A LITTLE BIT ABOUT ME…

The first essay I ever published was in my elementary school's newsletter. It was on Christopher Columbus, I was in the 1st grade, and when my Mom read it out loud in my Nana & Pop-Pop's living room, the last word—'destiny'—is one of the two things I remember from that moment. The other is the look of pride in my Mom's eyes. I wanted to be a writer after that. Since then, I've left all kind words about Columbus, but I've stayed with writing. I'm in love with words and the worlds inside and outside of them. I love the love, I love the fear, I love the bravery, I love the questions, and I love the thinking of words, writing, books, poems, comic books, and screenplays. 

Everywhere I've gone I've written. I took workshops and creative writing classes in my undergrad years at the University of Maryland College Park. When I moved to Houston to teach high school English, I created a writing group with some of the teachers I was friends with, and we'd sit at Barnes & Noble or cafes around the city comparing poems and short stories. When I moved back to the D.C. area, I was the only Black person in an all-white, retiree poetry group that met at a poet's house in Eastern Market. When I moved to Philadelphia, I found my favorite writing group through a Craigslist ad, and when I got tossed from being an ED for Teach For America, I spent my unemployed months making my own mixed-media anthologies—just poems and pictures about being Black and in Philly. 

I got published because one of my Facebook rants snatched a local editor's eyes. My first piece on Prince’s death was published in Philadelphia Magazine, and from there I've written for Rolling Stone, Slate, Washington Post, Vanity Fair, The Grio, Atlanta Blackstar, Vox, Kirkus Reviews, SEEN Journal, Afropunk, blogs, and newsletters. Between writing projects, I still write little reviews on music, movies, video games, and comic books on IG. 

My words have gotten me on TV and podcasts, including CBS This Morning, CNN Tonight with Don Lemon, CNN Live with Laura Coates, NPR Morning Edition, and Pop Pantheon. I've been a keynote speaker and lecturer at St. Mary's College of Maryland, the University of Pennsylvania, and Lewis & Clark College. I've been a guest speaker (complete with some cussing) at private schools, Harvard, KIPP Schools, and education conferences and convenings. 

I've interviewed people on stage and off as a panel critic and moderator for TV and film festivals. I've ghostwritten and collaboratively written. I want to do more and I want to do it all. At the heart of everything in my writing is trying to find a new story about how to make sense of the world. About how much and how little time we have.

When I'm not writing, I'm reading. When I'm not reading, I'm writing. But I'm also taking photographs, traveling, spending time with people who drive me crazy but make me laugh, cuddling with my cat, and walking miles around whatever city I'm in. You'll know it's me because you'll hear my laugh about a mile before you see me.