Walk A Mile in Our Awareness - Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) Conference

Author/Guest Speaker, Janis Leslie Evans

Janis Leslie Evans, the “Healing Author,” has been writing since she was a child. Born in Buffalo, New York, she is a first generation American born to Jamaican parents who immigrated from the Caribbean and Canada.

Evans has been a resident of Washington, D.C., since 1982 when she entered Howard University as a graduate student and received her master’s degree in counseling psychology. She received her bachelor’s degree in psychology from SUNY Buffalo State College.

She is licensed to practice in the District of Columbia, and is the sole owner of Evans Counseling & Consultation, PLLC, providing individual and couples counseling services to her clients.

Evans has always loved writing poetry throughout her life and was first published at the age of 11 in an annual book published by Buffalo Public Schools, which highlighted the creative writing of its students.

As a teen, she continued to write for leisure and was chosen to participate in a two-week journalism summer workshop for minority students on the campus of Buffalo State College which she attended the following fall semester.

During her career in mental health, Evans continued to hone her writing skills. While establishing her private practice, she joined HubPages writing site in 2012 where she continues to publish poetry and informational articles on various subjects such as relationships, grief, loss, trauma, and spirituality. She has also added Medium to her sites for posting her thoughts and poems.

As a debut author, Evans has written her first book, "Recollections About Race: Getting to the Roots and Healing," self-published in November of 2021. Emotionally gutted by a flood of memories after witnessing the video of the brutal murder of George Floyd, Evans began to write about events she experienced over her lifetime.

The events she details are common and relatable to African Americans, particularly Black women, who were triggered by the cumulative effects of witnessing the racial upheaval and protests of the summer of 2020. Evans is currently working on a book of poetry along the same lines, illustrating the common experiences of growing up Black in America.