Today we’d like to introduce you to Margaret L Brown.
It’s an honor to speak with you today. Why don’t you give us some details about you and your story. How did you get to where you are today?
It is with great pleasure to announce that you have been selected as a Book Excellence Award Finalist for the book Essays of a Moonshiner’s Daughter; Overcoming Adversity Through Faith and Perseverance in the Memoir category. There were thousands of entries from around the world and your book was selected for its high-quality writing, design, and market appeal.
Essays of a Moonshiner’s Daughter is my memoir written in essay format. It chronicles my extraordinarily blessed life while giving my unique take on topics such as homelessness, domestic abuse, economic development, civil rights, medical bias, and single parenthood. While conversational in nature, it peels back serious challenges like surviving cancer three times, and life-threatening auto accidents and yet retaining a zest for life, traveling all over the world, and offering support to many as a mentor and valued consultant.
I’m sure your success has not come easily. What challenges have you had to overcome along the way?
- Too many! Blessed to be alive to tell the story, but a few were:
- My mother died while I was a teenager
- An alcoholic father that went missing for weeks at a time
- No money for living or education, trying to live off of $103 a month social security survivors benefits at one time.
- Divorce from a man whose brother murdered his entire family and I could have been next. Escaping to Lansing, MI where I only knew a few friends
- Forced to transfer to Lansing where I experience racism
- Grinding through law school
- Single parenthood
- 3-time cancer survivor who was given the wrong treatment
- 2 near fatal car accidents
- Homeless twice
- Left in a house when people were planning a raid on a drug house and had to pretend to be asleep to stay alive
- Postpartum depression
- Racism
- Gender bias while maneuvering up the ranks to become an executive in state government.
Let’s talk about the work you do. What do you specialize in and why should someone work with you over the competition?
I am a retired attorney who spent most of my career in the area of civil rights, housing development, Probate and estate planning, and economic development. I have run 3 nonprofit service populations as diverse as women returning back into society from prison, housing discrimination cases, to affordable housing development. Worked in banking, senior citizen housing, employment, and training for under-employed, unemployed and female, minority, and small business entrepreneurs.
Advocated for people with disabilities. And for good measure did some work investigating claims of sexual harassment. My greatest professional accomplishment is introducing the federal New Market Tax Credit Program to the state of Michigan. As a result, a large share of the over $70 billion in credits has found its way to the state. I am now reimagining my life and becoming an author and visual artist.
What’s your best piece of advice for readers who desire to find success in their life?
Find others (through books, interviews, and observation) who have done what you want to do and emulate what they have done. Never give up. Continue to learn throughout your life and seek knowledge from conventional and nonconventional ways.
Speaking of success, what does the word mean to you?
My purpose is to serve and protect. I have been blessed with enough income to live slightly better than most Black females in the USA but I value people and experiences over things. My success comes from the lives I have touched who have gone on to support and inspire others through their work. My legacy is through them.
What’s next for you?
I want to promote my book because it serves as a guidepost to how to overcome through faith. I plan to write another book that I hope will continue to tell the story of others who inspired me. But I really want to become a world-famous artist! Using art to continue my storytelling in a different way.
Finally, how can people connect with you if they want to learn more?
PHONE: (248) 229-8849
LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/margaret-l-brown-
EMAIL: margaret@margaretbrownspeaks.com
Margaret Brown is audacious. A triple-Cancer survivor, artist, activist, attorney, world traveler, and recipient of the 2014 Ford Freedom Award for The Power of Perseverance, Margaret inspires with her storytelling in “Essays of A Moonshiner’s Daughter”, a book of essays about her journey. An invaluable resource to businesses and individuals for over 40 years. She brings humor, hope, and inspiration to audiences.