The ZitrO Family

Divine Ortiz: CEO/Author

Divine Ortiz is originally from The Bronx, NY. He has seen his share of the streets as well as the insides of plenty of prison cells, having been incarcerated 5 times (NY, NC, and three Federal prison sentences). It was during his last incarceration that he decided that he had had enough. He earned two college degrees, took advantage of his gift for slinging ink and wrote over 15 books. He once signed with Teri Woods Publishing but that didn't go anywhere. Upon his release he signed with another publisher, and that served to bring his name and his work to the masses. Then he began ZitrO Publications. He felt that he wanted complete control of his work and what direction his future would go. ZitrO Publications is rapidly becoming a company to take notice of in the coming years. Not only in the Urban fiction genre but in the literary world in general.

Nikki Ortiz: ZitrO Graphics/VP

Nikki Ortiz, as the last name reveals, is indeed the wife of ZitrO's CEO Divine Ortiz, but she is making her mark as VP in charge of ZitrO Graphics and Promotions. Her promo ads and book covers are creating quite a buzz in the literary and social media arena. She is from NC and attended Elizabeth City State University. Together, they have a daughter, a son and two lovely grand children.

Kiera J Northington: Chief Editor

Kiera J. Northington is a freelance copy editor, proofreader, book reviewer and promoter, as well as an avid reader. She gained her love for reading as a child growing up in Brooklyn, New York. Kiera attended Clark Atlanta University, and worked in healthcare and government for many years until retirement. Kiera started proofreading and editing to help out an author friend, and soon discovered that she not only had a passion for it, but an uncanny ability for knowing exactly what authors want to write, and readers want to read. In 2014, Kiera won the EDC Creations Award for Literary Excellence, and in 2015, she won the AAMBC Literary Awards Book Reviewer of the Year. She is co-founder of From Cover 2 Cover – We Talk Books Club, an online book club that supports many independent authors; she also maintains the Facebook page From Cover 2Cover – We Talk Books, where books of different genres are promoted, discussed, and readers can connect with authors. It’s The Write Stuff, Kiera’s company, provides copy and line editing, proofreading, and book reviewing services, along with typing of handwritten manuscripts and evaluation of manuscript submissions.

Jessica N Simmons: Editor/Author

Jessica Simmons is an aspiring author who has dreamed of seeing her words in print since she was a little girl. A mom of two, she takes every spare moment she can to write. She loves to read daily, sing loudly, dance wildly, and laugh often. She also loves to bake...everything, all the time. She happily resides in North Carolina, surrounded by her family and friends.

Marina J/Divine Six: Editor/Author/ Head of promotions

Originally born and raised in Chicago, Il, Marina J/ Divine Six has decided to finally try her hand at fulfilling her dreams of becoming an author. With the release of her debut novel, Lady Vendetta, Divine Six forced the urban fiction world to stand up and take notice as she saw her dreams come into fruition. Marina J/ Divine Six currently resides in Fayetteville, NC with her loving and supportive husband along with their 6 children and she is presently working on her next novel.

Alycia Morris: Author

Alycia Morris (pronounced Alicia) was born in Oklahoma City but raised in Waco Texas and Dallas Texas by her grandparents. She moved back to Oklahoma City during her teenage years and remained there until she graduated from high school. After graduation Alycia joined the United States Army and enjoyed traveling from South Carolina, Virginia, Alaska and Texas where she finished her military career. She attended the University Of Central Oklahoma where she majored in Sociology. After completing college in 2007 Alycia began working at the Juvenile Detention Center in Oklahoma City. Here is where her writing began; working the overnight shift she had plenty of time to let her imagination pour out on paper. Alycia just looked at it as just a short story never imagining it could become a novel. In 2010 she told her sister about the short story and she convinced Alycia to make it a book. Raising three kids and working full time she put in the extra work whenever possible. ZitrO Publications has given Alycia not only a chance but they are making her dreams come true and taking her writing scene to an entire new level.

Rachel Rae: Author

Rachel Rae is a new up and coming author with 2 freshly released books #piecesofme and #piecesofmetwo. Within 5 months both have been on Amazon's top 100 best sellers list. Still residing in Houston Texas she plans on continuing to be a hard worker great mother and putting out great urban fiction novels.

Queen Amina Showell: Author/Poetess

Amina Showell aka Poetess Queen Amina is an author and a poetess who has been writing for over 10 years. She is a single mother of four wonderful children with the drive and ambition to never give up. She truly wants to inspire people everywhere to overcome their depressions and pitfalls and learn to supersede in life. Queen Amina wants the future leaders to understand that change begins within us all. She leads by example and tries to be an inspiration to everyone that reads her work.

Shamek Hynson: Author

Shamek wrote the first part of the Rotten Apple many years ago, but on the advice of his legal team he held it back. He was told that the events of the story were too closely related to his own case or of the cases of those individuals closely associated with him. However, sometimes life imitates art and vise versa . Shamek was born and raised in Queens, NY. His father, who was known as I God was killed when he was only 3 years old so he was raised by his mother Twinkles, another well known figure from Queens. He is the oldest of 5 brothers and 2 sisters.

Lesa Tondylear Heard: Author

Lesa Heard was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. She loves to spend her time watching football, basketball and occasionally picks up her pen to write. She loves life, lives it to the fullest and is currently working on her next book.

Theolonius Monk: Author

Theolonious Monk, aka, Tony Monk was born and partly raised in Manhattan, N.Y. Then as a youth he was relocated to Middletown, N.Y., where he became know as Shaka, with his parents and sister. He manifested a miracle with the birth of his son Theolonious Amen-Ra Monk. Unfortunately the federal goverment created a story that put him away. But instead of prison destroying him it turned on a light in a room he didn't know existed within himself. Now he's writing himself out of the trap. This is his last bid.