Shannan E. Johnson, a native of Houston, TX, is a former TV executive who quit her day job to become a touring artist on Broadway National tours just to come back to Los Angeles with no job and no place to live - the starving artist life. When Hollywood wouldn't let her through the door, she went in through ceiling and established the first black-owned script consultancy in Hollywood, The Professional Pen. As a writer, Shannan writes coming-of-age stories about black women and how trauma can present itself when unrecognized therefore unhealed. She believes we are all motivated by our traumas, big or small, and they serve as obstacles in the way of achieving our greatest potential.