Sylvia Hillman = What A Superstar Looks Like

Who is Syl?

In her own words : “Writer/Rider/Queen of the Quip. Executive Producer of DeRay Davis: Power Play. Author 55 Navy/Near Mrs. I’m CatWoman AND BatMan. I like grapes. I love Reading.”

She is so much more !!! Born in Phoenix, Arizona to a large and tumultuous family of stepparents and siblings. Her mother’s marriage to the local mortician quickly moved the family from the abject poverty of the local housing project into a nice middle class home whose facade was more promising than the dynamics within. The oldest of 5 children, she took on the responsibilities of parenting her younger siblings and sacrificed much of her own childhood caring for them and helping out in the family’s mortuary business. The only thing more formidable than Sylvia’s orthodox upbringing was her wild imagination. She used it as a way to escape the harsh realities of daily life and would delight or frighten her sisters with tales of favored toys coming to life, or of prince charming rescuing fair maidens. The hard, cold lessons of youth, unusual anecdotes about the family business, and her musings on ordinary adolescent rites of passage found their way into the poems and fiction she began seriously crafting in her twenties.

A truly gifted writer, Ms. Hillman’s stories take an unflinching yet humane look at the places and people who have populated her life. She is less interested in a textbook retelling of events than she is in communicating to her readers the complexities of a life on the edge of tragedy, triumph and truth. In 2006, the Twin Cities Film Festival honored her for her short film, “Near Mrs.” which was also aired on Black Entertainment Television the following year. 55 Navy is Ms. Hillman’s first published novel. She is the mother of two beautiful daughters and now resides in Los Angeles, CA. Ms Hillman’s latest project was Executive Producer and Writer on Power Play a one hour comedy special staring DeRay Davis that debuted on Showtime July 2011.