Читать книгу Tears to Triumph: - Dawn Marie Daniels - Страница 8

Laurie Parkin, we thank you for believing in us and the Souls of My Sisters imprint. Steven and Walter Zacharius, your support and guidance is just amazing. We have a talented, young, and brilliant staff without which we could not have made this possible: Kim Alvarez, Zerena Little, and Tanisha Wade. Thank you, Jessica McLean Ricketts, for your advice and kindness. Thank you to Rakia Clark, John Scognamiglio, Selena James, Karen Auerbach, Kate Duffy, David Lappin, Lesleigh Irish-Underwood, John Maseillo, Valeece Broadway Smith, Adeola P. Saul, Mercedes Fernandez, Neven Gravett, and Daly Hernandez. Thanks to our attorney, Kojo Bentil, Esq., Lex Larose, CPA, John Millwood, and the incredible research support from Brian A. Cravanas and Frankia Granberry.

The women of Tears to Triumph, we appreciate you giving your heart and soul to help us develop the ideas and thoughts within these pages.

Special thanks from Candace Sandy

To my parents, Patricia and Carlton Samuel, who love with grace and have instilled in me the need to make a difference. To my brothers, Sherwin Sandy and Sheldon Samuel; my nieces, Crystal and Taylor; and nephew, Ricardo, who has always been a constant source of love. To my aunts for their undying love, belief, guidance, and support. To Aunt Geraldine (Amu), Helen, Jennifer, Hemetta, Joanie, Pat, and Joan Braithwaite. To my uncles, who are absolutely phenomenal: Uncle Vernell (Vush) and Trevor Hamlett. To Uncle Wendell Hamlett, who never stopped believing in us. To my cousins, whose love and support sustained me: Jackie, Ann, Paula, Torrie, Jodelle, Donica, Danica, and Natalie. To all of the boys I treasure: Kealon, Terrence, Mark, Trevon, Brent, Franklin, Elijah, Langston. To the Fraley family, my aunt and Uncle Frank, Lisa Fraley, Ollie Gables, and Grandmother Fraley. To my godmother, Cyrilla Laborde, and my extended family: Gary and Amy Krakow; Saundra Parks; and my godchildren, Mark, Martin, Chanel, Naomi, Eliana, Alyssa, Gabriel, and Johnathan. My sisters since I was nine years old, Cristina Colon and Maggie Goring, and their spouses, Jose Gerrero and James Goring. To Al and Tiffany Ragin, who are simply irreplaceable.

To Congressman Gregory W. Meeks, his wife, Simone Marie Meeks, the Washington, and the New York staff who have been encouraging and understanding during the development of the book. Special thanks to Dana, Tracie, Teresa Frank, Steve Looney, Dr. Anita Jackson, Carl E. Simmons, Nadia Suliaman, the Donna Karan Family, and Vera Gaskin.

Special thanks from Dawn Marie Daniels

First and foremost, I truly want to thank my Lord and savior Jesus Christ from whence my strength, love, knowledge, and compassion comes from. God motivates me every day and for that I am grateful.

To my sons, Mark and Martin, you are my joy and every day being your mom is a blessing. Your love and support, questions and answers, laughter and tears have been the best lessons I have learned in life. You are truly special sons.

I give sincere love and undying gratitude to my best friend and sister, Candace Sandy. Your unconditional love and support have sustained me for the last twenty-plus years of my life—you are truly my sister. Your love and compassion inspire me to be the best person I can be every day.

To some of my best friends—Antoinette Callistro, Tiffany Cordy, Maria Davis, Dana Gibbs, Joella Irving, Christine Saunders, and Seanette Vaughan—thank you for being my everyday sounding boards, cheering squad, and sisters. I appreciate your sisterly advice and love.

Mom, the love you have shown me and the lessons you taught me remain with me forever. I love you and pray for you every day! Only a really special dad would support his daughter’s dream unquestioningly and unconditionally. Daddy, you are that special person and I cannot express in words how much I love you. Thank you.

Grandma, you are truly an angel. You are always there to support anything I do and I am grateful for the love and joy you bring to my life.

Special thanks from Dr. Jarralynne Agee

I give honor to God for realizing something special in me and giving me a hint of what your plans were for me through the angels and blessings that you have brought into my life. To my wonderful, amazing husband, Robert. I thank you for encouraging me to do this book and all the other projects. You always say, “Baby, you can do that.” I know I can because you said it and because I have you. To my sons, Trey and Quest, thanks for helping Mommy “concentrate” on writing the book by bringing me action figures to play with, rocks to count, puzzles to finish, and arguments to solve when I am at the computer. You remind me every day the reason why I write and the reason why I live.

For your love, support, and encouragement, I have to thank my Fletcher family: Jackalynne, James, and Taunna. To my Agee family: Ron, Helen, and Robert, Sr. Then I have to especially thank my dad, Gene, and mom, Karen, for all the things you have done for us and for all the reasons that are too heavy for this little piece of paper to hold.

I am lucky enough to have my very own set of super-friends who have provided inspiration and support along the way. Thanks to my Wonder Women: Siri Brown, Dawne Westbrook, Lorissa McMillan, Sonia and Soneka Anderson, Sadie Eubanks, Diana Dikes, Kaiya Swanigan, Sharron Herron, Sheila Morgan, Gina Abrams, and Jenise Gonsalves. My Supermen: Brian Olowude, Brian Cravanas, Sr., Jeff Gardere, jeff obafemi carr, Phillip Eubanks, Henry Long, Jerome Green, Groesbeck Parham, Michael Chan, Reverend Floyd T. Tramell, Reverend Amos Brown, and Eddie George. I had it so good at UC Berkeley and these people helped me so much: Chris Mclean, Claytie Davis III, Ron Coley, Stephen Hinshaw, Stephen Small, Gloria Chun, Ula Taylor, Lance Page, David Scronce, Pat Lavelle, Makalia Aga, Beth Luke, and my Berkeley writing group.

I am so grateful to the entire staff at the Counseling Center, the Departments of African American Studies and Psychology, my friends in Human Resources, and the chancellors and vice chancellors at UC Berkeley! I also appreciate the administration and faculty at Miles College, the staff from NFL Europe, as well as the staff at Lemak Sports Medicine for their encouragement. Special thanks to Mary DeShaw, Inette Dishler, and Jennifer Berkeley because sometimes angels walk into your life and they may not be wearing their wings, but they might just bring you strawberries.

Some days I wake up and smile thinking of how grateful that I am for my agent, Nicholas Romain Lewis. Who would have thought that this partnership would have come out of Trinity’s Youth Choir?

Right here is the space I am devoting to the people who I have not named. I know in my heart that you are one of the reasons why this book has come to reality. I am grateful to our old and new friends, the women that shared their stories on and off the record and told us honestly what they thought about our idea and then still candidly shared theirs.

Finally to my co-authors, Candace and Dawn. Thank you for making me a part of your Souls of My Sisters legacy. Dawn, I am inspired by your talent and your wisdom, and I am so glad that I got to work with you in this way. Candace, it was seven years ago when I met you in New York City and something about your presence gave me permission to dream of creating what we now hold in our hand. I thank God for you both!