A Black teenager raised by her abusive step-father and vacant mother battles to overcome inner demons of depression, eventually finding hope to endure in some of life's unexpected places.

The Willow Tree is a heartbreaking coming-of-age story similar to White Oleander and with profound introspection akin to that of The Bell Jar. Emma must learn to fight for her emotional stability and life after her mother remarries. She engages in a stormy relationship with her abusive step-father, while her mom slips away to depression. Both book-smart and painfully awkward, she struggles to connect with her peers and eventually finds friends with students who are considered outcasts. Outside of school, her home life becomes more and more turbulent. The bond between Emma and her mother dwindles to only occasional encounters, while her step-father remains present in her waking life and nightmares. Fraught with hiding the stress from deep concerns about her friends’ misjudgments, Emma hides the torment of her step-father’s unrelenting sexual abuse. After his sudden suicide, her feelings she developed for him dangerously lead her down her own self-destructive path.

I was born and raised in Detroit––the notorious Motor City that’s as famous for its crime as it is its cars.

In my younger years, my family and I lived in poverty until my parents pulled us out of the cycle, my dad finding his way as a computer programmer, my mom as a banker.

To the outside world, my family seemed to find success. But what people didn’t see was that my dad struggled mentally. As a result, my mom withdrew, and I became angrier at myself for not being in control – the very definition of depression: anger turned inward. High school was equally as hard. My Black peers teased me for being “too White.” To them I was an “Oreo,” a Black person on the outside, yet White on the inside. And, with my family being Jehovah’s Witnesses, I was ostracized more until I didn’t want to live.

It wasn’t until after my mom and I moved away from my dad that my mom sought professional counseling for me. When therapy didn’t work, my mom and I thought California would make us feel better. We were ready to shutter off the past for sunshine, abandoning it like the dilapidated homes we were used to seeing. But blue skies can’t beat the blues.

Me not fitting in was something that persisted in college. I assumed I would be accepted here by my White peers. I was mistaken and tried to keep my head up even amongst jokes made at the expense of Black people and Black culture.

Thanks to a creative writing professor, however, I got the support I needed that set me up to write my first book, The Willow Tree, expressing all that I had faced. But the path forward isn’t always straight, and before graduating, I would attempt suicide.

Luckily, my story didn’t end there. After years of counseling, I’m stronger, as is my writing. I’ve authored another book, The Millennial Mentality: More than Memes, Cats, and Mishaps, and a T.V. pilot, Pink Slipped. My goal as a storyteller and T.V. writer being to share what it’s like to be Black, cope with mental health, and find hope through it all.