Some authors entertain or inform you, but Michelle A. Rhoney is the kind who writes with a purpose so clear you can feel it in your chest.
After her appearance in the Horizons Author Lounge, I was honored when Michelle accepted the invitation to be one of 14 featured authors in my 10th Annual Black History Month Literary Weekend. She’s coming as a woman with a platform built from real life. She admits her life didn’t come wrapped in pretty bows, and she didn’t have it all together. Instead, her platform is one built on grief, identity shifts, heartbreak, healing, and the slow work of learning yourself again.
When Michelle joined me on Horizons Author Lounge, she shared that writing started as journaling, but during the pandemic, she reached a breaking point that became a turning point: she didn’t want to spend her days working and watching TV on repeat. She wanted something more.
That desire became her first published book, The Color of Pretty, a story rooted in colorism, confidence, self-esteem, and the quiet damage of not feeling “enough.” Next came The Color of Pieces, a sequel she describes as an “emotionally raw work of autobiographical fiction” centered on healing, grief, identity, and reclaiming self-worth.
Michelle told me she uses autobiographical fiction to tell her stories because it gives her room to breathe and survive the writing process. She could create characters, shift situations, and still tell the emotional truth without trapping herself in a retelling that felt too exposed, too heavy, or too raw to carry.
This makes perfect sense. There’s nothing wrong with telling your truth without stripping bare for the world to see. I support this wholeheartedly, and, as a book coach, often encourage my clients to do the same. This doesn’t mean there won’t be tough moments while writing. Michelle admitted there were times she was forced to relive moments she’d tried to push past. When that happened, she stopped, took a breath, and came back when she was ready.
What I admire about Michelle is her ability to use her books to build a movement. She channeled the pain she wrote about and used it to build an empowering experience called The Confidence Looks Good on You Conference, designed to help women step into self-assurance, purpose, and growth through workshops, speakers, and community.
Supporting women and girls as they navigate confidence, identity, and life transitions with tools they can actually use is something every community sorely needs in this digital age. In short, Michelle’s work doesn’t pretend pain is rare. Instead, it treats pain like something we survive and rise from.
This is why she’s needed at the 10th Annual Black History Month Literary Weekend. BHMLW celebrates Black history, Black creativity, and Black visibility across genres, and Michelle’s contribution speaks to something many women live through quietly:
- rebuilding after life collapses
- learning self-worth again
- turning grief into growth
If you’re a woman who’s been “lifing,” as she called it…
if you’ve ever lost yourself in a person or a season…
if you’re trying to figure out how to get back to who you are…
her books—and her platform—were built for you.
