Inspired by her own life and the many colorful people she’s met, Amanishakhete (Uh-ma-nee-sha-keet) was born in Osaka, Japan to an Air Force family.

 Using her pen name Amanishakhete (also spelled Amani Shakhete), derived from an ancient Nubian Queen known as Amanishakheto, she's driven to be as free, genuine, and sometimes as whacked as her unique characters.

Readers never know what's coming next when they turn the pages of her novels filled with characters she feels she channels. “They speak to me,” says Amanishakhete. “I hear their voices and let them say and do as they please.” No wonder this fiction author, captures the attention of readers from 16 to 60. 

Under her birth name (S. Lenora McDaniel), she holds an Associate of Science (Portland Community College) and Bachelor of Science in Business and Communications (Concordia University), Business and International Relations graduate studies (University of East London), and a Master of Fine Arts in Fiction (Lindenwood University).