1. What draws you to cheetahs and their fierce patterns? 

The first time I made a cheetah dress I was about 11 years old. I bought the fabric and made the dress by hand. The next day in school my dress came apart at the seams and my bloomers were showing! My best friend Candy Brown gave me her sweater to wrap around my waist! My attraction to animal prints was so natural I can’t even tell you what it was but I can tell you that the kids in school started yelling at me: SHE’S GREAT! (as in Tony The Tiger. pobrecito kiddies didn’t know the difference!)

2. You’ve contributed your talents to various creative fields, when did your love of writing in particular begin?

I am beginning to think there is no coincidence or coinky dinky as I paraphrase to the fact that my first foster mother was ILLITERATE. That’s right–it was my job to read and write letters, bills, etc. for her. I was terribly frightened of her, and would do anything to please her. I’ve come to believe: if she asked me to sing or dance for her, I would be just that. There is also something intangibly sad about watching an adult who cannnot read or write. How could that not have sunk in–that being illiterate was the worst thing in the world. Not surprising, my writing began so early. I wrote an entire book–I mean scotch-taped together when I was about 12 years old. It was called DIAL L FOR LOVE–about a bunch of college students. I do recall I showed it to a teacher and she responded: You should really write things that are more age appropriate. My gnarly foster brother stole that book–I mean literally it went missing. He was a real 400-pound bully. He stole my lunch money too.

3. Do you find there’s a big difference in finding inspiration/writing for magazines compared to writing your books? 

I started in magazines. I really do think back in the day: magazines were the thing. I mean, VOGUE. COSMOPOLITAN. They were like Bibles. It was only after being a magazine writer that the concept of writing books formulated. A lot of the writer/editors were doing it so I was surrounded by that. 

4. How does it feel to win a National Association of Black Journalists Award for your work in Essence?

I was given such a big platform at Essence. I mean, even though I was a contributing writer–I had my own desk in a cubicle and was there pretty much all the time. My favorite were the personal essay articles: DEBBIE DOES THE PERSONALS (going on 80 dates), or getting LIPOSUCTION with my girlfriend (that’s when a producer from OPRAH called for me to be a guest on the show). And of course, the most incredibly moving one: SEARCHING FOR MOMMY. That’s when I began my search for my mother. Susan Taylor was the Editor-in-Chief and the idea came after we had a luncheon (all the editors) and watched a docu-film FINDING KRISTA. I was in tears after. I mean, I really couldn’t hold it together and it was the first time I blurted it out: I don’t know my mother. She assigned me the story–go look for your Mom. Who knew it would be a twenty-year journey searching for my roots–both maternal and paternal.  

5. One of the things I enjoy from your books is how you combined relatable problems like identity, divorce, etc. with that of the girls working on their music career from the Apollo show to funding to plagiarism. How did you balance the ambition and the mundane so they flowed well in the story?   

I would say hands down that most of the issues came from personal experience and my surroundings. I simply weaved the tough stuff into the story line. I grew up in the foster care system so voila! the character Dorinda is a foster child. Mostly these were girls looking for a way to elevate their life–and forming a singing group is certainly a way to the promised land (at least I thought so:)

6. How did you form the Cheetah girls’ slang and lingo? 

You have no idea–since I can remember I have made up words. Every time I talk to someone from my past they hit me with a saying I was famous for: THIS AIN’T NO GO-GO SHOW! Apparently that was a big one when I was in college according to my friend Amanda from back in the day!  I just can’t help it–I make up words all the time. I ran into the post office yesterday–dodging the pouring rain like an alley cat. A couple were standing in front of me and i just yelped: I’m telling you this weather is a WEAVE-WILTING EXPERIENCE! So, obviously that will be a new one in my repertoire!

7. What did you do as a co-producer on the Cheetah Girls film? What was like to see your girls come to life?

My role as co-producer essentially was delegated to the scripts, outfits and yes, the GIRLS! I cannot tell you what it was like to see them on the screen (after watching them rehearse, shooting, of course). But it was nothing like seeing the final product–they were AMAZING. Truthfully, it was like watching little versions of myself. It was all so cheetahlicious–and my dog Toto! I mean stop it. He became a neighborhood STAR after that. Who knew all those cheetah coats (he had a cheetah raincoat, fur coat, etc) would come to life!

8. Even though the Cheetah Girls was written in the 90s, and can be a little dated. How do you think they transcend generations? 

Actually, it was the late 90’s into 2008 (the books) so the thing that transcends it the idea of FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS. The movies are still in heavy rotation–and the kids now have no idea when it was made–they just love it. 

9. What had the process been in writing your one woman show-Leopard Lives- based on your experiences in the foster care system? 

I never finished my one-woman show. I am still very much grappling with the whole complicated traumatic drama of growing up in foster care and piecing together my family history. I’m simply not ready to deal with it. 

10. How did you begin your work on your new company, CHEETAHRAMA?

The funny thing is: you know the character Dorothea (Galleria’s Mom)? That’s me. I had a plus-size boutique, TOTO IN NEW YORK, in Soho. That’s how I became a writer (the fashion editor of Essence used to send her crew to my boutique to borrow clothes for editorial shoots. Eventually I badgered them about letting me write and started at Essence as the FASHION/BEAUTY writer). So making stuff is old school–and my roots above all else. Cheetahrama (cheetahrama.etsy.com) grew out of THE CHEETAH GIRLS book signings. i just kept getting so many requests for the stuff I wore in my hair, my clothes, my accessories. So it was time to get back in the game of making stuff–cheetahlicious and beyond!  

11. Any other upcoming projects you’d like to announce?

Naturally, there is no getting away from what happened to me. The story haunts me. And as much as I try to bury it–it pops up in my psyche. I will have to write a semi-auto NOVEL about a girl trying to show her spots while trying survive a treacherous terrain.