Meet Samantha Denäe of Samantha Denäe, The Yellow Corner

Today we’d like to introduce you to Samantha Denäe.

Samantha, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Since the seventh grade, I’ve been writing poetry. It was a talent I sort of just stumbled upon. To be honest, I was never interested in reading a lot of books outside of those that were for school, but the books we read in school left an impressionable mark on me. Then I met my eighth-grade math teacher, Coach Mitchell. Coach was very into ensuring that we not only understood math but that we also understood that we were African American children who are descendants of African American inventors, innovators, humanitarians, activists, and much more.

The winter break of my eighth-grade year, Coach Mitchell (who would frequent my home due to my father being in and out of my life) stopped by and asked what I was doing for the break. Just like any other thirteen-year-old, I wasn’t doing anything but enjoying the joys of no homework – boy was I wrong. Coach Mitchell gave me a book and told me to read it and when school came back from winter break to have a book report done. Can you believe he would do that? Here I am on winter break with my feet up and now I have homework? Homework with no grade, might I add, but little did I know this would be the reason why I am where I am today.

Fast forward to 2015, where I’m the HR/Retention & Recognition Coordinator and secretary for The Southeast Permanente Medical Group (Kaiser Permanente) by day and a magazine writer by night. My supervisor has gone on maternity leave and I had literally completed all of the tasks she’d given to me. It was supposed to take me three months to complete those tasks. I did it in one, so naturally, I got bored. One day I had an idea to create a blog centered around four African American career-driven women, but one character stood out to me and from that, I began writing a novel.

This was my first time writing a story, ever. I didn’t think I could do it but I took a step on faith. It took me two months to complete my first manuscript. The Defense, which received great reviews. Every day at work instead of working for them, I was working for me. I hated my job. I didn’t want to be a secretary although I enjoyed my other position. It was then I thought about Coach and that book report and the orange peel. On the last day of the eighth-grade year, Coach Mitchell wanted to teach us a lesson considering we were going off to high school and it was a chance he’d never see some of us again.

He sat the class in a circle and handed out orange slices to some students and orange peels to others. I received the peel and he made us eat it. Have you ever ate an orange peel before? It’s disgusting and Coach had given me a BIG piece. How does an orange peel translate into a life lesson? Well, Coach said this and it’s something I will never forget: “In life, you’re not going to always get what you want. Take this orange, we all eat the slice and throw away the peel, but what you don’t know is that the peel has more nutrients and is better for you yet we eat the slices because it tastes better.

Everything in life that’s good to you isn’t good for you like the slice and the peel.

Remember that as you go to high school and become adults.” Here I was at a job that paid great money with incredible health care, a 401k plus retirement and I dreaded every single second of being there. I knew an office job wasn’t for me but writing was and it did not pay the bills. I had a plan though. I was going to save as much as I could in two years, quit, and become a writer. Plans changed and I became a flight attendant but the routine of that lifestyle caused my writing to slack until last year.

In the midst of all of this, I had been diagnosed with Endometriosis, where abnormal tissue grows on the outside of the uterine lining causing severe pelvic pain, cramps, and possible infertility. I was sick pretty much every day but walking through life with a smile so no one would know. I was on chemotherapy and going through menopause, all at the age of 25. It was a nightmare as you can imagine and even worse my cycles were starting to last three months rather than the usual eight days so my energy was at a zero.

My confidence was shot because my fertility had been cut in half, I was wondering if having a baby was in the cards for me, I was getting bigger due to the medication, and I was living in the body of a 50-year-old woman. It wasn’t until last September when I decided that I was going to finish the continuation to my first novel. I completed The Defense Too in November of last year and it was released this past May. The Defense has been turned into a short film and I am now looking to create a feature film or TV series surrounding Avery and her journey. This time around I am taking my craft and my gift more seriously to brand myself as an all-around writer.

Additionally this past April I created a non-profit organization, The Yellow Corner Corporation, that aims to provide high school seniors who are homeless or in the foster care system with essential necessities to prepare them for their freshman year of secondary education. I had it on my heart to start this organization during my sophomore year of college at Valdosta State University but had no direction until this past February when I had my second laparoscopy procedure for Endometriosis and was informed that I am unable to conceive or carry children naturally.

Although it is devastating to hear, I have always had a passion for children in the foster system and if I’m unable to have children of my own then I will mother and love on those who do not have their own. As a budding businesswoman, I am looking to corner all things that are of passion and that will benefit and bless others. I aim to inspire those who think that they can’t because I can teach them that the only person standing in their way of being great is them and that the hardest part in being great is not failing but starting.

Has it been a smooth road?
It hasn’t been a smooth road. Some of the struggles of writing is really doing everything yourself from writing the book, editing, self-promotion & selling. Creating a fan base is even harder. Throw in being sick every day and that makes it even harder to just start the writing process.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Samantha Denäe, The Yellow Corner, Corporation story. Tell us more about the business.
My business is being a self-published writer and non-profit CEO. My nonprofit organization, The Yellow Corner, Corporation, provides high school seniors in the foster care system and who are homeless with mentorship and the essential necessities to prepare them for their freshman year of college. Although my nonprofit is just getting started, I am most proud of that and taking a tragic situation and turning it into something positive.

As a self-published author, I write urban fiction novels. My first novel, The Defense, has generated an initial buzz for me as a series author. What sets me apart in writing is my style. It’s very real and raw like a young Terry MacMillan.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I see my writing career really going in all avenues: books, movies, TV, everything! I’m currently writing a stage play about Endometriosis that I believe will boost my career and will give me a bigger platform to brand myself.

Pricing:

• Books are $15 (PayPal.me/sdenae08)

Contact Info:

• Website: www.samanthadenae.com
• Phone: 4047696618
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: thesamanthadenae
• Facebook: Samantha Denäe

Image Credit:
Dynasty Productions, Mari Love

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