Author Daria Burke first thought about telling her life story more than ten years ago. She certainly had a great story to tell: a young Black woman rises out of poverty to phenomenal success, ultimately reaching C-suite levels of leadership at companies like CVS and Facebook.
But at that time there was something holding her back.
“I still felt very lonely and isolated in what felt like a secret,” Burke remembers. The “secret” she eventually came to terms with was a dark, messy, sometimes harrowing childhood growing up in poverty in Detroit, the daughter of two habitual drug users.
A few years ago, something shifted. “I sort of woke up to this cosmic tap on the shoulder that said, ‘it’s time,’” Burke says. “Nothing specific happened, but I think I finally felt free enough to do it. I felt enough distance to be able to reflect on it.”
The resulting memoir, “Of My Own Making,” was published in April. Burke will be one of six authors talking about their work at the Junior League of Richmond’s Book & Author Event on May 8.
As she went through the difficult process of reliving her past in order to capture it in her book, Burke had to wrestle with unexpected aspects of her experience.
“There were certain words that took me a long time to use,” she says. “‘Abuse’ was one. I could say ‘neglect’ but abuse was particularly difficult. ‘Survivor’ was as well. I think in some ways it felt too close to ‘victimhood.’”
Burke and her little sister were raised by a mom addicted to crack cocaine. They barely knew their father, who was also an addict. Their grandmother was a loving and stabilizing force in their lives until her tragic death when Burke was 7, an event that sent her mom spiraling further into drugs and a revolving door of troubled relationships.
A scene where Burke, as an adult, confronts the circumstances of her grandmother’s death happens early in the book and sets the stage for the emotional journey to come. “That story wasn’t even planned to be in the book,” says Burke. “It was funny because it was such a catalytic event, but I hadn’t conceived that it would figure into my story.
“But sometimes we get broken open by these moments in our lives. Something in us gets awakened. They sort of invite you into a story that wants to be told. I kept saying that it was pretty clear my grandma wanted to be involved in this process.”
In addition to Burke, the Junior League event will feature the authors April Asher, Kemper Donovan, Christopher Tilghman, Becky Aikman and Landon Bryant. The chair of the event committee, Emily Cox, says that, of all the panelists, people may be most familiar with Bryant, author of “Bless Your Heart: A Field Guide to All Things Southern.”
“Sometimes we get broken open by these moments in our lives. Something in us gets awakened. They sort of invite you into a story that wants to be told.”— Daria Burke
“People might have seen [Bryant] on Instagram, he’s an incredibly funny person,” says Cox. “The way he outlines Southern-isms I think aligns really well with the Junior League. Laughing about ourselves as southerners is just kind of a fun thing.”
Cox says presenting books from a variety of genres is always key to the event, Burke’s being the only memoir. She says the book also fits into a bigger mission: “I feel like it’s very important for the League to not only highlight a single person and their accolades, but also show what can be done by rising above life’s challenges.”
Burke’s book not only relates her personal path, it also weaves in concepts related to epigenetics and neuroplasticity that were important in her understanding of her history.
“It’s certainly been a transformative journey,” she says. “I was very raw, very fragile when I was writing but I feel so much healing in the telling. My hope is that all the ways in which I’ve been changed can help other people do the same thing in their lives.”
The 80th Annual Book and Author Event will be held on Thursday, May 8 at 6 p.m. at the John Marshall Ballroom, 101 N. 5th Street. Tickets and information available at https://www.jlrichmond.org/bookandauthor/.
