1. Introduce yourself(tell about yourself & who you are)

My name is Anya Lawrence. I am 21 years old, from NC. I am an open, expressive person. Which I believe I do that a lot throughout my body of work in poetry. Poetry and battle rap are the love of my life. I am also very family-oriented. My family means the world to me.

2. i noticed you write poetry what inspired you to become a poet at heart?

Poetry began as an outlet for my emotions. I experienced heavy emotions as a child, and pen and paper quickly became my best friend. I love writing. I remember I use to ask for extra writing prompts in my English class, that’s how much it meant to me. I had stopped as I got older because I lost the passion but picked it back up through high school. It was small. Maybe wrote every so often. College is when it swung back fully. Once I began to see how people actually loved reading or listening to my work, it made me feel like I was meant to share it to the world. That’s how I came up with the idea of writing my first poetry book. 

3. What are some goals in life you’d like to complete I see you also are business owner?

 Relaunching and rebranding my business would be a goal I would like to tap into one day. I shut down everything due to the stressors of graduating from college during the time. Currently, I’m getting my master’s and about to begin working, so I’m not sure where that would fit in, but I would love to figure it out one day. It was a great experience during the time.

4. What is a positive message you’d like to share with people around the world? 

I don’t want to be cliche but I exaggerate being yourself. We live in a society where you see a lot of fabrication of things. You’re supposed to look a certain way, think a certain way, etc… but the more and more you paint a picture of yourself that’s not real, the more you’re suppressing your value. Also, utilize therapy. I can’t stress that enough. You don’t have to be “crazy” or have any trauma to go to therapy. There are plenty of resources available to help pay or even free programs. Allow for people to help you, it’s okay! 

5. If you could describe a perfect world what would it look like to you?

I’m not sure. My “perfect world” would probably be outside of America, but since I’ve always been here, I can’t picture it. I don’t think I can create an idea of what a perfect world inside America would look like or feel like. It’s sad.

6. What are some mental struggles you’ve faced in life and how did you overcome them? 

Being hyper-independent throughout my teenage years. Hyper-independence is a trauma response. When you’re a teenager, your parents want you to be dependent on them and open up to them. Me on the other hand, I’ve always been independent and outspoken. I believe that was hard for my family to grasp. Also, dealing with depression made it no better. I was always looked at as having an attitude, when that was never the case. Overcoming that was just another layer as to why I am the way I am. Not caring about what others think of me was important for me to learn. Doing what’s best for me helped me a lot.

7. How would you like to make an impact in the world if you could?

I love helping people. I have my bachelor’s in psychology and I’m currently getting my master’s in human services, specializing in crisis response and trauma. However, the best learning moments have came from me simply talking to people. I love that you can gain a lot of insight from other people that you don’t know. I don’t care what area of “help” I do whether it’s drug abuse, outreach programs, the youth, resources for a community, etc. I’ve already tapped into many of these already throughout my college career so it means everything to me to continue to build on that.