Overview

This Wasn't Supposed to Be My Story is a powerful memoir of resilience, reinvention, and truth-telling by Dr. Vanda Seward. Becoming a mother at sixteen, dropping out of high school, and growing up in public housing were supposed to define-and limit-her future. Instead, they became the foundation of a life lived on her own terms. With raw honesty, Seward traces her journey from the Bronx to a groundbreaking career inside New York State's criminal justice system, offering a rare insider perspective shaped by lived experience. She writes candidly about teen motherhood, street life, love and loss, working behind prison walls, and marrying a man who was incarcerated-while ultimately earning a GED, multiple degrees, and a PhD. Threaded throughout is her mantra, ""I don't give a damn,"" not as defiance, but as clarity and self-preservation. This memoir challenges stereotypes, exposes the human cost of mass incarceration, and affirms that destiny is not dictated by circumstance-but reclaimed through courage, education, and truth.

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9781964365749

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