We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Stephanie BwaBwa. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Stephanie below.

Hi Stephanie, thanks for joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

Wow, I’ve been a lifelong reader. When I was a small child, my mom would read to me every night out loud. Later on in childhood, about 9 or so years old, I read: A Series of Unfortunate Events, and I loved reading ever since. I consumed everything from Lemony Snickett, Roald Dahl, Judy Blume, and so on.

In my late middle school, early high school years I fell on a fairly new series called: The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare. It’s an urban fantasy with a ton of high fantasy elements in it. It was through reading The Mortal Instruments I knew one day I’d want to write my own fantasy novel.

Years later, in January of 2013, I began writing out my prayers which I then turned into poems. About the same time, I began working on an urban fantasy. It took time, but in 2017 I published both independently. Ever since then I have been writing and publishing.

I’ve since unpublished a few works because they were by far not my best, but I don’t ever regret how I started writing fantasy because it’s brought me to where I am as a career author today.

Stephanie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Wings high I’m Stephanie BwaBwa. You may think “Wings high” strange, but if you’ve read my work, you’d know this is the common greeting of the angels, and a backbone of my fantasy brand. It’s a hello as much as it is a goodbye. A salutation of acknowledgment as much as it is a grim acceptance.

Anywho, I’m a Christian, Afro-Caribbean, Epic Romance Fantasy (lovingly referred to as “Romantasy”) Author with big dreams, a big heart, and novels that fill readers with awe, light, and wonder. I’m also the founder of Elledelle, the fantasy universe of angels.

On a personal note, I’m an expert at avoiding people even though I’m good at people’ing, eating Haitian patties, and tapping into my inner Afro-Caribbean auntie when my Americanism is tapped out.

I’m a plurulingual, Canadian author of Haitian and Congolese descent. My background itself has caused me to have a diverse imagination that bleeds into my stories often.

A decade ago, I was a broken young woman who got fed up with God and was desperate to release the swells of rage harbored inside. I had reached a place where I’d ran out of the strength to get on my knees. I lost the ability to physically open up my mouth to pray.

So I picked up a pen to do it instead. I started writing out my prayers on paper. The majority of those turned into poems. Little did I know, that would be a short jump to me writing my first urban fantasy novel.

That first written prayer led to my author career today. From prayer to publishing, God led me down a journey where he made it clear, my pulpit would be pages, and my sermons would be stories.

In 2016 I began penning the first story that would kick off what is now Elledelle. Elledelle is a universe of angels meant to entertain and enlighten readers through immersive storytelling based on biblical principles. The Elledelle universe is forever clapping its wings for readers in love with edgy angels in dark worlds through epic romance fantasy. My goal is to always give readers thrilling adventures and steamy legends.

Through the lives of angels in these dark worlds, I portray epic journeys that mirror the human condition and bring fantasy readers on unexpected adventures.

Nowadays, I’m just living my best life, by serving in my local church, loving my family, or kicking it with my friends. Every once in awhile, I drop a fantasy novel full of angels, angst, adventure, and awe.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The greatest reward is pouring out my soul into a book, and seeing readers take the books into their hearts as their own, loving it equally the same. That’s huge for me. Books take a long time to write. It’s not something you can do overnight if you wish to do it well. So when readers love the books I’ve written with the same passion I have for them, it means the world, and continues to push me to keep writing.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

So many books have played a role in my thinking as an entrepreneur, but also as a creative.

I’d be remiss if my first response wasn’t the Holy Bible. As a disciple of Jesus, really I go to the Bible for literally everything. Strategy, wisdom, growth mindset, stewardship, self-development, financial literacy, all of it.

But some others that also made an impact are:

Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert. This book did wonders in stretching my imagination and the value placed on creativity and new ideas.

Atomic Habits by James Clear. Learning how powerful making one decision, to change one thing, can have lifelong compound effects was major in establishing entrepreneurial discipline and shifting my mindset.

Profit First by Mike Michalowicz. I never knew that it was possible, it was okay, to pay yourself first from the business before covering anything else. Plus learning the importance of increasing profit margins while decreasing overhead was brilliant.

That Will Never Work by Marc Randolph. Netflix is a phenomenon that would have never been if not for Marc Randolph. His intimate walk through his journey from ideation to Netflix going Live (before he stepped away from the company) helps stretch my imagination and my ability to believe for more.

7 Figure Fiction by Theodora Taylor. This book is short but powerful. Its the ticket to knowing exactly what the book will be about before writing, knowing how you’re going to market it without issue, and publishing to a ready audience of readers that will devour the book all while helping you get to six and seven figures in the authorial business.

Numerous books from Joanna Penn, as well as K. M. Weiland, from craft, to self-publishing, to the indie author life have also shaped my mindset, helped me grow in my craft, and shaped the approach to my career..

Contact Info:

• Website: https://elledelle.com
• Instagram: http://instagram.com/stephaniebwabwa/
• Youtube: http://youtube.com/@TheElledelleUniverse/
• Other: http://tiktok.com/@stephaniebwabwa https://www.amazon.com/author/stephaniebwabwa http://bookbub.com/authors/stephanie-bwabwa https://www.goodreads.com/stephaniebwabwa

Image Credits
The Court of Dreams and Stars cover: @Darya_art Seraphim Falling: @DominiqueWesson Seraphim Breaking and Seraphim Burning: @EmilieSnaith_art Bound By Watchers cover: Coverdungeonrabbit Bound By Watchers case art: @Colouranomaly