Dr. Julie E Moody-Freeman and co-host Dr. Carole Bell interview Tia Williams, best-selling writer of A Song For Ricki Wilde.  Tia Williams had a fifteen-year career as a beauty editor for magazines including Elle, Glamour, Teen People, and Essence. She’s the author of The Accidental Diva, the It Chicks series, and The Perfect Find—now a Netflix film starring Gabrielle Union. Her novel, Seven Days in June, was an instant New York Times bestseller and a Reese’s Book Club pick. Her latest bestseller, A Love Song for Ricki Wilde, was named one of the year’s best romances by New York Times and Amazon. Tia lives with her family in Brooklyn.  Dr. Julie E. Moody-Freeman is the Director of the Center for Black Diaspora, Co-Director of the Social Transformation Research Collaborative, and an Associate Professor in the Department of African and Black Diaspora Studies at DePaul University. She is the co-editor of The Black Imagination, Science Fiction, and the Speculative and The Black Imagination: Science Fiction, Futurism, and the Speculative. Her work on African American Romance has appeared in Romance Fiction and American Culture, The Routledge Research Companion to Popular Romance Fiction, and the Journal for Popular Romance Studies. She is also the creator and host of the Black Romance Podcast, which is building an oral history on Black Romance writers.  Dr. Carole Bell is a Jamaican-born communication researcher, writer, and critic with two decades of experience working at the intersection of media, culture, and politics. A lover of books, TV, film and democracy, her writing has appeared in print and digital media outlets including NPR, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and the Grio, and she is a contributor to the Black Love Matters essay anthology. She earned her PhD at UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Media and Journalism concentrating in political communication, public opinion, and public policy and communication effects. She also holds an MS in Television and Radio from Brooklyn College, and a BA in English and American Literature from Harvard College.  Thanks to the Center for Black Diaspora at DePaul University for sponsoring this podcast. Creator, producer, and host of the Black Romance Podcast: Julie E Moody-Freeman Marketing and Promotions: Jennifer Gardner @jpgm.a and Miya Jefferson Sound Editor: Miya Jefferson Black Romance Artwork: Kyle Gabb @Marciano_arts