“Happiness comes from living as you need to, as you want to. As your inner voice tells you to. Happiness comes from being who you actually are instead of who you think you are supposed to be.”
― Shonda Rhimes, Year of Yes
Instead of telling you who I want you to think I am, I’ll give you the real me. I am Smiley also known by my family as Alana. Energetic. Charismatic. Eccentric. Smiley. Opinionated. Usually, I keep a smile on my face from ear to ear. You’d never know If I was happy, nervous or in between. However, my emotions spill out as soon as my pen touches the paper.
I like to describe myself as a superhero by day – saving the lives of my coworkers, one project at a time and a Blogger, naturalista, entrepreneur and poet by night. Being that I have 2 degrees in Computer Science, I tend to add nerd to that equation from time to time as well – I am secretly addicted to Call of Duty. I would describe myself as a true city girl, born and raised on the south side and in the south suburbs of Chicago. My life is a never ending roller coaster. Not only am I now a new writer for HLX (woot, woot), I also have my own lifestyle blog (HipProfessional), a podcast with one of my best friends (KinkyKonscience) and I write for Peekeers.
I could give you a long drawn out story describing how much I love writing or how I have been writing since I learned how to hold a pen, but I won’t. Instead I will introduce you to the REAL me through the things I write for you. I write, I draw, I sing – in the car and the shower, not professionally – and I occasionally model via SnapChat and Instagram. I am all things creative rolled into a brown skin, curly haired package. Allow me to say “You’re welcome” in advance.
It wouldn’t be right if I didn’t thank the HLX family for allowing me to be apart of the team and aiding in my addiction to writing and music. I’m excited for the endless possibilities.
