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Ohio State law student becomes published author, TedTalk speaker

Tiraj is a law student, a published author with her own company, a TedTalk speaker and she hopes her journey to healing will inspire others.

Tiraj Lucas would tell you she’s like any other college student, but she is just a little busier.

The law student is the owner and CEO of Tiraj Talks, LLC an author and spoken word poet.

Between undergrad and law school at OSU, she taught poetry to underprivileged youth.

“When I was a kid, I used it as a way to express my emotions and talk. You know, there’s kids out there that are like me, and they may not know how or what direction to go into,” she said.

“I wanted to teach them how to express yourself.”

Oh, and her first TED Talk was released this month.

“I love social justice movements I love talking about equality. So I kind of pitched my idea about how one thing that connects us all is language and art,” she said.

She shares her story in her book, ‘Piece by Piece.’

It is a story about being a black woman and her journey through self-loathing and healing.

“Its like told in four chapters about building oneself as a black woman and through the intersectionalities of identities,” she said.

“On the cover, it’s like building four statues which is symbolic of becoming one complete project or one complete entity.”

So far, she has sold more than 800 copies of Piece by Piece, it was accepted as a book in a class at Eastern Michigan University, and it is being sold at Prologue Book Store.

Through all her achievements, Tiraj just wants to inspire others to find and share their own stories.

“It’s very important to listen to others, to be cautious of other people’s stories, but it’s also important to tell yours,” she said.

 “Take your story and write it yourself so no one else can change it.”

You can find out more about Tiraj here.

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