Who? me?

I grew up in West Chester, Pennsylvania and lived there until I was sixteen; my Mom and I moved to Rochester, New York where I finished high school. That was a big change since both my parents' families are from the Philadelphia area, and at the time my older sister was going to college in Virginia. It was very hard being away from everything I knew but exciting to start a whole new life. I returned to Pennsylvania for college - University of Pittsburgh - where I majored in writing poetry. If you ever really want to freak out your parents, don't do 'typical' stuff like drugs or facial piercing, just major in poetry!

After college I did a lot of social work for organizations like Women Against Rape and Planned Parenthood (since there aren't so many job listings for poets), mostly educating teens about sexual violence and safer sex. I also worked at a program helping teen moms get their GED and learn life skills. I learned so much from those young women; some were stronger and full of more hope than I've ever been. I've also worked with incarcerated girls and women, teaching creative writing. That was an incredibly intense place of growth in my life. The memory of the girls and women I worked with helps to keep me devoted to my writing. They all keep a special place in my heart.

During that time I also had two tiny side businesses - I was a vintage clothing vendor and a vegan soul food caterer. Vegan means no meat, poultry, dairy, or eggs and even abstaining from animal by-products like leather. My 'company' name was SUPADIVA and my motto was: Look Badd, Eat Good! They were both funky ways to express my creativity while doing the emotionally draining social work. I still love vintage anything, but I'm not a 100% vegan anymore. It just wasn't the right type of diet for my body, but I'll always admire vegans and their devotion to animal rights and living a life free of animal by-products. I still cook up vegan goodies now and again for myself and friends because they're SO tasty! My favorite vegan cookbook is How It All Vegan by Sarah Kramer and Tanya Barnard - check it out on my Links Page. I'm still a big advocate of eating an organic, refined sugar free, vegetable based diet because I'm a Type-1 Diabetic.

I've wanted to be a writer since I was young. Books were always magical things to me and the idea of creating one seemed like the most powerful thing a person could do! As a teenager I was the 'dreamy outsider' who read Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye during 7th grade lunch. I would spend my Saturdays in my favorite bookstore, surrounded by books; it was at the same time the safest and most thrilling place in the world for me. If I wasn't in the bookstore, I was "out back" in the little woods behind my house. I loved finding 'secret' places by the creek, and I still find peace in nature. I had a little notebook that I wrote poems in every day. I wish I still had that notebook! I wish I still wrote with that kind of passion. But I guess for me, writing has been like falling in love - you're in it, you're out of it, and after a while, when you finally commit to it, you settle into a comfortable pattern that is solid and true.

In 2003 I decided to go back to school for an MFA (Master of Fine Arts) in Writing for Children at The New School University. I love my family and I know they love me, but at that point they were all pretty much like, "You're NUTS. How are you going to get a job with that degree?" Luckily I got to prove them wrong in less than a year! I put together a conference for Multicultural Children's Literature in honor of Virginia Hamilton and through that met her charismatic and gifted poet husband, Arnold Adoff. He introduced my work to Andrea Davis Pinkney, who bought my first books. It was almost like getting fairy dust sprinkled on my head. My wings sprouted and I took off from there!