Erica Mills-Hollis was born in Longview, Texas – a quiet bedroom community in the eastern part of the state. If you ask Mills-Hollis, she would say her childhood was relatively uneventful, even sort of boring. That is until 1994, the year her life changed forever. That year, at the age of 15, Mills-Hollis learned she was pregnant with her first child, a son she named Erique.

Determined to make the best of a challenging situation, Mills-Hollis found ways to not only “cope” with teenage pregnancy, but to use that experience to push herself to live life to her fullest potential. Knowing the importance of an education, she studied hard, receiving her GED and later earning an associate’s degree. Today, she’s the proud mom of two – Erique who is now 16 and Uriah, age three. Mills-Hollis leads a very busy life, working full-time, raising her family, studying for her bachelor’s degree, and spending her free time pursuing her No. 1 passion (aside from family) – writing.

Mills-Hollis caught the reading bug at a very early age, spending countless hours immersed in everything from mystery novels to biographies. As she reached her teenage years, this love of the written word intensified after reading a novel by Gwynne Forster. To this day, Mills-Hollis has a hard timing putting a good book down. Among her favorite authors are literary legends Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Terry McMillan, Francis Ray, Brenda Jackson, and Niobia Bryant. So in love with the way these others use each and every page to pull the reader in, she new one day it would be her turn to tell a compelling story and have her way with words.

Today, Mills-Hollis’ dreams of becoming a writer have become a reality, as a voice for teenage mothers all across the country with her first published work, Dreams Altered but Not Abandoned. The book explores the hardships and strain teenage pregnancy can often create, while giving hope to these young moms that with planning and determination, their best years are still to come. Mills-Hollis also owns her own publishing company – Precious Heart Publishing, and hopes to use this company to share similar inspirational titles in the future.