2011 NAACP Author Pavilion

Debbie Reynolds dèbut novel “Shadows” was released by Three Sons’ Press. This has been a dream come true for Debbie. Debbie was born in Northern California, raised in between Texas, and San Diego. She attended college in Northern California where she majored in Nursing. Debbie developed an early love for reading, and fostering it, by reading everything she could get her hands on. This love developed into a desire to write. She spends most of her time working as a Registered Nurse and the remainder of it, writing.

By her sophomore year in college, Alicia Singleton knew she was born to be a writer. Too intimidated to change her major, she continued her nursing studies and received her Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing in 1987. From Johns Hopkins University Hospital to Howard University Hospital to Washington Hospital Center, and numerous other medical facilities in the Baltimore/Washington DC Corridor, the Howard University graduate practiced nursing for 12 years, but the passion to write never subsided.

Fitness coach Bridgette Collins is the owner of Total Innovative Wellness Solutions, LLC, a consulting firm that provides individuals and organizations with strategic solutions for implementing and sustaining healthy lifestyle habits. Through MAC Fitness and Origins Publishing Company, subsidiaries of Total Innovative Wellness Solutions, LLC, she introduces innovative and creative resources for achieving well-being and physical fitness to help her clients gain traction on disease prevention and management.

Dr. Wanda Ross Padilla's educational credentials include a BS Degree in Education from Bethune-Cookman University, A M.Ed. Degree in Counseling from Florida Atlantic University, and a Doctorate Degree in Public Administration from Nova Southeastern University. She was ordained by the Reverend Dr. Johnnie Colemon of the Universal Foundation for Better Living, Inc. as a Minister of the Gospel of Christ. Starting out as as public school teacher, she moved up to become the VP of a 300-employee private, non-profit social service agency in Miami, Florida (where she was employed for 18 years).

Shametra McGregor was born and raised in Austin, Texas. She believes there can never be a testimony without a test. “Through life’s adversities I learned to express my deepest most inner thoughts in my diary," she says of her writing philosophy. "When I needed comfort, pen and paper became my best friends. During a recent restoration period I discovered how healing presented itself, forgiveness became available and faith was restored."

Tamika Newhouse is a self-published bestselling author who founded Delphine Publications, at the age of 21; Tamika appeared on various bestseller lists and won Self Published Author of the Year at the 2009 African American Literary Awards only 9 months after her debut novel. In 2010 she was inducted into Who's who in Black San Antonio and she landed a major publishing deal without an agent and still continues to write independent projects.

K. L. Brady is a D.C. native but spent a number of her formative years in the Ohio Valley. She’s an alumnus of the University of the District of Columbia and University of Maryland University College, earning a B.A. in Economics and M.B.A., respectively. She works as a technical writer for a major government contracting firm during the day and writes late into the night. She lives just outside of D.C. in Cheltenham, Maryland, and is a member of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc.