| LITERARY ARTIST |
I was a serious little kid. While most kids frolicked in sunshine and clear skies, I frolicked in books and conversations. So much so that my mom constantly shooed me away for trying to be in “grown folks’ business.”
Fast forward a few decades and I still delight in words and conversations…
NEWS & MAGAZINE WRITING
As a journalist and essayist, I pen essays and articles about the topics of our time: race, arts, and faith. I discuss how they intersect with each other and how they affect culture. I’m a contributing writer for The Washington Post, Faithfully Magazine, and L.A. Parent; and I’m a former contributor to The Root and LA Weekly. Other publications include The Huffington Post, The Los Angeles Times, EBONY, Good Housekeeping, Parents Magazine, Marie Claire, TheGrio, and News One.
My 2019 article “How Natural Black Hair at Work Became a Civil Rights Issue” published in JSTOR Daily, provided a comprehensive history of anti-natural Black hair laws in the U.S. The trailblazing article has been cited in law journals and legal cases for the Virginia Law Review, Harvard Journal of Law & Gender, and the ACLU of Connecticut. It is a trusted resource for teachers and social justice organizations throughout the country.
My favorite journalism project was working as a U.S. 2022-2023 Rosalynn Carter Mental Health Journalism Fellow. Through the fellowship I partnered with Vogue.com to produce a three-part series that showed how alopecia diagnoses affect the mental health of Black women in the U.S. You can check out that series here, here, & here.
BOOK WRITING
The California Arts Council generously awarded me a fellowship in support of my first solo book, Loving Your Black Neighbor as Yourself: A Guide to Closing the Space Between Us, published by WaterBrook and Penguin Random House. Prior book projects include essays in We Are The Baby-Sitters Club: Essays and Artwork from Grown-up Readers, by Chicago Review Press and L.A. Affairs: 65 True Stories of Nightmare Dates, Love at First Sight, Heartbreak & Happily Ever Afters in Southern California, by The Los Angeles Times.
COACHING WRITERS
If Jesus is my daily bread, then coaching is my daily jam! I lead a private small-group writing circle where I help writers complete & sell their works-in-progress. (Email me for more deets.) I also co-lead Spirit & Scribe, an online workshop that explores the intersection of writing craft and spiritual formation. In Fall of 2024 I am coaching writers through the PAX Fellowship and the Loft Literary Center. Consider joining us!