Taneka Maxwell

Taneka Maxwell was born on a U.S. army base in Heidelberg, Germany and raised in Brooklyn, New York and Anniston, Alabama. Both of Maxwell's parents served in the U.S. Army. Maxwell received a B.A.Sc in communication and media studies from Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. She wrote a children's book under the name "Pink Maxwell" and worked as an account analyst at Morgan Stanley.

"We came to Brownsville, Brooklyn. My great grandmother owned a brownstone out there. Her name was Lillian but everyone called her Nanny. She was the matriarch of the family, well known throughout the neighborhood and the house was definitely multigenerational and just different family relationships. We had aunts and uncles and cousins living in a three story brownstone."