Founder’s Message

Next Level Publications Group emerged from my lifetime love of reading. When I set off to college at 17, I left my hometown of Albany, Georgia to attend what was then Clark College in Atlanta, with the intention to start a Black literary magazine. However, as it happened, that was not the time for my dream to blossom. Life happened, and I instead opted for marriage, family life and helping to build a family jewelry manufacturing business. 

Two pivotal events in 2009 and 2012 set the stage for a return to my dream. In 2009, I was inspired to begin writing a book (still in progress). In 2012, I secured my first business client, and I began my career as a freelance writer for nonprofits, authors and speakers. My business grew well through referrals alone. 

Also in 2012, my daughter, Tannur “Shewrightz” Ali, organized the Pen Stroke Poetry Festival in Albany. We met a young man who had already hand-written his first novel. I made it part of my life mission to help him get his work to publication. The problem was, I was still working on my own novel, and did not want to read other writers’ work until I finished my own. Again, I prioritized other activities, and put my book—and beginning to work on his—aside for years.

A full ten years later, in 2022, I decided that I simply must start assisting this young man to get his book published. I decided to create a nonprofit, which would give me a platform to assist him and other writers with publication. I migrated my freelance work to Next Level Publications Group, Inc. (NLPG), copyrighted my unfinished novel and embarked on the NLPG mission to celebrate and support Black literary arts and artists. 

Suddenly, I found myself in the midst of my dream. A literary magazine would be an excellent vehicle to celebrate writers. I’m looking forward to the young man from the Pen Stroke Poetry Festival to blow the dust from his manuscript and move it toward publication.

The moral of this story is: never forget about your dreams. They never forget about you.