Sharif K Rasheed

I was born in Cincinnati, Ohio and raised in Aurora, CO. I grew up in a single parent household with my older brother. My amazing mother raised us both and if not for her, I honestly do not believe I would be here. Growing up was tough at times, but always filled with love and support. My brother and I still laugh about “wish meat” sandwiches. Unless you were poor, you probably never ate potato chip sandwiches that “you wished” had meat on them. I gained a lot of life experience at a young age due to circumstances out of my control that most people never have to face. But I am the person I am today because of my experiences, not despite them. Contrary to popular belief, I did not speak much as a child. I was a people watcher. I was always creating stories about the adults in my life. When I was in 4th grade I wrote my first short story. It was about a woman on a cruise ship named Sarah. Long story short, Sarah saved the ship and fell in love. It was a story dedicated to my friend that was in a car accident as a child. It was not the most creative story, but I was only 9 years old and I thought it was the best story ever. As I grew older I gravitated towards the human services fields and after I graduated from Wright State University, I moved to Pittsburgh and began counseling adolescent females. I continued to pursue a career working with and empowering young people, which led me to try and start a non-profit. The non-profit did not pan out, but it was a great experience and valuable life lessons were definitely learned during the process. At the time I had guest lectured at Wright State University and the pursuance of my non-profit led me to me receiving the Outstanding Alumni Award in 2012. Social work is hard, despite what they tell you but I knew I wanted to do something meaningful with my life and shortly after that I began to take my writing seriously, which is when I wrote Women, Are you serious?