Chatting with ReShonda Tate Billingsley, Brenda Thomas, & Catherine onyemelukwe

ReShonda Tate Billingsley is taking her craft to the next level. Her latest book, Mama's Boy, a ripped from the headlines story about a young man who films the arrest of his friends. That situation quickly escalates and when the dust settles, a police officer is dead and the young man is on the run. Oh, did I mention the officer is white and he's black...oh, and they're in Jasper, Texas, a town already rife with racial tension. As a mother, what do you do?  And good news on the movie front! Let the Church Say Amen, the movie (directed by actress Regina King, produced by Queen Latifah's Flavor Unit, Royal Ties Productions and Bobbcat Films) is coming to BET August 29, 2015

Brenda L. Thomas is the author of several books including Threesome and the deeply moving memoir of her 15-year struggle with domestic violence and drug addiction, Laying Down My Burdens. A sought-after and compelling speaker, she's appeared on such shows as CNN, ESPN, Dateline and Entertainment Tonight. A native of Philadelphia, Brenda is currently serving as Executive Producer of the movie adaptation of Laying Down My Burdens.

Catherine Onyemelukwe graduated from Mount Holyoke in 1962, and began her career as a Peace Corps volunteer in Nigeria, where she met her Igbo husband and raised three children. Her teaching career was interrupted by the Biafran War when she lived in her husband's village. After the war she co-founded Nigerwives, an organization for foreign wives of Nigerians, ran her own fashion company in Lagos, returned to the U.S. to earn her MBA at Yale, and became a professional fundraiser. Her memoir of her twenty four years in Nigeria has been published by Peace Corps Writers. She blogs at catherineonyemelukwe.com. She is an advocate for racial justice, serves on the board of the U.S. National Committee for UNWomen.