PAM KELLY spent her teen years on Chicago's South Side reading romance magazines and novels while watching her parents live out their real-life love story.

Pam always followed her passion in her career choices. She spent over twenty successful years in advertising. Next, she opened her own business, organizing and decorating homes and commercial spaces to create sanctuaries for busy professionals. Pam learned a lot about people -- their personal needs, as well as their desires for peaceful, welcoming spaces.

Her front-row view of how people lived and loved led Pam to study the magic and nuance of relationships. She found, in her work as well as books, articles, and interviewing people specifically about their relationships, that there were some common denominators or universal themes that bring people together and drive them apart. She now uses them to influence the framework of her newest passion: writing romance novels.

UNIVERSAL TRUTHS in ROMANCE and LOVE

• Men and women all want to love and be loved.
• Human touch is important emotionally and psychologically. It helps to connect people and build trust.
• Sensuality and good sex is important to have, explore, and nurture; bad sex is hard to overcome, and relationships can work even when there is no sex.
• Relationships are always tested.
• Love at first sight does happen and it can last a lifetime.

These insights often provide great storylines or points of interest in Pam’s writing.

Pam also found that in the Black community, many men and women do not really know how to romance and love someone. People replicate what they see in the home, among family and friends, or in the media. Too often, with no prior discussion or direction, we have bad experiences before we learn and find real love.

MISSION: CELEBRATING BLACK LOVE

Pam is dedicated to promoting romance and love between Black men and Black women. Too often, we hear stories of Black men who will not commit or who only date outside of their race and Black women who are too hard to love. It is sometimes true, but mostly an overgeneralization. There are many great stories of Black men loving Black women.

What has been particularly frustrating to Pam, over the last year or so, are the number of television commercials featuring Black men with every race of woman except Black women. It is as if corporate America has decided that the Black woman does not exist or is not worthy of being shown in fun, loving relationships. Pam also found that there are very few commercials of Black women with non-Black men.

Pam now uses her “voice” in writing, to present a different perspective.

To Pam, there is something special about the way Black men and Black women relate to one another and love one another that is fun, sexy, and fantastic to feel! She promotes these relationships in her writing and when speaking in interviews as well as in public forums.

Pam writes about Black love in sensual, layered romance novels. Her characters are seasoned by time and experience, bold and strong, flawed and sensitive, and all kinds of sexy. Her stories are compelling, heart-wrenching, and romantic.

Pam resides in Houston, Texas where she is always reading, writing, and saying YESSS to life experiences.