D. Skies

D~Skies a.k.a. Shante grew up on the south side of Chicago. At the age of 10 she began writing poems and short stories for her teachers. They encouraged her to submit some of her work into competitions. Shante was not able to do so because she had so many others things on her plate having to help care for her sisters and mother. She also learned to play the clarinet and alto saxophone at that time.

Soon after entering high school she became pregnant with her first daughter. Though Shante was faced with becoming a teenage mother she did not let that stop her. She finished high school and even went on to attend college at The International Academy of Design and Technology, without any help from her child's father. She found comfort in teaching herself to play the acoustic guitar. In 2003, her daughter's father tried to step up and become the father he should have started out being, but he was tragically murdered. After which Shante still pressed on to continue her studies.

In 2005, she met her husband and in late 2006 they began dating. The following year they became pregnant with her second daughter. After giving birth she enrolled herself back into school attending Kennedy King College and joining the Honors Society Phi Theta Kappa. She began her writing again and this time it evolved into full-fledged novels. They then became pregnant with her third daughter in 2009. The couple then wedded in November 2009.

Shante graduated in December 2010 with an Associates of Arts degree with Honors and are now attending Chicago State University in pursuance of her Bachelors of Arts degree in TV and Film Making. She has recently released, Derailed, her first novel written under pen name D~Skies. Shante plans to continue to write novels that are inspired from her upbringing and dreams and remain true to keeping her identity as only Shante. No multiple pen names! Her goal is to bring life to her writings by directing and producing them into movies. Shante's mottos are:

"A strong woman is not born, she is made."©

"You can be anyone in the world but at the end of the day just being YOU is always the best."©