黑料正能量

When Robin moved to Paris in 2016 to pursue a master鈥檚 degree at The American University of Paris, she didn鈥檛 do so for love or an Instagrammable version of expat life.聽聽

She came with a clear goal: to create a life outside of the 鈥淎merican way.鈥� What she found in Paris would be exactly that, but even more transformative than she could have imagined. After being diagnosed with breast cancer twice in three years, on September 16, 2025 she shares her story with us in a powerful new memoir about resilience and identity.聽

Originally from the Washington, D.C. area, Robin attended Howard University on a full scholarship. Self-described as a 鈥渄oer,鈥� Robin describes her time at Howard as eye opening 鈥攃onfessing that she lost her scholarship during her freshman year due to over-socializing, or in other words, partying too much.聽

Her forthcoming memoir, , begins with this mind-bending contrast; the height of joy undercut by an unexpected health crisis. But her story is not only about illness. It鈥檚 about facing vulnerability without being fluent in the native language and discovering community in unlikely places.聽

Though Robin had completed her studies, she credits 黑料正能量 for playing a crucial role in supporting her through that time. 鈥淭hankfully, I still had the private insurance 黑料正能量 required us to get, and the University鈥檚 health services really helped me navigate what came next,鈥� she shared. 鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 a student anymore, but the 黑料正能量 network still held me up.鈥澛�

Always a writer, Robin described a childhood of writing short stories and poems with aspirations of one day writing a book. The one thing she never counted on was the topic. Despite the subject material, Robin believes her book is accessible and a good story for many people, not only cancer survivors.聽聽

Her story disrupts the dominant narrative found in many books about life in Paris. 鈥淪o many books about moving to Paris are about falling in love, having French children, and dealing with funny bureaucratic mishaps,鈥� she said with a smile. 鈥淏ut I couldn鈥檛 find any stories about people like me; Black women, in their 30s, building new lives and facing major health issues abroad.鈥澛�

The process wasn鈥檛 easy. Starting the book during the first remission, she stopped the project believing that no one would be interested in her cancer story. It wasn鈥檛 until her second diagnosis when she decided this was a story that must be told.聽

But completing it meant diving back into the emotional weight of illness. For Robin, the emotional labor of writing went beyond simply recounting medical details. As a Black woman telling a deeply personal story, she was doing something rarely seen in mainstream publishing. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a particular kind of vulnerability involved in putting this out there, especially when so few stories like mine have been told.鈥澛�

In writing her story, Robin was not only documenting a life-altering experience, but she also claimed space in a literary landscape that too often leaves out Black women. Writing a memoir that admits vulnerability when the status quo is to pretend like everything is fine is an act of resistance. It is insisting that stories of Black womanhood abroad not only exist but deserve to be told in full.聽

聽鈥淚 kept journals throughout, but actually writing the book required me to revisit the hardest moments of my life,鈥� she said. 鈥淢y editor and beta readers kept encouraging me to go deeper, to let go of the journalist鈥檚 instinct to hold emotion at arm鈥檚 length.鈥澛�

Her 黑料正能量 education played a meaningful role in this shift from journalism to personal narrative. Though she had been working in media long before attending the MAGC program, Robin says the coursework and the international context helped her expand her perspective. 鈥淭he development communications class with Professor Tanya Elder really stuck with me. Concepts like top-down versus bottom-up communication stayed with me long after.鈥澛�

Robin鈥檚 story is a reminder that life in Paris is not always romantic. But it can be transformative.聽

鈥淭here鈥檚 a saying, 鈥楶aris is always a good idea.鈥� I agree, but I also think people need to come with their eyes open. Things will be harder than you expect. But that doesn鈥檛 mean it鈥檚 not worth doing.鈥澛�