By Miracle Nwankwo
Tomi Adeyemi is an African in diaspora whose intents when it comes to writing is to be innovative about solving problems. She consistently and consciously channels her words as a problem-solving tool for the younger generation. As she amplifies the power of writing, the younger generation enlisted her works as a highly significant ladder to life success. At 24 she is popularly known as an American Writer, who many could not help but admire because of her great works in creative writing.
Tomi is a young, hardworking, determined and successful woman, who by all means, got herself to the beginning of a successful phase with utmost determination, no other sentence better describes this milestone achiever of the African descent.
Tomi spends most of her time educating and inspiring over 4,500 writers on creative writing at tomiadeyemi.com, a blog she created for that same purpose. Life has not been a bed of roses for this exceptional writer, whose life story confirms the popular saying that “every success attained has a rough tale to it”. Though she has also had her share of struggles, this courageous and creative diaspora woman has remained unshaken.
Tomi was born on the 1st of August in San Diego, California, into a family with a very humble background who struggled to make ends meet even though there was no single assurance that ends were ever going to meet. Her father, although a certified physician back in Nigeria, worked as a taxi driver while he waited to transfer his qualifications and her mother worked as a cleaner. Luck smiled on the young African diaspora and she successfully graduated from Harvard University with an honors degree in English literature.
When life seemed as if there was no hope, her passion to touch many lives, provided her an opportunity to study African mythology and culture in Salvador Brazil.
Her journey in this field started way back at a very young age and her first story was written when she was only five years old. Considering her early writing passion one could easily describe her as the lady born with a golden pen in her hands.
“I didn’t really get introduced to it! Writing has always been in me, it’s the first thing I ever did without anyone telling me what to do,” Tomi said.
Accepting writing as her first weapon to change the world, she always made use of black characters in her writing as a way of teaching the blacks self-love and also improving the image of the blacks before other races. She often writes with an intention and purpose, particularly when it comes to the identities of her characters.
When Tomi wrote her first novel, which did not yield positive feedback at the time, she became faced with two different options which was to either learn from her mistakes and move on or to remain submerged in self-pity and a long-term discouragement. She chose to stand tall and would not allow the failure to deter her, she instead gave herself a year to write another book which is the ‘Children of Blood and Bone’ that wowed the hearts of many.
She is most recognized for ‘Children of Blood and Bone’ and the book was picked up by Fox 2000 and Temple Hill Productions for a feature film adaptation. The hard work and passion she displayed in her works made her personal website and blog listed by writer’s digest as one of the best 101 websites for writers.
Reading the works of this milestone achiever, it is glaring that she patiently went through the route of self-development, which rapidly elevated her as a reference point to other writers. Tomi’s secret ingredient seemed to be her ability to see every major disappointment as an important stepping stone on her life’s journey.
Regardless of the successes attained by Tomi, one of her most valued moments still remains whenever she comes in contact with young fans whose lives and belief systems have been greatly affected through her writing.
She discovered writing as a safe haven for her to escape into a world of complete possibilities, but also a sword for her to wield against all the injustices around her. In fact, writing provided the young lady with a voice and agency which became a reason for her existence.
Tomi has successfully created writings that cannot but help proffer solutions to the existing challenges that face young women in our today’s world. As a unique publication born out of the desire to highlight the giant strides of women we raise our flags high in honour of Tomi Adeyemi – a successful woman in diaspora.
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