Creative Spotlight is a weekly Friday feature highlighting Black creatives making trailblazing moves. In this space, your voices are heard and your hard work is celebrated!

Name: Imani Josey

Age: 30

Occupation: Author

Where You’re From: Chicago

Social/Website: imanijosey.com – Twitter – Instagram  – Facebook

Bio: Imani Josey is a writer from Chicago, Illinois. In her previous life she was a cheerleader for the Chicago Bulls and won the titles of Miss Chicago and Miss Cook County for the Miss America Organization, as well as Miss Black Illinois USA. Her one-act play, Grace, was produced by Pegasus Players Theatre Chicago after winning the 19th Annual Young Playwrights Festival. In recent years, she has turned her sights to long-form fiction. Josey now spends the majority of her time working on backstory, teaching dance fitness classes, and cuddling with her American bulldog, Thor. The Blazing Star is her debut novel.

JET: Give a little insight/background on The Blazing Star:

Josey: The Blazing Star has been in my head in one way or another since I was a kid.  It’s a much better rendition of the first book (if you could call it a book… it was 60 pages of craziness) that I wrote when I was ten years old. I actually still have a copy of it somewhere. The story was about three friends who journeyed to an alternate dimension and discovered they were fairy princesses. Again, it was very much something a preteen in the 90’s would write. Fast forward a few years, right after I finished grad school, I got back into Young Adult (YA) literature and writing again. I decided that the bones of the fairy princess story were actually decent and would fit well with the YA adventure swirling in my head. Add a dash of historical fiction and ancient Egyptian mythology, and five years later, here we are.

JET: What are some of your personal goals? 

Josey: To become a better writer, publish The Blazing Star book series, and write a musical.

JET: What are 5 things that people don’t know about you?

Josey: I still get really nervous anytime I have to speak in front of a crowd. I secretly want to be an old lady with a fancy hat at church. I only have two types of clothing–red carpet and sweat pants. The Preacher’s Wife is my favorite holiday movie. I’m an amateur genealogist. I recently fell in love with the squat rack.

Catch up on JET’s Creative Spotlight series here.

 Diahann “Dee” Williams is a photographer, writer, and Social Media Specialist for the EBONY brand. You can connect with her on Twitter & Instagram or DeexDee.com.