Jeanette Stephens-El writes under her Native American spiritual name, Raining Deer (Harjo). She is a Native/African American Iyeska (Spiritual Interpreter) and is a member of the Seminole Tribe of Florida (Cox-Osceola Seminole Reservation). In addition to her current tile, BCV-Rites of Passage for Breast Cancer Victors, this freelance writer wrote T-Time: A Rites of Passage Manual for the Adolescent Female in 2005. A former arts administrator in Miami, she was a coordinator of the inaugural Miami Book Fair International, which would become the largest literary gathering in the country.
The legendary James Baldwin referred to this dynamic writer as his adopted daughter. Raining Deer later co-founded and spearheaded the Pan African Bookfest and Cultural Conference and she was the creative force behind Southern Dawn magazine, service as its editor-in-chief in the late 1980s. Having pended articles for numerous South Florida newspapers and been a featured writer in various anthologies and non-fiction works such as Drumbeat Voices Revue – Poetic Voices of Contemporary Urban Cultures (Foreword by Maya Angelou), Raining Deer co-produced Today’s Children, Tomorrow’s World, a fashion gala supporting pediatric AIDS.
She is the current Editor of the LoweDown Quarterly Newsletter. Raining Deer launched BCV – Rites of Passage for Breast Cancer Victors to critical acclaim in 2006 at The Miami Book Fair International and Afro-in-Books Café. She has appeared at book signings nationwide and counsels women who are newly-diagnosed with breast cancer. In addition, she has facilitated rites of page programs and been featured on television, radio, and numerous book fairs, festivals and conferences, including the acclaimed Art Expo in New York, the Harlem Book Fairs and the Pan African Bookfest. Raining Deer is an advisor to Community Builders Holistic Development Corp. in Miami. She is currently working on a screenplay based on her breast cancer experience and a much anticipated chronicle of her spiritual journey.
