson Institute at UVA as a Student Researcher, assisting a department member in gathering information on medical racism and the far-reaching impacts of the American carceral system, massively and disproportionately on people of color.

She has given seminars on diversity and inclusion through her work with the International Rescue Committee and contributed to manual publications to assist resettled refugee families in the U.S. to create and upkeep individual plots within community gardens. Her work is underlined with a strong emphasis on community and mutual aid.

The process of language acquisition also lies at the heart of her work: After an impassioned first trip to Germany in high school⁠—supplemented by coursework⁠—she spent time living in Munich while cultivating fluency in the language.

Mental health is a core topic of much of her writing. After being diagnosed with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) at the age of 12, her writing shifted toward topics of disorder, recovery, and self-compassion in the face of suffering. She hopes that her writing resonates with others who have dealt with mental health struggles of their own and encourages personal narrative empowerment.

Madeleine now works as a front-end web developer, planning to design a highly resourceful app within the next two years. She also runs a small-batch crochet brand that she created the summer after graduation from university, making an assortment of striped bucket hats and other articles of clothing.

She hopes that everyone can learn to be less afraid of computers and rather learn to embrace the incredible complexity of all things digital (and non-digital) in our world today. To bridge the gap between mediums, affirming our timeless individual and collective creativity.