Acknowledgments

This book wouldn’t have been possible without the help of my sister Natasha and my mother, Marilynn, who supported my commitment to telling the truth, while also shielding me from lots of familial drama during the writing process. Thank you for that. Good lookin’ out.

All of my love to my niece and nephews, Cameron, Mason, Nadia, Li’l Bo, and Nick. You give me hope for the next generation and you’re so dang cute!

To my amazing editor, Casey McIntyre, I’m grateful for your patience and helpful suggestions that helped me do justice to my memories and comedy. You’ve created a monster, but, like, a cute one.

My agents and team at ICM, Katie Kolben, Ayala Cohen, Tina Dubois, Rory Platt, Kaitlyn Flynn, and Sarah Kelly, thank you for taking a chance on me years ago and negotiating above your commission always. Love y’all to the moon and back.

I’d be remiss if I forgot to thank Berea College, Billy Wooten, Upright Citizens Brigade, Casey Neistat, John Green, Barack and Michelle Obama, the Sundance Labs, USC’s Annenberg Lab, YouTube Black, Dodai Stewart, Brendan Kennedy, my hair braider Sonia, my local bodega, my mattress, and several good playlists on Spotify. It took a lot to get here, and you all helped immeasurably along the way.

Beyoncé, a steady character in my life for nearly two decades, I won’t forget how you dropped self-titled right after I got dumped, or Lemonade coming out in the middle of my health crisis. You’re a real one, Bey. You blew me a kiss at OTR II tour and magical things have been happening to me ever since. Thank you.

And a very special thanks to the doctors at Mount Sinai, especially Dr. Myron Schwartz, who didn’t let me die in surgery in the middle of all this book writing. That would have been a real mess! Thank you for taking a black woman’s pain seriously and saving my life. 

And anyone who’s looking for their name and not finding it, thank you so much for caring.