Nakia Tillman was born on January 25th 1976 in Albany New York.  She grew up in a very happy and loving family, and she was especially close to her mother and grandmother.  Nakia wanted to be many things as a child, a news reporter, then a boxer, and a dancer. But she got pregnant at 17 and became a mom to a beautiful baby boy named Majestic.  This did not stop her educational goals, if anything it fueled her to want to succeed even more.  Nakia graduated from high school with her peers and as she was figuring out how to navigate school and a baby she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis at the age of 19.  But Nakia did not let this stop her from attending The Junior College of Albany where she received her Associated degree and then transferred to the College of St. Rose where she graduated with her Bachelor's in Education.  

After graduating college Nakia did not stat teaching in the school district but instead life lead her to a job as the head teacher in the pre-k room at the Albany YMCA.  Nakia would spend the next several years learning about early childhood education where she fell in love with working with this particular age group.  Nakia became committed to educating herself so much that she enrolled back into the College of  St. Rose in order to obtain her Master's in Early Childhood Education.  Being a black woman and wanting to support her community the best way that she could she felt that she needed to be prepared to speak about the issues in her community dealing with black children and literacy. 

Nakia felt that all of these experiences had led her to this moment of writing this children's book called the Adventure's of Lil Margie