Dara Beevas is a writer and publisher based in Minneapolis. She has published more than 500 books and worked with more than 400 authors in her career. As the co-founder and CEO of Wise Ink Creative Publishing, she leads a team of editors, designers, and artists committed to changing the world through offering platforms to marginalized voices and purpose-oriented authors. Dara was a 2009 Givens Foundation for African American Literature Emerging Writers Fellow and a 2017-2019 Bush Fellow. She’s authored three books about book publishing and is currently crafting a children’s picture books series profiling black queens through history. A native of the Washington, D.C. area, Dara currently lives in Minneapolis with her daughter Genesis, and her husband Tomme, who is the owner of local restaurant Pimento Jamaican Kitchen.