Our entire lives are a story. Each year, a new chapter in the story. The story is filled with heroes, villains and background characters. Each life has a theme and, just like any good book, each life story is filled with obstacles, triumphs, romance and plot twists. This is the story of our collection’s creator, Tiffini Johnson.
The first setting in our story is the city of blues, the home of Elvis, and the heart of the South: Memphis, TN where, on a cool day in October, Tiffini was born. Two years later, her younger sister, Stephini, would join the family. Stephini, and their mother, were the strongest protagonists in Tiffini’s youth, instilling core values of family and faith. These values would ultimately see her through her life’s greatest challenge.
From age 5 to age 16, Tiffini was sexually abused. She internalized the abuse and remained “a good girl” by staying silent. Instead of talking, Tiffini channeled the hurt into writing. By 3rd grade, she’d written multiple books and was reading her stories aloud to classmates during circle time.
The birth of her daughters provided the impetus to shed light on her trauma and ultimately resulted in the book “The Character” in 2009. This book allowed her to speak freely about the abuse she experienced and opened doors to advocacy and healing.
Today, Tiffini is a mother to two beautiful daughters and thrives on watching them create their own life stories. She iws a recognized advocate. She has volunteered as a support specialist and a member of the Speaker’s Bureau for the Rape and Incest National Network for 15 years, serves as a Guardian ad Litem for foster children, and volunteered as a mentor for at-risk children through programs such as Big Sisters and Project Affirm. She leads an online book club called Chapter Chats, speaks nationally on abuse, leads a trauma-informed workshop that strives to inspire creativity in survivors, and is the author of 14 novels that deal with societal issues. She uses writing as a tool to support survivors of trauma. In her life story, kindness is stronger than evil and it’s when we make ourselves the most vulnerable that we find our greatest strengths.
