Check Out Lauren Brooks’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lauren Brooks.

Hi Lauren, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today. 
I’m a Midwest girl who grew up in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. One of the beautiful things about the city I grew up in was the amount of diversity that was all around us. Everyone had a story, and I was eager to hear them all. I fell in love with exploring what made people human. 

After graduating high school, I went away to college, choosing to attend my mother’s alma mater, Central State University- an HBCU in Southern Ohio. 

During my senior year at Central State, I became pregnant with my oldest son and ended up moving back home. 

While in Cleveland, I began working in education. Starting from working in daycares to working my way through aiding teachers and substituting, to eventually doing administrative work. I built a career in education from the ground up, but I always said I was going to go back and finish where I started. 

I started writing fantasy fiction while I was working as an eighth-grade paraprofessional. It inspired me to go back and finish my degree. So, in the height of a global pandemic, I finally received my undergraduate degree in English Literature. 

It was the perfect homecoming. Being on a campus so rich with Black History fueled my vision for the story I wanted to bring to life. 

In 2022 I submitted my manuscript to a contest through Winn Publications. The first-place prize was a traditional publishing deal, and I won! 

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has definitely been a process, but when you do what you love, even the trials seem purposeful. I’ve been grateful to be able to learn so much, whether through the research I did to write the book, to the ends and outs of publishing itself. It has been one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done. 

Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a lover of culture. I love to find those little-known facts in pockets of history that have gotten lost in translation as time has passed. Those history facts you don’t learn in school. 

My mission and purpose in my writing is to raise awareness to the spirit of people of color, which has never and will never be broken. To make the connection from present to past in attempt to make a better future and to highlight why it is that we not only survived but thrived in the midst of, in spite of, and without. 

But what’s so beautiful about those things is that we still have that spirit in us now, even without knowing the history— it is just embedded in us. And I’m proud to be able to show that history has a history of being beautifully radical. 

We’d love to hear about how you think about risk-taking.
Dream chasing, risk-taking; it’s all the same. And it’s serious business. Chasing your dreams is probably one of the most terrifying things you’ll ever do in your life. It forces you to become another version of yourself. Knocks you right out of your comfort zone. But the alternative is complacency and being stagnant. And we are not meant to stay the same. We were made to evolve. 

I overthink and get anxious sometimes when it’s time to make big leaps, but I’ve never ever regretted betting on myself. 

Take the risk. Make questionable decisions. Be free. Do the things that those who came before you might not have been able to do. You owe it to yourself. 

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @Laurenbeeliterature
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100094217605295

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