The Author
Renata Brown’s zeal for the arts was spirited from being an artist. She is the publisher of two online magazines - A-spire and EM-spire. A-spire is an Arts and Entertainment publication, while EM-spire is designed for Entrepreneurs and Motivators. She is also the founder and executive director of GANSPA (Gifted and Neo-Soul & Poetry Award) which serves to celebrate excellence in the arts and bring awareness to Sickle Cell Anemia.
Renata is also an accomplished songstress, visual artist, motivational speaker and poet. She began writing poetry at just eight-years-old. In 2010, her self-published poem, ‘Simply Life Is A Poem’ debuted to critical acclaim. Her writings have been featured in several anthologies. She has also appeared on numerous Radio and Television talk shows. In her own words, “At the heart of me, I am a creative. For me, Artistry is not a hobby. The arts are my passion and ministry. Helping others release their creativity is my mission.” she states.
Her journey is paved with gemstones of many textures. A part of this journey includes being a teen parent at age 14. Three years later, the daughter to whom she gave birth would be diagnosed with an incurable genetic disease, Sickle Cell Anemia. The complications of this disease would ultimately claim her daughter’s life.
Much of Renata’s story is colored by various traumatic experiences, highs and lows, through which she has navigated.
Renata earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management and received a certification in graphic design from the Kennesaw State University of Georgia. She also served as Marketing and Advertising Director for the Hopewell Baptist Church Drama Guild.
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To move you into alignment with your purposes
I have moved over 40 times in my life. Moving is the perfect metaphor for living. The lessons I learned will help you move into alignment with your true self.
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I have moved over 40 times in my life. A pattern my parents established. I never spent a year in the same school growing up. The book is an easy read of antidotes and metaphors. That weaves in my compelling story of being a child prodigy. My IQ was tested around 10 and found to be somewhere around 140. I audited high school classes at that age and college at 11. My path was interrupted after being raped at 13 by an acquaintance, that led to a pregnancy. I found myself a teen parent at 14 whose daughter battled a incurable disease and succumbs to that disease as a young adult. I've gone on to run two publications and an award show I founded.
The book will be accompanied by a workbook/journal. This not a novel, but bare bones boiled down glimpses into my world and the lessons that have propelled me to own my own businesses and be a motivational speaker. My poetic flair is present. I want readers come back to the lessons over and over again.
It's my earnest desire that "Lessons learned while packing" will help you navigate through your everyday experiences with a new perspective and insight of how life is just one moving journey. This book is about self-care. The paradigm is not in getting to the destination put how we navigate the road or airways. True alignment comes from who you are not where you you might find yourself.
About This Book
It is my earnest desire that “Things I Learned While Packing”' will help you navigate through your everyday experiences with a new perspective and insight into how life is just one moving journey. The paradigm is not in getting to the destination, but more about how we navigate the roads that lead us there.
True alignment comes from who you are – not where you might find yourself.
Introduction
1. Don’t pack away your dreams and put them in storage.
2. Every container has a capacity. Don’t accept more than you can handle.
3. Good bye is always hello, on the next.
4. Remember where you tucked away your courage, you’ll certainly want it handy.
5. You got to purge. Stop holding on to your stuff.
6. Eviction can lead to elevation
7. Your old keys won’t fit your new doors.
8. It’s easy to throw everything into the box, until it comes time to lift it.
9. Stop treasuring stuff that belongs on the donation truck.
10. Put a label on it…call it what it is. You’ll thank yourself later.
11. There’s not room for everything when your going to the next level
12. Secure the box-starting from the bottom up
13. Eventually you’ll have to unpack your stuff and figure out where it belongs.
14. Wait for your marching orders before moving on to the next.
15. Like things belong with like things –toaster don’t go with silk gowns
16. Don’t let anybody else label your box!
17. Every move big or small requires preparation
18. know when it’s time to call Tyrone, getting rid of other’s stuff
19. Home resides in you
20. The hardest part of the move is the move that’s where things get shifted.
21. You got to clean-up after you move if you want to get your deposit back.
The Wrap Up
So the answer is not everybody? Well this book is for anybody that has ever moved. However; the primary audience is African American women entrepreneurs between the ages of 35-60. This book is about self-care. This emergent market is exploding. https://www.essence.com/beauty...This demographic is a little past youth and find themselves both able to reflect and pivot into their true purposes.
Woman tend to have a lot of baggage. As caregivers, teachers, leaders both at home and in business. We are taught to just solider through. We often sacrifice our visions in and put ourselves at the back of the line. This book acts as a chiropractic alignment giving them a nudge in the right directions.
https://yettisays.com/15-self-...
https://melanintherapy.com/201...
https://www.entrepreneur.com/s...
https://happyblackwoman.com/hb...
I feel like I have a little head start being in the publishing arena with two magazines and a third launching soon. I also executive produce and award show I created in 2014. My social media is robust consisting of a combine total of roughly 100,000.
So why am I here one might ask. My stage is set to reach millions. Being a certified web and graphic designer I have the tools to create stunning visuals. The reaction to the drafts of my books has elicited tears and collective head nods. The message in this book is personal. Everyone has moved. We all have goal. We all want to know how to actualize them without being preached to or joining the next sure thing. I have appeared on several radio and internet television shows. My network includes several celebrities and thought leaders.
My perk game is to offer free or discounted advertising in my publications for pre-orders of my book. I will also do a book launch and continue public appearances. I'm working on putting together a tour that will bring several dynamic women together on a holistic platform.
Be Fearless: 5 Principles for a Life of Breakthroughs and Purpose - Jean Case 2019
Girl, Wash Your Face: Stop Believing the Lies About Who You Are so You Can Become Who You Were Meant to Be Hardcover – February 6, 2018 by Rachel Hollis
The Warrior Code: 11 Principles to Unleash the Badass Inside of You by Tee Marie Hanible and Denene Millner | Feb 5, 2019
Finding Peace Isn't Peaceful: Overcoming the Struggle Within to Heal My Soul by Ma'Ronda X | Aug 25, 2018
What I Know For Sure
by Oprah Winfrey | Sep 2, 2014
My book differs because it's my story. It's compelling and very unique. My IQ was tested at 10 and was somewhere around 140. I audited high school classes at 10 years-old and college at 11. My path was interrupted by being raped at 13, that led to a pregnancy. I found myself a teen parent at 14 whose daughter battled a incurable disease and succumbs to that disease. I go on to run two publications and an award show. All while overcoming a life of what is tantamount to a gypsy moving over 40 times to discover true alignment comes from who you are not where you are.
Sourcebooks
500 copies • Partial manuscript • Looking for motivational, inspiration and the lighter side of business. Traditional publisher Mind & Body, Romantic Fiction, Biography & Memoir, Business & Money, Career & Success, Cookbooks, Food & Wine, Health, Fitness & Dieting, History, Journalism, Personal Growth & Self-Improvement, Politics & Social Sciences, Science, Society & Culture, Sports & Outdoors, Technology & the Future, Travel Worldwide |
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1106 Design, LLC
Dear Author, Service publisher Children Fiction, Christian Fiction, Commercial Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Historical Fiction, Literary Essay, Literary Fiction, Mind & Body, Mystery, Thriller, Horror & Suspense, Mythology & Folk Tales, Poetry, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Women's Fiction, YA Fiction, Biography & Memoir, Business & Money, Career & Success, Children Non-Fiction, Christian Non-Fiction, Cookbooks, Food & Wine, Communication Skills, Corporate Culture, Current Affairs, Economics, Education, Entrepreneurship & Small Business, Health, Fitness & Dieting, History, Humor & Entertainment, Journalism, Management & Leadership, Marketing & Sales, Mindfulness & Happiness, Money & Investment, Motivation & Inspiration, Nature & Environment, Parenting, Personal Growth & Self-Improvement, Philosophy, Politics & Social Sciences, Popular Science, Productivity & Time Management, Psychology, Reference, Religion & Spirituality, Science, Sex & Relationships, Society & Culture, Sports & Outdoors, Technology & the Future, Travel, YA Non-Fiction, Science Fiction & Humour Worldwide |
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Atmosphere Press
250 copies • Partial manuscript. Service publisher Children Fiction, Literary Fiction, Mind & Body, Mystery, Thriller, Horror & Suspense, Romantic Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy, YA Fiction, Biography & Memoir, Business & Money, Career & Success, Cookbooks, Food & Wine, Health, Fitness & Dieting, History, Journalism, Personal Growth & Self-Improvement, Politics & Social Sciences, Religion & Spirituality, Science, Society & Culture, Sports & Outdoors, Technology & the Future, Travel Worldwide |
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Bookmobile
100 copies • Partial manuscript. Service publisher Children Fiction, Literary Fiction, Mind & Body, Mystery, Thriller, Horror & Suspense, Romantic Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy, YA Fiction, Biography & Memoir, Business & Money, Career & Success, Cookbooks, Food & Wine, Health, Fitness & Dieting, History, Journalism, Personal Growth & Self-Improvement, Politics & Social Sciences, Religion & Spirituality, Science, Society & Culture, Sports & Outdoors, Technology & the Future, Travel Worldwide |
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Happy Self Publishing
100 copies • Completed manuscript. Service publisher Children Fiction, Literary Fiction, Mind & Body, Mystery, Thriller, Horror & Suspense, Romantic Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy, YA Fiction, Biography & Memoir, Business & Money, Career & Success, Cookbooks, Food & Wine, Health, Fitness & Dieting, History, Journalism, Personal Growth & Self-Improvement, Politics & Social Sciences, Religion & Spirituality, Science, Society & Culture, Sports & Outdoors, Technology & the Future, Travel Worldwide |
FREEZE! PUT YOUR HANDS UP! My body was still moving forward but my brain couldn’t connect the reality that two 9mm guns were pointing directly at me. Guns attached to yelling voices with angry and disfigured faces. Wearing uniforms with shiny, well-polished badges that gave them permission. Permission to be at my door, pointing their guns… at me. This is not happening - whatever this is. “HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE HERE?” they demanded!
Just then, my innocent and adorable 22-month-old grandson wandered out of a back room. And now the guns were pointed in his direction. “How could I be living a script from the 11 o’clock news?” I grew up in an area of Long Beach, California where wearing the wrong color could cost you your life. I moved to Georgia with my 8-year-old son to get away from gang-filled streets.
The last place I lived in California before moving to the “Black mecca of the South”, Atlanta, Georgia, was a spacious 3-bedroom, 2-bath townhouse in a gentrified neighborhood, bordering a lily-white suburb. The once highly- sought after townhomes had now sadly become a haven for Section 8 tenants. Multiple families living in one unit, third generation gang bangers, and rows of drug houses. I recall the leasing agent literally telling me that they were “Moving the bad element out, and they needed people like me to help rehabilitate the block.”
I used to work at the City Attorney’s Office and one of the things I learned is you can run a report to show all the activity based on the street address and surrounding area. My address was on that report. More than once, my kids and I had to hit the floor because of all the nearby gunfire. There were times I would literally find bullet shell casings on my doorsteps.
One day, I was driving home from work, and as I attempted to turn onto my block, there was a barrage of police cars and TV news trucks everywhere. Even the news station, Telemundo, was broadcasting live in Spanish. Because my street was blocked off, a police officer instructed me to park across the street. And if I wanted to get home, I’d have to walk. At the very end of the block was a yellow tarp draped over what looked to be the outline of a body protruding from a parked SUV. Not the kind of thing you want to come home to. Ever.
Later, I would hear that the tarp had covered the bloodied body of a young, Black male. He had died instantly after being shot in the head at point blank range.
I was told this was part of a double murder that took place in broad daylight, just as school kids were getting off the bus. The gunman had first shot the victim in the alley. Then, when his homeboys tried to take him to the hospital in the SUV, the shooters pulled up, parked, and proceeded to shoot and kill the driver. This all happened right outside my breezeway. No more! I would not raise my son in Southern California.
The irony of it all is that, with everything I went through in Long Beach, I had never before heard the words, “Freeze. Put your hands up!” Nor had I ever had guns pointed at me by the police. Until now.
I instinctively moved toward my grandson. The barking continued. “How many people are in here?” they again yelled. Fully aware that this could go very bad, very quickly, I immediately responded by saying, “Another child and an adult.” “How old is the child?” they hollered. “10-months… a baby.” I replied.
I cannot share the details of the “what and why.” This wasn’t even my house. These weren’t my circumstances. It really didn’t matter. I was moving, moving, and moving. Again. I’m sure there is a lesson in this.
“Tomorrow never comes.” Yeah, yeah, yeah… we have all heard that before, right? So why are you living as if you’ve got a lock on the future? The two guarantees in life are no cliché – we are born, and we will die. Ask a seven-year-old child what they want to be when they grow up and you might hear something like, an astronaut, a dancer, or a doctor. Well, that is what a seven-year-old might have said twenty years ago. We, the adults, offer to them a reassuring smile and our nod of approval. “Sure! You can be ANYTHING you want to be.” We wouldn’t dare tell that child to lower their expectations. That grooming process comes later. We shape expectations based on academic achievements, economic status, and exceptional abilities. Children who possess certain aptitudes are encouraged to pursue avenues where they show ability and promise.
My parents divorced when I was eight. Up until that time, it seemed we were the average Black nuclear family. I remember my parents attending PTA meetings and making sure I was integrated into the best society could offer. First, I was in the Brownies, and then the Girl Scouts. Church played a major part in our lives. One of my fondest childhood memories was singing in the choir at age four. When I was eight, I began studying and writing poetry. Although I was young, I developed a fondness for the writings of the great poet, Langston Hughes. His writings hold what I find to be a beautiful simplicity. My favorite of his poems being, I Love My Friend. “I love my friend… this poem ends the way it begins. I love my friend.” (Langston Hughes). This poem reminded me of always moving and losing friends.
I was often told that I was gifted. By age 11, I had written my first unpublished book of poems. Poetry was always and still is my safe place. In fifth grade, I was auditing High School classes, and College in the sixth. It was clear that early on, I was set on a path for greatness. My teachers made a point to encourage and cultivate my academic success. I was doing all of this. We moved often and I never attended the same school for a full academic year.
After the divorce, the visits from my father were frequent, until he remarried. I found myself pregnant at 13 after being forcibly molested by a 20-year-old acquaintance. Even after giving birth at 14 that didn’t stop my trajectory. I joined the church shortly after my daughter’s birth and began what I called, my career in ministry. I preached my first sermon at 16 and had read the bible through twice at that age. People spoke great things into my life. I was supposed to be the next great ____________(fill in the blank). I taught Sunday school, lead the devotional team, and was the youth leader. I remember that fateful day at 17 sitting in the children’s clinic with my 3-year old. The doctor telling me the words, “Your daughter has Sickle Cell Anemia. Not the trait, but the disease.”
I didn’t know then how that diagnoses would frame the next few decades of my life. High School was a challenge with a sickly toddler. I eventually took the GED test at 18 and enrolled in City College. I moved out of my mother’s house. My mother and I had a rocky relationship. I didn’t understand that part of the reason was because of her own battles with depression. I remember my mother telling me, before I left, that I would never finish college and who did I think I was, preaching.
Somewhere life happened. I can’t pinpoint when or where I neatly folded away my dreams and started living without them. It could have been on one of the countless hospital visits, or watching my daughter suffer with Sickle Cell Anemia. Hardly anyone can say for certain the exact moment where the daily routine of getting up going to work, paying bills, cooking, cleaning or whatever the routine happens to be, supplemented our hopes and desires.
I did drop out of college, however I dropped back in and walked across that stage many years later with my Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration. My daughter never got a chance to see me walk across that stage. She had gone on to become an ancestor and mother was not able to attend, but my father was right there to witness the event.
Dreams don’t die. The power that forms the universe flows through each of us. I don’t care where you left your aspirations or what you traded in return for your dreams. We see examples every day of comebacks. We are resilient by nature. Go back and find that spark, finish that book, get that degree, climb that mountain. Give yourself permission to be great!
Exercise:
Take 5 minutes every morning and dream. This is not a goal setting time. This is a time for your imagination to run wild. Picture yourself happy, whatever that looks like to you. You’ll be surprised how this simple routine can move you closer to the things that bring you joy.
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