Poet, producer, dancer, actress, director, journalist, activist, teacher, and author. Her word phenomenal does not begin to describe her. Angelou, who has become one of the most respected voices in America, once lived in a world of silence. After being raped as a child, the girl born Marguerite Anne Johnson in St. Louis stopped speaking publicly and instead submerged herself in books. After that five-year period of speechless reflection, she emerged reborn. Her muse became the message of personal healing and redemption. That sentiment resounds in her work today. Whether poetry, memoirs, history or performance, Angelou teaches us to love ourselves and find our path to joy.

     She believes in a world without boundaries and barriers, and she is a living testament that teaches us we can survive the wounds of the past. And still she rises.