shalenadiva

Although Shalena Broaster grew up in a rough neighborhood in South Philadelphia that was plagued with drugs and violence, she was determined to overcome these obstacles and follow her dreams of attending college. Upon graduating from Masterman High School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Shalena won the highly coveted Philadelphia Mayor’s... more »

Although Shalena Broaster grew up in a rough neighborhood in South Philadelphia that was plagued with drugs and violence, she was determined to overcome these obstacles and follow her dreams of attending college. Upon graduating from Masterman High School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Shalena won the highly coveted Philadelphia Mayor’s Scholarship which afforded her the opportunity to attend the University of Pennsylvania on a four year scholarship. Although many students would have jumped at this incredible opportunity, Shalena went against the grain and turned down the scholarship to attend Duke University in Durham, North Carolina instead. After her first semester at Duke University, Shalena was awarded the McGaughy Higgins Scholarship which is an equivalent to the Mayor’s scholarship in Philadelphia.

Upon earning her Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Duke University in 2001, Shalena returned to Philadelphia to work as a financial institutions underwriter for a Fortune 500 insurance company. In March of 2006 she left this secure job to put more of her energy into writing. Upon leaving her job, Shalena was accepted into the Longridge Writers Group which is based in Connecticut. The goal of the program is to help promising authors get published. Shalena writes freelance while contributing for Writer’s Bloc, a local arts magazine in Philadelphia. Recently she created Shalena’s Two cents, which is a blog that focuses on relationships and romance and is featured on MySpace and Friendster. She has also become a reading and writing tutor for adult learners at the Philadelphia Center for Literacy.

Shalena also founded “Inertia- Women on the Move”, a financial literacy group for women in 2006. As an InRoads alumna, Shalena actively engages in speaking with young InRoads interns about how to successfully navigate through college years and their corporate internships.

When she isn’t writing or working with youths she is an active Board member for Positive Praise, a non-profit organization whose mission is to help young people infected with HIV and the families affected by the virus. She does this work in memory of her father who lost his life to AIDS in 2001. « less