Brenda L. Thomas is the national bestselling author of Threesome, Fourplay, The Velvet Rope, Every Woman's Got a Secret, Woman On Top, Secret Service, and the deeply moving memoir of her 15-year struggle with domestic violence and drug addiction, Laying Down My Burdens. She has contributed short stories to the anthologies Four Degrees of Heat and Kiss the Year Goodbye. Brenda, a native of Philadelphia, is currently serving as Executive Producer of the movie adaptation of Laying Down My Burdens.

Tu-Shonda L. Whitaker's work has appeared in Grub Street Writer literary magazine and Black Literary Journal. She is the author of three novels, Whatever It Takes, Flipside of the Game and Game Over, and contributed a short story to the anthology Cream. She lives in New Jersey with her husband and two daughters.

Crystal Lacey Winslow is the author of the Essence bestsellers The Criss Cross and Life, Love & Loneliness, as well as a book of poetry, Up Close & Personal. Her upcoming novel, Sex, Sin & Brooklyn II, is the sequel to her short story in the Essence bestselling anthology Four Degrees of Heat. The founder of Melodrama Publishing, Crystal operates her bookstore, Melodrama Books & Things, in Queens, New York. Visit her website at www.MelodramaPublishing.com.

Daaimah S. Poole wrote her first novel, Yo Yo Love, when she was nineteen, and it became an Essence bestseller. She is the author of nine novels, including My Boo, Another Man Will, and Somebody Else's Man. Visit her website at DSPBooks.com.