Who am I?
My name is Annette "the Deaconess" Hayman and I was born and raised in the rough streets of North Philadelphia, which presented many challenges for me. Addiction, poverty, incarceration, violence and domestic abuse became my norm, so the ability to be anything other than a statistic seemed impossible.
I witnessed firsthand how scarce positive influences are in the inner city and that fuels my passion to reach others, especially our youth! By providing resources, building community partnerships and facilitating workshops through my creative writing platform, My Heart Speaks, we impart hope and give others a voice. We reach across the isles and speak life into people of all ages. People who, like me, may have grown up never knowing that there was more to life than what they could see with their physical eyes. I have become the very person I needed!
In addition to my creative writing platform, I utilize the art of Spoken Word to share my story and my testimony of the good news to a world in need of love.
In my book "No One Told Me", I discuss difficulties women face as a result of decisions made in our youth and highlight the ability to overcome struggles by God's grace.
It is my belief that living transparent and sharing real life experiences, whether good or bad, brings healing to broken hearts and teaches others that their past does not have to limit who they can become.
"...if anyone be in Christ, they are a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things become new."
2 Corinthians 5:17
I witnessed firsthand how scarce positive influences are in the inner city and that fuels my passion to reach others, especially our youth! By providing resources, building community partnerships and facilitating workshops through my creative writing platform, My Heart Speaks, we impart hope and give others a voice. We reach across the isles and speak life into people of all ages. People who, like me, may have grown up never knowing that there was more to life than what they could see with their physical eyes. I have become the very person I needed!
In addition to my creative writing platform, I utilize the art of Spoken Word to share my story and my testimony of the good news to a world in need of love.
In my book "No One Told Me", I discuss difficulties women face as a result of decisions made in our youth and highlight the ability to overcome struggles by God's grace.
It is my belief that living transparent and sharing real life experiences, whether good or bad, brings healing to broken hearts and teaches others that their past does not have to limit who they can become.
"...if anyone be in Christ, they are a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things become new."
2 Corinthians 5:17