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At age eight, Mocha Sistah, born Pamela Osbey, told her daddy, "I'm gonna be a singer" and like most parents, he said, "Yeah, sure honey, that's a nice thing." Born on the South Side of Chicago this youngster began reading books at the tender age of three years old and never stopped.
As a young girl, Mocha often escaped the intenseness of a domestic violent upbringing by sneaking and reading adult themed books by Donald Goines and Ice Burg Slim, and when high school came, this very creative creature always had a book, and headphones attached to her head, often laughed at by her family members because she was into her own world.
Mocha began singing as a volunteer in the Chicago area at homes for the sick and shut-in, senior citizen communities, and finally after three auditions got into the Kenwood Academy High School Talent Show, where she sung along side fellow Kenwood alum, Robert Kelly (aka R Kelly). During her high school years, her parents tumultous relationship ended and she had to grow up without her father, which impacted her world and picked up the pen as a poet at age eighteen.
Always known for her realism and rawness, Mocha began writing plays, and became an actress at age twenty-one with the play, "So Much Glory In God" and with her entrance into Grambling State University, she began to combine her musicality and written words. Singing at two choirs, Grambling State University Choir and Voices of Faith, Mocha Sistah began to secretly write but never read her work. It was only in Senior year that her HIV poem was published by Grambling State University.
After college years, she began the corporate track and was invited to be a Corporate Newsletter editor and Guest Writer. Because she loved the written word, Mocha was delightfully surprised when her best friend Dr. Stephanie L. Brown introduced her to Rituals, the poetry spot in Chicago that was featured in the film, Love Jones. Mocha was captivated by the spoken word and although she was very shy at the beginning began to read all the poems she had been writing since age 18. She read her poems, then began the journey of publishing when she got the idea to format her first chapbook of poetry, Exotica I, which eventually was sold and spurned Mocha's first full publication, Musings of a Mocha Sistah (2001).
Two years after Mocha published her book, she had been a featured Author at the Harlem Book Fair, Book Expo America, Printers Row Book Fair, and several cultural and literary events. She began travelling to other cities in Early 2003 and was nominated for the Spoken Vizions Magazine's Poet of the Year Contest, though she did not win, she came in 2nd Place as Poet of the Year (2003); In 2004 she was nominated and won two Female Spoken Word Awards from Disilgold (New York City), and began performing, eventually landing online radio interviews with New Black City, Author First, and Wisconsin Public Radio featured her with the Jonathan Overby show which was taped on the University of Wisconsin's campus in Madison, Wisconsin.
A featured artist in New York City, Austin, St. Louis, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Ohio and several other cities, Mocha has either been using her poetics to entertain, enlighten or empower. In 2005 Mocha added two new books to her publishing credits: Black Orchids and Rivers of My Life and was also a contributing writer with Black Romance Magazine, Bronze Thrills, My Soul To His Spirit, I Woke Up and Put My Crown On, and 100 Words of Wisdom for Women.
Mocha has done this and more, even though technically she was working as a Clinical Counselor but as a newly born Self-Employed Literary Artist, she has spent the last six months crafting her writing skills as a media consultant for artists and authors creating customized press kits and literature.
Currently working on a collaboration CD with LB Lacey & Kobina Wright, two fellow poets, Mocha is excited to present her vocals for the "Food" CD while creating her full album, still untitled, and also rolling out her book company, Osbey Books, with a publication from southern bred word slanger, Mr. Talley, with his forthcoming book, No Candles.
Mocha's been a writer, singer, songwriter, playwright, consultant, and continues to grow and craft with each publication, each song, each creative move. She tries to help artists because she understands it is not about her only. She is a community lady at heart and believes in reaching back to pull someone or as she says, "Paying It Forward". Stay tuned to Mocha's ever evolving world by logging on to www.mochasistahonline.com.
You can check out her new book, Tears of a Woman: The Light Within by logging on to www.lulu.com/mochasistah or read her online portfolio at www.authorsden.com/pamelaosbey.
She appreciates your feedback, criticism, and literary love. Welcome to her world ~ a world filled with love, light and unexpected blessings
View Mocha Sistah's EPKCOMING SOON:http://www.blogtalkradio.com/feeds/literarypizzazz
