My grandmother was the storyteller and historian in my family. When strokes stole her voice, her stories remained locked inside her. After she passed away, I had two grandparents left. I was already chronicling the lives of “real people" as Pulitzer Prize finalist and longtime writer and editor for People and Essence magazines. I turned that skill onto my own family, interviewing my grandparents. I compiled their stories in books that descendants who never met them still look at today, years after all of my grandparents passed away.

The experience of watching my grandparents' voices outlive them drives me. As a journalist, I learned how to get the story beneath the surface. As a speechwriter, I learned how to capture someone’s authentic voice. As a novelist, I learned that structure and pacing are what propel long-form storytelling. I apply those skills to everything I create now.