Publisher's Synopsis
This is a personal memoir and poetry collection by Ina R Bochian. Ina is a Romanian-American visual artist, writer, journalist, actress, and designer from Chicago, Illinois. She graduated from University of Illinois at Chicago where she studied English, Psychology, and Criminal Justice. Upon graduation, Ina went on to work for Northwestern University for a few years, but then transitioned into the arts. After experiencing sexual assault, she went on a "healing journey" and discovered life beyond pain. Taking a leap of faith, she went to New York to seek out the help of James Franco, who helped her express her experiences creatively through artwork and poetry. Franco encouraged Ina to write and had faith in her abilities when she felt insignificant. With the actor's help, and other mentors she met during her journey, Ina's confidence grew. She started painting and writing, selling her work, and also writing for some publications, including Scene Chicago. Ina also worked on several television shows and movies, including six years on the show Empire, where she was featured in a non-speaking role for all six seasons. After working on the show, Ina went on to write her own scripts and a TV pilot, currently in development. Ina found her purpose, passion, and love, as she fought to have her voice heard, but bullies terrorized her online. Just as she gained more courage to be herself, her social media was flooded with hundreds of comments from an anonymous source who sent her hate mail. The taunting comments and stalking did not stop online, but were followed by harassing phone calls, rumors that cost her a few jobs in the industry, and impersonating accounts whose sole mission was to destroy any chance Ina had of working in the entertainment industry. Most of the time, her bullies wanted to intimidate her by mocking her looks, Romanian ethnicity, Jewish background, and relationship (which she keeps private). Later these comments turned into hate mail encouraging her to take her life, which caused her a great deal of anxiety and fear of social media. Ina never gave up. Instead, she tried to turn negative situations into something positive through her charity work for organizations. While raising awareness about depression, anxiety, and anti-bullying, Ina met photographer Jason M. Peterson, who also encouraged her to follow her creative pursuits. Rather than being silenced, Ina turned to her faith and wrote this book as part of a 40-day fast.
