MARSHA | AUTHOR & ACTRESS

My name is Marsha Martin and I am an accomplished author and actress. I was born on a plantation in hard times Mississippi. By the age of twelve, I had adapted to the idea of hard work—chopping, and picking cotton were good teachers. Proof is in the pudding as my Social Security statement shows that I’ve been working since the age of eleven. In the south, during the sixty’s, prejudice attitudes and bigotry were at an all-time high. I can remember one late evening while walking along Highway 61, me and my grandmother were terrorized by a carload of white boys, they even spat at us. On that day my grandmother taught me a thing or two about never letting them see you sweat. Even so, I wouldn’t change anything about my upbringing. It’s made me tough and resilient. My grandmother introduced me to God and taught me how to pray at an early age. Prayer has been my saving grace. Life’s trials and tribulations wouldn’t break me but shaped me into an improved me.

At fifteen, after being inappropriately touched by my grandmother’s boyfriend, I was shipped off to Chicago to live with my mother. Existing took on a whole new meaning, I soon became a teenage mother and a high school dropout. I had made a hard bed that I would have to lie in. Life was hard most times, but my dreams and passions for life didn’t die. My mother raised my brother, sister, and myself on welfare. In some ways that was a disadvantage, but I used it to my advantage. I learned firsthand if life serves you lemons, turn it into lemonade. In life’s unpleasantness I held on to the belief that it would get better, life’s plights wouldn’t deprive me of my faith and hope. 

See, a winner never quits. After two failed attempts, I finally got my GED, which aided me in getting a better job. I didn’t stop there, at 48, I went to our City College and graduated with honors. Without pause, I went on to receive my Bachelor’s in Business Management. I had big plans, I would get an even better job, or so I thought. But, after years of stress on that job coupled with the stress of life, three months before graduation I fell ill with Meniere’s Disease. Doctors told me that I would never work again and sadly, they were right. For two years, I couldn’t function in the world. I felt as if life had been sucked out of me. 

Roughly three years later, after one of my pity parties, a clue came to the purpose of my triumphs. I picked myself up by my bootstraps and did the thing I had always wanted to do and that was to write a book. My book, Life is but a Four-Leaf Clover, was birthed out of pain that had plagued my life. Healing took place for me in writing my life story. It was written to inspire, encourage, and give hope as one goes through life’s struggles. My second book, Angels in the Rye, is a story of abuse, forgiveness, and love. My third book, A Revelation, is short story to comfort the soul. I am not done yet, there’s more where they came from. First and foremost, I am in love with the art of acting, I’ve always had a passion for acting. You better believe that I am living out my dream to be an actress. I’ve made my debut in several independent films, and I also landed a commercial. The fruits of my labor will pay off. I am determined to leave a strong, loving, and positive legacy as an African American woman.

One of the few things I have learned over the years is that trouble doesn’t always last. I realize it doesn’t matter what happens to me as I go through life—it only matters what happens within me.