Frances Hewlett Morris was born in Memphis, Tennessee. She grew up in absolute poverty during the Civil Rights Era. As a child, her first job was working long hours in the cotton fields for low wages. She is a graduate of Tennessee State University. She started her professional career as a registered nurse at a teaching hospital dedicated to serving the under-served population. She continued to grow professionally and began researching why the poverty cycle exists. As an advocate for justice, she continued her studies and earned a Master's degree in Health Law. She is a retired military officer and health care leader for a Fortune 500 company. She used her voice to help empower people and implemented programs to promote better health outcomes. She had the opportunity to engage with a diverse group of people and learn about different life experiences. She took a journey through a land showing the dark-side while searching for her piece of the American dream. She was economically poor but didn't have a poverty mentality. Her parents taught their children how to survive and thrive in spite of their humble beginnings. Faith, family and fun are important to her. She is a mother, grandmother, sibling and widow. She loves to laugh out loud, dance lively and enjoy life's adventures. She believes we all have a future story that can be powerful and joyful when the right seeds are planted. She decided to share her intimate, powerful and inspiring memoir to help empower others to understand why poverty exists and how to escape its powerful clutches. In her blog, Francie Mae's Journey, she shared part of her life in poverty, her pathways to success and how to prevail over poverty. Her goal is to help find common ground, and empower others to break the shackles of poverty. www.franciemae.com