I am a storyteller. This is the most prevalent truth of my life.

Hello, my name is Brooke. Growing up, my brother and I were the youngest of five, and the last defenders of playtime in my maturing family. We allied: I, with my Bratz dolls and littlest pet shops, he with his action figures and cars. On one side of our neighborhood was a Dreamhouse and across from it a Batcave. Our toys lived harmoniously in our Utopia.

But we lost them all.

Though I don’t know how, it could be natural losses from the several times we moved houses, the general inclination of children to lack organizational skills, or stolen by the middle child who liked to sell toys at school (would sometimes even steal them and bargain dish days in exchange for their safe return).

Still, our imaginations were defiant. Without our toys, we adopted oral storytelling, the oldest form of literature, as play. For hours a day we would make stories, naturally riffing and building together. Our lost (stolen) Dream-Cave-Hood quickly spiraled into worlds and universes.

Faeries, aliens, swordsmen, God. Prisons, universities, forests, space. No longer tied to the physical world by toys, our stories knew no bounds, and we found ourselves illuminating the world around us through them for years to come.

Now, stories live in my mind, weaving their way into my worldview. This inspires my career path in marketing, where I have the opportunity to bring to life the real soul behind organizations. I’m currently enrolled in the English Bachelor of Arts program at Hampton University, working towards becoming a published author.

This is my portfolio- rather, an anthology of stories told so far. Maybe the next one will be yours. :)

Sincerely,

Brooke Lynn Warren