Hello! I’m Charlie Vazquez.

I’m a writer, cultural consultant, and spiritual writing teacher.

I’ve authored the collection Fantasmas: Puerto Rican Tales of the Dead (CV Publishing, 2020), the novel Contraband (Rebel Satori, 2010), and other works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry since 2005. My writing appears in anthologies such as Crashing Cathedrals: Edmund White by the Book (ITNA, 2019) and Fever Spores: The Queer Reclamation of William S. Burroughs (Rebel Satori, 2022). My spiritual memoir, Taking Refuge in the Fire: Purification Through Creative Presence, was published by Rebel Satori Press in 2026.

I also serve as the development manager for the Nuyorican Poets Café and for Composers Now, a nonprofit founded by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Tania León. Since 2014, I’ve raised more than $5 million in capital campaign and program funding for New York City-based arts organizations. This success has been buoyed by an extensive professional network spanning law, tech, finance, healthcare, philanthropy, human services, and other sectors.

As a practicing Buddhist, I graduated from Tibet House’s 100-Hour Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Training with David Nichtern in 2020. Since 2014, I’ve designed and facilitated creative wellness programs that combine deep, introspective writing and/or visual art-making with mindfulness and sound meditation. These programs have served general audiences, senior citizens, the opioid recovery community, queer youth, and others. I also work as a writing mentor for PEN America’s DREAMing Out Loud, serving undocumented youth.