Marneta L. Griffin firmly believes that we do not go through things for ourselves, but for other people.  As the youngest of seven children, she was born in Flint, Michigan and raised in Holly, Michigan, where she ran track and graduated with honors from Holly High School.  She earned her Bachelor’s of Science degree in Food Systems Economics and Management from Michigan State University in 1985, and, deciding that you’re never too old to learn, earned her Master of Social Work degree in Organizational and Community Practice in 2002 from the same school. That same year, she was inducted into the Beta Chapter of the Phi Alpha Honor Society for Social Work students who maintained a 3.5 grade point average.

Marneta has numerous years of experience in working with students and people from the general public. In 2001, while serving as a graduate student intern in Senator Debbie Stabenow’s Lansing Constituent Office, she got her first taste at public speaking. Preferring to stay in the background, from then on other opportunities arose that brought her back out front. Asked to speak at Michigan’s recognition of National D.A.R.E. Day on the Capitol steps in 2003, she addressed hundreds of D.A.R.E. officers about the importance of needing a village to not only raise children, but to also help keep them away from drugs, gangs, alcohol and violence. In 2011, circumstances led her in search of a village that would mentor her youngest son on his journey toward becoming a man.  The mentors, also known as Elders, with The Turning Point of Lansing asked her to give a “Parent Reflection” during their 2015 Kwanzaa Brunch where she acknowledged their significant role in helping her son who suffered with some of the same issues she had…namely depression and low self-esteem.  An organizer/coordinator by nature…kind of a “Jill of All Trades”…in June 2015 Ms. Griffin received the Office of Good Government Excellence coin for her key role in meticulously planning and executing a series of events at her place of employment with the State of Michigan. In January 2017, she received her Microsoft Office Specialist certification from Certiport, which now allows her to train people how to use Microsoft Word 2013.

Other accolades from her employer have followed her throughout 2022:  Nominated for the People First award (“an individual that puts people first and respects the customers and staff. They actively listen, exchange helpful information and are responsive to all”); her book was highlighted in the Monday Morning News newsletter for Women’s History Month; Office of Good Government Symbol of Teamwork award for her efforts in making things run smoothly during the IT logistics for administration of two Covid-19 relief programs for Michigan residents.

Her own life experiences have pointed her in the direction of empowering women. She did not set out to be a writer but it was something she naturally excelled at whether in college or writing speeches on the few occasions she spoke publicly. Marneta’s first book writing experience occurred in 1999 when she wrote her mother’s amazing, yet unpublished, life story which describes escaping the Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi. Her goal is always to leave you with something to think about; hoping that your thoughts will exact a change within. She has a passion to encourage and inspire you to be the very best version of yourself. She has been an avid reader since she held her first book as a young child. Some of her favorite authors are Sandra N. Peoples, Danielle Steel, Sandra Brown, Deborah Fletcher-Mello, Zuri Day and AlTonya Washington. It took her fourteen years after her divorce to feel healed enough to begin writing her debut novel I Stayed Too Long in 2017. Somewhere on the horizon may be a book written jointly with her youngest son about parenting a child diagnosed with Bipolar II Disorder.  She resides in Lansing, Michigan with her two sons and two of her grandchildren. Her favorite phrase is: Nothing just happens.