A YA author devoted to candidly exploring teen/young adult issues through fiction. Graciously labeled “the black Judy Blume,” her universal stories and raw voice engages even the most reluctant of readers. Her debut novel, Premature Pleasures (2001), hit Children’s/Young Adult bestseller lists around the southwest region and her sophomore release, Secret Shame (2003), debuted #2 on The Dallas Morning News Bestsellers List and #3 in Essence Magazine (September 2003). Alexus recently celebrated the release her third YA novel, Backseats and Bleachers: A High School Love Story and is sketching her fourth and final project in the Trek Baden-series, Cover the Coo, where her main character Trek is a freshman in college, facing an unplanned pregnancy and confusion about which one of her beau’s is the baby’s father.

Alexus has worked with various youth organizations as a speaker/facilitator, including The Tavis Smiley Youth Foundation where she facilitated youth activist workshops at the National Youth-2-Leaders Conference in Washington, D.C. To the numerous awards and honors bestowed on Alexus, The Phoenix Business Journal awarded her the coveted 40 Under 40 Award in recognition of her business acumen and leadership in the community. In addition, Alexus has taught language arts and Black American culture classes as a Spanish Fellow with Instituto Londres outside Mexico City.

During the school year, she serves as a writer-in-residence at several high schools in Phoenix and travels the country actively promoting and lecturing on teen/YA issues. As the “raw, relevant, responsible voice in teen lit,” Alexus uses her stories to build a platform promoting literacy among kids who hate to read, raising teen sexuality and teen dating violence awareness and other issues pertaining to the teen relationship scene. A member of the Society for Children Book Writers and Illustrators, Alexus holds a Bachelor of Journalism/Public Relations degree from the University of Texas at Austin and resides in Phoenix, AZ.