Carmen Evelyn G. Nuyda (formerly C. Georgina C.) first encountered Frederick Douglass in high school after reading Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself.  This sparked a lifelong passion for history, including her ancestral roots. Decades later, she launched her first bridal shop in Southern California, mastering haute couture as a self-taught dressmaker.  While researching historical gowns, she discovered Elizabeth Keckley—the formerly enslaved dressmaker to First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln—whose autobiography became the source of her inspiration.  After more than a decade of research, Nuyda penned a novel based on Keckley’s life, which is now being adapted into a theatrical play slated to debut in Los Angeles in Spring 2026. She is finalizing her second book, a romance novel entitled The Way Love Goes: Candle, Moth, Flame, and is currently developing her third novel— a book series chronicling the untold love story of Frederick Douglass and Anna Murray Douglass.   She is one of the Co-Founders of The Healing Arts Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to supporting marginalized and underserved communities through the transformative power of the arts.  A survivor of Multiple Sclerosis, she is also an avid horsewoman, a Reiki practitioner, and an artist with a deep love for poetry, good books, and jazz.  She loves to cook and spends her days raising her daughters full-time with her beloved Chihuahuas and Andalusian horses in sunny California.