Omegia Up Close

Up Close with O. Keeys  Synopsis                                                                                       From Pan Am Game bronze medal winner to All American, Omegia Keeys was once touted in Track Magazine as one destined for greatness, but walked away from it all. Rise and Fall of a Track Star is Omegia's firsthand account leading her to the breaking point. For years Omegia held on to the shame of a dirty little secret, one too common in the African American Community. Through her memoirs, Omegia takes you on a painful journey through her childhood into her adult years. Her struggles as a teenage mother is only a checkmark on the list of life altering experiences, one she hopes young girls and woman can learn from.  Omegia's goals for this book are to educate others about the struggles of young women dealing with assault, help others gain the strength to change their circumstances, and to release the personal pain of hiding a long standing secret. Rise and Fall of a Track Star is powerful and inspiring. - Darci Fielding, Senior Editor       Omegia's voice and courage will help us to save our girls. - C.H. Towns author of Night and Day Omegia's  writing touches the soul of every young girl fighting to find her voice. - Alexis "Cherie" Norwood author of Bittersweet: Diary of a Safegirl Rise and Fall of a Track Star is a must read for every young woman in her teens. - Toni Odom author of Sistah's in Sisterhood   Bio Entrepreneur, Award Winning Author, Publishing Liaison, and Motivational Speaker are just a few of the makings of Omegia Keeys. After serving two terms in the military Omegia went on to apply her strategic planning to the publishing industry. She has garnered numerous awards and praise to include the Scribe Award for the National Black Book Festival and ranking in Conversations Magazine's top 100 books of 2010 and 2011. She is currently on tour promoting her memoir Rise and Fall of a Track Starand finishing up the sequel entitled Single, Black, and Government Owned. O. Keeys Highlights Synopsis Bio  APOOO Review  BK Walker Books Review  C.A. Webb Review me on tour_0001.wmv You Can Find Out More About O. Keeys by visiting these websites.   fromthemindofomegia Passionatewriterpublishing Review 1 Does anyone listen when a child is saying that he or she has been victimized? Does the child fear telling someone? Or should the child keep it bottled inside? In Rise and Fall of a Track Star by Omegia Keeys readers will learn about one situation where the child had no choice. Omegia Keeys was raised by a strong woman who did her best to provide for her seven children. Omegia is the youngest and came along eight years after her older siblings. She is a bright student with a love for track because running gave her the freedom she needed. One day Omegia's bright light starts to dim after someone she knew assaults her. Omegia tries to deal with her emotions through alcohol. When Omegia finds out she is pregnant her whole life changes because every day she is reminded of her assault. Omegia continues to turn to track as a relief mechanism that helps control her emotions and to forget the negative. Rise and Fall of a Track Star is about a teenager struggling to move past her assault and controlling her emotions. As a teenage mother, I can relate to the emotional experience the author endured. I applaud this author for sharing her personal and private information in hopes of helping others. This book is a testimony that you can rise above alcoholism, peer pressure and disappointment. I recommend this book to others. This book was provided by the author for review purposes. Teresa Beasley APOOO BookClub Review 2 Rise and Fall of a Track Star by Omegia Keeys was definitely not what I was expecting. This title will have you feeling so many emotions as you flip through the pages. I give her credit for putting it all out there like she did. There were times I was angry at her mother, then at her friends, because really? How could friends do that to you? In the end though, I was left with a strong respect for Omegia and her Mother, feeling sorry for all this woman and child had to endure yet amazed at the strength she portrayed through it all. If you are not touched by this story, then you are just completely heartless. Instead of her experiences breaking her, she found the strength to survive. Kudos Omegia! There are several messages involved in her story, the one that stands out for me is to never let your dreams die. This is a very fast paced, intriguing story that you will find you can't put it down until you are finished just to see how it all ends. She holds nothing back and I can only imagine how hard it was to write it all down, then bare it for the world to see. I highly recommend Rise and Fall of a Track Star, giving it 5 lattes! B. K. Drury "BK Walker" BK Walker Books and Reviews Review 3 We all have someone in our lives that inspires us because of their dedication and commitment as well as their honesty. For readers who are looking for a book that they can relate to and someone who embodies what they are wanting to achieve, Omegia Keeys' RISE AND FALL OF A TRACK STAR is a book you will appreciate. Don't let the title and even the cover fool you: this is more than the story of a woman who has found success in a certain field and wants to share her experiences. What Omegia has done is take us into the the life she has lived that has made her current success possible. We find out how a betrayal by a cousin, an unexpected pregnancy and the challenges of life could have brought a promising future to an early end. What happened instead is that Omegia was able to focus on the best of herself and not allow things that have happened to her define the person that she was and wanted to be. Along her journey she came in contact with individuals who would go on to make big names for themselves, but this author's success was really not about headlines. It was about showing what was possible when you believe in yourself and go for your dreams. RISE AND FALL also chronicles how Omegia had to deal with her own demons and not allow them to destroy her. This again showcases the importance of the choices we make, and how we deal with the hand in life that we are dealt. This book is all about believing in yourself and being able to rise above the challenges of your past and even current situation. If Omegia Keeys could do it, then so can each of us. C.A. Webb Conversations Book Club