Yona Deshommes began her professional career in education as a certified teaching assistant and Academic Coordinator at Edwin Gould Academy, a residential treatment center in Chestnut Ridge, NY, where she created and facilitated several cultural and educational programs for at-risk youth from the juvenile justice and foster care systems.
Her love and passion for writing led her to a 20-year career in book publicity, where she served as an Associate Director of Publicity at Atria Books, an imprint of one of the largest publishers in the world, Simon & Schuster. In August 2020, she entered a new chapter in her career by establishing her own company, Riverchild Media, a public relations firm specializing in promoting books by and for authors of color. In December of that same year, she and four other professional colleagues formed Collective 5 Entertainment, a media company that recently welcomed its first New York Times best-selling book, THE GRIFT. In 2023, she launched her LIVING OUT LOUD literary series, which featured authors who live their lives unapologetically and purposefully. She has hosted actor, director, and author Eriq LaSalle, Prof. Anita Hill, comedian and actors Bill Bellamy and Cedric the Entertainer, award-winning actor and author Courtney B Vance, and award-winning entertainer Common!
She now lends her vast experience in publishing to a new role as an executive with the Harlem Book Fair, the largest BIPOC book fair in the country. She is a proud member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated, and lives in a suburb of New York City.