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Brenda Jackson

A Love Story

Visionary

Brenda Jackson began writing in junior high school when her favorite movie characters like Bobby Darren and Sandra Dee (Grease) didn’t look like her. She began writing stories for her friends and after a while, she developed a fan club. “I became known around school as the love story writer.”

In college, Jackson went the corporate route, getting her degree in Business Administration. After spending years climbing the corporate ladder, Jackson came back to writing for relaxation. It was Jackson’s high school sweetheart and husband, Gerald who convinced her to take her writing seriously. He paid her way to a writers conference and that was when Brenda took her writing to the next level.

Jackson received dozens of rejection letters as she tried to get her first novel, Tonight and Forever, published. “During that time there was no avenue for black romance. If you were another Terri McMillan where you wrote about black men who used you and abused you and beat you up, sure. But I was writing about black men who were wining and dining their women. There was no market for that.” One publishing house who loved the plot even suggested Jackson rewrite her characters as White. Brenda stayed true to her manuscript and eventually became a published and quite successful author. “I write what I believe in. Not what I think sells. I think romance will always be around because of the stories of commitment and true love. What woman doesn’t want that?”

Jackson’s penned over 80 novels, many of them best sellers, created her own publishing company and garnered a solid fan base. Her next endeavor is turning her beloved novels into feature films.

Next: “No Boys Allowed”: Sage Steele

For 2024’s iteration of MadameNoire and HelloBeautiful’s annual series Women to Know, we knew we wanted to celebrate the people who help make the joys of film and television possible. To create art is to create magic. This year, we spotlight Hollywood Executive’s changing the face of cinema.