When I started my publishing house in 2021, I knew I wanted to focus on memoirs specifically. I grew up an avid journal-er and I had also spent two years working as an author coach and manuscript editor for a publishing company. Most of the writers I worked with were writing memoirs or self-help books and I witnessed firsthand the transformative impact of writing your own story.
However, prior to starting my company, I had my own authorial debut in 2014 when I wrote and self-published my first book. I was seventeen and I wrote a book called Discovering Summer Abroad: A Teen's Journey to Africa, about my first international experience, which powerfully happened to be to the Motherland. I spent 25 days in Ethiopia and Ghana with a Pan-Afrikan youth program called Black to Our Roots. I journaled daily throughout the experience, so when I came back, my mentor, the late Dan Moore, Sr. of the APEX Museum, taught me how to publish a book. I wanted to write about my experiences so that I could speak to my peers and share something beyond the single-story narrative Western media and history books tell us about Afrika.
After the publication of Discovering Summer Abroad, I was introduced to a woman who wanted to share her story, only she didn't want to do the writing, in fact, she couldn't.
Sheila Baltazar, a Black woman from Louisiana, lost her stepson, Patrick Baltazar in 1981. He was the 16th victim of the Atlanta Child Murders.
I met Mrs. Baltazar in January of 2015, 34 years after the murder of her son. By February I was writing her book.
Before her book, when you Googled Sheila Baltazar's name, all you would find were stories about the Atlanta Child Murders and her fight for justice. Now, you can see her story. She trusted me with telling the fullness of her life story, from growing up in Louisiana, having a baby at 11 years-old, dropping out of school in 5th grade, losing her stepson during the unimaginable terror of the Atlanta Child Murders, to becoming an advocate for justice.
Sheila found her voice and healing by sharing her story. Although she did not write it, she shared it with me. Through multiple conversations, shared photos and documents, I was able to take all the pieces and identify the theme in her story - faith. Faith was the anchor that kept her going through all of life's hardships and heartbreaks.
I was 17 years old, a few months from my high school graduation when I published Stella's Daughters, the memoir of Sheila Baltazar. At the time, I didn't fully grasp how powerful this accomplishment and our collaboration was, but I have since grown to understand that there is also power in helping others tell their story.
Think about how many people there are who could heal and grow through the process of sharing their story, but they don't have the means, ability, or perhaps, desire, to actually write it. Not to mention, getting it published. What will become of their stories? Their legacy? Their voice?
As we prepare to enter a new season, think about the people in your life whose story you would like to read one day. Now imagine yourself as the author of their book. Imagine the healing that will happen for them from sharing their truth, and the healing and deepening of a bond that will happen for you both as you embark on this journey together.
✨Share the gift of storytelling with a loved one this holiday season.✨
Summer J. Robinson
Publisher. Filmmaker. CEO. Building Silver Bangles Productions, a multidisciplinary storytelling agency committed to telling and elevating stories that inspire Afrikan diasporic intergenerational healing. We do this through book publications, TV, Film, and Documentary productions, programming, and education.
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