Mandy Smith-Williams resides in Florida and is a senior member of an admissions team in an institution of higher education for the past 17 years. She has a consulting business as well. She is a graduate from Webster University with a Dual Master’s Degree in Human Resources Management and Development. She received recognition for her work, “Still I Rise” published in 2022 by Wingless Dreamer Publisher and has received recognitions in several other anthologies to date. Her greatest joys in life are family, traveling, and her fur babies, Prince and King. Grateful for the opportunity to share her love for writing poetry with Poets Choice, she feels this is an amazing platform for writers to express their feelings, emotions, thoughts, or passions in words and share them in both the local and international markets. Her love of writing and reading poetry started in her youth, where she excelled in her writing & literature classes. Two of her favorite authors, Langston Hughes, and Maya Angelou, are a few of her inspirations. She is encouraged to continue writing and is currently working on her first full poetry collection.