The Woman That I Am

About the Book

What you are about to read is a collection of thoughts, emotions, and experiences that span a little more than twenty years of my life. Some are my personal experiences. Others are whispered words and special request to pen something that they themselves felt yet couldn’t express as eloquently as they would have liked. (Please know that each one has read his or her special piece and approved it.) And in doing so, they shared a piece of themselves with me and helped to shape my destiny.

About the Author

Vannessa P. James is a native of California who developed a love of reading very young. By the age of 8, she had begun reading authors like Edgar Rice Burroughs, Donald J. Sobol and anything suggested by teachers. Ms. James was introduced to poetry during a Black History Pageant given at school when her third grade teacher gave her the poem “Midway” by Naomi Long Madgett to recite. Ms. James developed a love for poetry and began to write her own poetry. Ms. James has since been inspired by other poets such as Langston Hughes, Robert Frost, Maya Angelou, Emily Dickinson, Nikki Giovanni and, of course, Shakespeare.