With more than 20 years of experience in producing events, I used the pandemic to make a pivot into full-time event production. “Everything is Everything” examined the life, career and criticisms surrounding Lauryn Hill and her artistry. “The Story of WAP” was a Zoom panel discussion surrounding women and hip-hop culture.

I adapted my very first screenplay at the age of 25, which was an adaptation of my first novel, Dark, for Fox Searchlight Pictures. Since then I served as a writer and ghostwriter for independent producers in New York City and Washington, DC.

After the publication of my first book I was regularly invited to speak to urban teens who could identify with the stories I wrote. I have delivered addresses and conducted workshops at the Spelman College, the University of Florida, Carnegie Mellon University, North Carolina Central University, the University of the District of Columbia and for many schools and non-profit organizations. In 2013 and 2014, I went to work as an instructor for the Gateway Academic Program in Washington, DC, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In 2015, I taught a spoken word poetry workshop for DC’s Guerilla Arts Foundation. I also taught several sections of “Memoir Writing” for Gotham Writers online.

After three full years of rejections, I secured a contract with Broadway/Random House Books to publish Dark, a Los Angeles Times and Washington Post bestseller. I went on to publish three more novels: Dakota Grand (2002), Seeking Salamanca Mitchell (2004) and Snow (2007). My nonfiction debut, the memoir The House on Childress Street (2006) was featured in USA Today. My fourth novel, Nostrand Avenue, will be published by Kensington Books in the Fall of 2018.