I started a daycare in my basement with a dream and a waiting list. Within a few years, Smarter Toddler had four locations across Manhattan, a reputation that parents trusted, and a business model that worked. Then I sold it in a multimillion-dollar acquisition to Bright Horizons.

That should have been the happy ending.

Instead, the company that bought my business turned around and sued me for $1.5 million. The charge? A non-compete violation. What followed was a legal battle that tested everything I thought I knew about success, about fairness, and about what happens when a Black woman achieves at a level that makes the wrong people uncomfortable.

Run the Mile You’re In is the story of what happens after the American dream delivers on its promise and then sends you the bill. It’s about strategic bankruptcy when the alternative was surrendering. It’s about learning to stay present in the middle of chaos, because the mile you’re in is the only one that matters.

This book covers twenty years of building, losing, fighting, and finding myself through it all. It’s for anyone who’s been counted out and kept going. It’s for the “strong friend” no one thinks to check on. It’s for anyone who needs to hear that presence, not perfection, is what gets you through.