Program Manager, Mentor

Marshall D. Goss Jr. Was born on September 24th, 1976, in Portland, Oregon. Both of his parents teenagers at his birth, had such an ear for music that he couldn’t help but be inspired by the jazz, funk and hip-hop circulating through the house during his adolescent years. Over time, Marshall’s love for music and the arts grew. While his father, a man of many interest and talents, drifted in and out of Marshall’s life, poetry and music became the survival outlet for him to deal with the absence of his father.

With writing as a crutch, Marshall was able to combat the stresses of a single parent, low income household and began to express his frustrations, anger, ideas, joys, pains and curiosities through the set. Finding identity and safety through writing, Marshall also found that writing was therapeutic for his soul.