When Camara Gaither first fell in love with poetry, she was 8 years old and—by her own admission—not the most attentive student. But a classroom lesson on sensory words and haikus captured her imagination.
“I learned that I liked putting words together on a page,” she remembers. That early curiosity laid the foundation for a life shaped by language, empathy and connection—qualities that now define her work as both a poet and a mental health therapist.
Gaither, who earned a master’s degree in social work from the Uni-versity of Central Florida in 2023, was named the city of Orlando’s new Poet Laureate in 2025.
A two-time Spoken Word Champion at FusionFest and recipient of the 2024 Community Impact Grant and the 2025 Individual Artist Award from United Arts of Central Florida, she has represented Orlando in national poetry slam competitions and multidisciplinary fellowships.
But her creative breakthrough came during undergraduate days at the University of Tampa, where she discovered the power of spoken-word performance. “I felt like I was seeing poetry beyond the page—using the body to communicate a truth inside,” she says.
Although she isn’t originally from Orlando, Gaither quickly connected with the city’s global character and diverse communities. Serving as Poet Laureate, she says, is meaningful precisely because of that breadth.
“It means a lot to become the storyteller for so many different experiences and backgrounds, notes Gaither. “Now more than ever, we need people creating art that normalizes our differences and unites us across them.”
Her belief in poetry’s civic role has been deepened by her professional work as a therapist. At Heart Bonds Counseling, Gaither—who is married and has a daughter—provides support for clients navigating trauma, grief, depression, anxiety and BIPOC-related identity challenges.
She draws on a wide range of training—including poetry therapy—to help her clients.
Coached by the International Fed-eration For Biblio/Poetry Therapy, she also facilitates therapeutic poetry groups in partnership with community organizations—supporting survivors of human trafficking, adults in residential treatment, at-risk youth and veterans recovering from PTSD.
That integration of art and healing shapes Gaither’s vision for Orlando. She notes: “In poetry, you don’t need to be the loudest person in the room to be heard.” She hopes that her work will leave people empowered to express themselves and “to unburden themselves from what feels heavy.”
