I've worked as a freelance editor/writer for 15 years. I was an English major (focusing on creative writing) at University of Maryland. I also tutor students of all ages in writing, reading, and English as a Second Language. I have written website copy for small businesses, newsletters and press releases for nonprofits, reviews and poetry for literary magazines, and resumes for individuals,   After receiving a seminary degree, I worked as a chaplain in retirement homes and hospices  for 10 years. I am writing a book about my chaplain experience,  covering spiritual lesson I learned from my patients and injustices within the health industry.  I am also writing a memoir focused on the realities a fat woman faces in American society. Finally, I enjoy writing form and non-form poetry.

I have been a digital non-fiction writer for as long as I can remember now, and I have recently made the switch into fiction. As a relatively young fiction writer with borderline unrealistic aspirations which my ambition would never allow me to consider unrealistic (crazy delusional thing, ambition), I'm looking to meet other writers in different milestones of their writer journeys and learn as much as I can from their stories and the paths they've treaded on. Apart from being new to the world of fiction I'm also new to this crazy concrete jungle of a city and I would love to socialise with writers from all walks of life in any way, shape or form this pandemic allows us to. 

I have been writing in an academic environment for the past decade and am now transitioning to creative writing, fiction in particular. I would love to participate in workshops, meet people with various levels of experience, and feel like part of a community. 

Born in Utah and raised in North Carolina, Esther Milanzi is half Black South African and half Caucasian American. Spending most of her life in America with her mom, dad, and 2 sisters. She was estranged from her biological father who was deported from the US when she was 3 years old. The only time Esther was able to visit South Africa was 23 years later at his grave site. The opportunity to visit the birthplace of humanity arrived after she finished graduate school from Florida State University with a degree in International Education Development.

She was then awarded a Fulbright grant to teach leadership and literacy skills at a FET college in Vereeniging, South Africa, an Afrikaans town 40 minutes south of Johannesburg. To share her teaching abroad experiences with family and friends back home in the states, she started a blog. Unintentionally, it became a journal of her healing journey as she documented her experiences understanding the post-apartheid racial climate, visiting her father’s grave, and meeting her paternal family including a younger brother and sister. It was there that she received, from her cousin, her South African name, Ubuntu, meaning humanity -”I am who I am because of who we all are.”

Inspired by her journey, she began to write magical realism, poetry, and daily morning pages, as a way to continue to heal, elevate, and to empower others. For the last 5 years, she has been traveling, teaching, writing, & radiating bread crumbs for other creatives.

She is the co-founder of the Surat Warrior Writers group in Surat Thani, Thailand. Weekly writing workshops were held and a community of creatives was cultivated in a time and place where people were looking for alternative ways to connect other than partying.  Eventually, Esther co-led 3 writing retreats in Thailand. The first one focused on unlocking creativity and getting rid of the inner critic, the second one focused on healing through love and letters, the third one focused on developing an individualized blueprint as a creative.

In Vietnam, Esther was a member of a writing society and eventually led the group with exercises. techniques, and insights she’d learned, discovered, and created in South Africa and Thailand.  For the last 3 years, Esther taught grade 6 literacy and a 6-week intensive novel-writing course at the Green School. Most recently, she has taken a sabbatical to focus on writing full-time and to start a writing coach business.
Esther manifests abundance and happiness with her life partner and husband, Lo. She is in the middle of writing the first draft of a novel: The Enchanted Elm, the sentence summary reads: A woodcarver’s life is changed forever when she discovers an enchanted tree and its connection to the oppression of one family.

Esther is excited to lead and empower you on a journey to uncover the true source of your own unlimited creativity.

I write a lot of everything, poetry, fiction, non-fiction, journalism, etc.  Therefore, I don't want to limit the writing of anyone who joins this group.  I also publish a lot of everything, and have more than 220 poems and stories published in selective literary magazines, plus two books of poetry.  I write realistic fiction and a pretty good amount of horror and science fiction.  Again, I don't want to limit anyone from joining this group.  In fact, a variety of perspectives would be great.