I was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan

I fell in love with poetry in kindergarten when my teacher, Mrs. Johnson, gave us a poem to read about being five years old and then I remember writing my own version. I was hooked. Of course every thing I wrote back then could be considered elementary (do you see what I did there?) but it was the start. Around the age of eight I decided without a doubt I would become a poet one day even though I had no idea what that meant aside from writing poems about the stray kittens in my backyard.

I have performed my poetry at various open mic’s and slams across North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. I have competed in the Southern Fried Regional slam as part of the Respect Da Mic Slam Team in 2010. Also, I’ve competed nationally at both the Women of the World Poetry Slam in 2014 and 2015 and the Individual World Poetry slam in 2014. Poetry has taken me to some amazing cities in America like Austin, Phoenix and Albuquerque and I have hopes that I will travel outside of the U.S. to share my work as well.

I focus mainly on poetry although I am an aspiring novelist and tend to write within the young adult and fantasy genres. With poetry most of my work is free verse, although from time to time you’ll see me tackling a different form to keep things fresh like haiku’s or limericks.

Narrowing down just one favorite poet and poem tends to be impossible for me so I’ll share a handful of my favorites:

Poets: CP Maze, Tavis Brunson, Carlos Robson, Andrea Gibson, Amber Tamblyn, Megan Falley, and Sharon Olds have all written books and or poems that have changed me as a writer and as a person.

Poems: My Lover is the Sunlight by Lydia Havens, The Issues and Connoisseur of Slugs by Sharon Olds, Rape Prevention Potluck by Beck Cooper, and Thighs and Break Like a Fever by Desiree Dallagiacomo.

The greatest inspiration for me when it comes to writing—at least within the past year or so— has been understanding. The act of trying to understand myself, the people I care about on a personal level, politics and the ways of the world is what really gets my ink flowing. My poetry book, Falling in Love with Picking Myself up, is wholly poems written out of a desire to figure out my own opinions, convictions and just how honest I was willing to be with myself.

In my dreams a perfect day is a productive day, one in which I write tons of kick-butt poems, find out I’ve been published in a handful of literary magazines, hang out with friends & family and eventually wind up on a sunny beach somewhere sipping something sweet with a kick.

My life is the greatest story I will ever be a part of.