Interview with Author and business mogul Chantel Hall-Reid, author of Imani‘s Diary.

Pamela R Haynes award winning author of Loving The Brothers interviews self published authors from around the world. In this episode meet author Chantel Hall-Reid.Chantel Hall-Reid is an author, mother, educator, and a mentor. As a graduate of Birmingham City University, she earned a BA (Hons) degree in Primary Education and is a lover of all things English &Education. Since graduating Chantel has taught in a range of educational settings. Chantel has more than ten years of teaching & mentoring experience and in 2018 decided to use her passion and expertise to form her own English tuition business, it was also during this year that Chantel set up another business offering support to educational establishments in a bid to increase their students learning experience. Chantel is a Co-founder and Director of Sister2Sister C.I.C, a social enterprise supporting young females through empowerment and confidence building programmes. With all these projects under her belt, it’s clear to see that she’s not afraid of hard work and has a passion for young people. This further confirms why Sister2Sister made the finals of the Great British Entrepreneur Award 2020, for the entrepreneurial spirit award category. When it comes to supporting young people, this is where Chantel truly feels at ease. Chantel has just finished writing her first book “Imani’s Diary” which she hopes will be the first of many. Chantel’s inspirations include just about everything; books she read, 90s music which she still adores! and her love of travel. But mostly; her inspiration for this novel came from life experiences, her teaching days, working with young girls as well as social observations. Publishing a book has been a lifelong goal for Chantel and she’s tremendously proud with the publication of her first novel. Chantel hopes to inspire anyone whose thinking of writing a book, to just get started. INSPIRATION Inspiration for Imani's Diary came from Chantel's passion to support young females. In her business Sister2Sister, Chantel mentors BAME females between the ages of 13-21. Many of the experiences she mentors young teens on are highlighted through Imani's Diary. The book reflects typical situations and scenarios that teenage girls go through. Imani is just a regular girl growing up with her family in the 90s. On the surface, Imani seems to enjoy her teenage years, but she longs for acceptance, commitment, and security. Even though she uncovers fake friendships, family secrets and relationship blunders, she also experiences some teenage highs; late night parties, sleepovers and holding down a boyfriend; or two! Imani’s diary is a quirky, funny, and heartfelt snapshot of trials and tribulations, captured with brutal honesty. The book is great for parents to perhaps get insight into what their teen daughters may be getting up to and how to support them, it is also useful for women who grew up in the 90s in the sense that they can reflect on some of the experiences they went through, and perhaps start to unpick them and realise that others too shared those experiences. Music, food, and travel have all shaped the book; as well as Imani's witty one liners that bring humour, Chantel opted for a light-hearted tone to the book. Chantel has chosen this tone to reflect how easy it is for teens to hide behind cheekiness to mask the real pain and frustration they may be feeling, something she has observed first-hand through delivering her Empowerment Programmes to girls in inner city schools. Its's also a humorous, 90's nostalgic throwback, the main themes in the book are in and around teens growth and experiences. At the time of writing current affairs such as the Pandemic, Black lives Matter, George Floyd and the death of Breana Taylor were prevalent in the media, Chantel wanted to write something more light-hearted and humorous. Competition closes at 5pm GMT on Friday.