USA Today bestselling author, Jaid Black, is the owner and founder of Ellora’s Cave Publishing and Cerridwen Press. She also writes novels for Pocketbooks. Jaid has been featured in every available media, from Forbes magazine to major newspapers like the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the Washington Post, and the LA Times, to various radio programs, to TV spots on Fox News and the Montel Williams Show.

In addition to her publishing background, Jaid holds controlling shares in Jasmine-Jade Enterprises, Gothik Grounds (a coffee store chain), Brannon-Engler Properties, and the upcoming, upscale Awbridge, Hanwell, & Hartley, which specializes in books and upper end art. She was a self-made millionaire by age 30 and a multi-millionaire by age 32, but life wasn’t always so generous for “The Queen of Steam”.

Pregnant at 17, Jaid spent eight years in poverty while she cared for her daughter, attended college, and worked. As a former welfare recipient, she is angered by the anti-woman stance that the United States government has since taken against moms who need public assistance. She considers herself, as well as the plethora of other welfare moms she’s met in the past, living proof of the fact that helping women climb out of poverty benefits everyone in society, not just those receiving the aid. In addition to the hundreds of salaries she pays to employees and contractors every fiscal year, Black also shells out more in taxes in a month's time than she collected in the entire eight years she received welfare benefits. Her conclusion? There will always be people who abuse the system, be they welfare recipients or inside corporate traders, but you don’t punish everyone in order to get to those nasty few. With a mentality like that, nobody wins.

 As well as being a very vocal champion for welfare recipients, Black also gives talks and writes articles about an even more controversial subject matter: prisoners’ rights. Since the majority of men and women living behind bars tend to be young and poor, she doesn’t believe her two social passions are unrelated. In the 12 years she has spent as a prisoners’ rights activist, she has seen firsthand the abusive, neglected environment that an alarming number of Americans call home. Equally disturbing to her is the undisputable fact that the percentage of Americans receiving life sentences has drastically risen in recent years, the overwhelming majority of who were too poor to retain a private attorney at trial. Jaid was recently brought to tears when she had the honor of meeting Jurdy, a very sweet, compassionate 24-year-old African American man who is serving two life sentences in Florida. His age at the time of the crime? Thirteen. Jurdy has been behind bars since the 8^th grade. Unfortunately, Black recently commented, stories like Jurdy’s aren’t as uncommon as the typical American voter thinks.

On a more private note, Jaid is married and the mother of two children. With a daughter in high school and another in elementary school, she is forever kept on the go! The family shares a mutual passion for animals.  They have, at the time of this writing, 6 dogs and 4 cats.

Health issues are a constant battle in Jaid’s life, but she hasn’t let them stop her from realizing her dreams. She still considers herself a very blessed woman. In her own words, “I have a career I love, wonderfully supportive friends and family members, the world’s greatest readers, and a husband who lives with the delusion that I’m the sexiest woman alive. What more could a woman ask for?"

What more, indeed.