Benita Paloja also known as Rrushe, Bita, and Bena, was born on May 13, 1995 in Pristina, Kosovo. In 1999, Benita and her family journeyed to the USA as a result of the Balkan War. Benita along with her three younger sisters and parents now reside in Boston, MA. Aside from writing, Benita also has a thriving career in marketing that feeds her desire to travel, as well as in public relations that feeds her love of meeting an communicating with a vast variety of people. With this, she also is mastering her degree in Psychology and Communications. Benita began writing at the age of 13, however, did not begin to share her poems until the age of 17. She turns to writing in good times and in bad as an escape from reality as well as for personal therapy. In Benita's words, "I hope that one day, a girl who is praying to God for a sign, finds my book. I hope that she reads it and it helps her with whatever obstacle she thinks she wont be able to overcome. I wish I had something like this to read when I thought I would never survive what I was going through. This book is for her." Benita also emphasizes her ambition to make the Albanian Community more known to the world. "I am Kosovar/Albanian before I am anything else, my biggest goals apart from making my family proud are to raise awareness to outside cultures about how much beauty and pain lies within the Albanian streets and behind every Albanian's eyes." To conclude, Benita's final words are "I may not have walked this earth for a very long time, however, I have been faced with situations that not many would be able to come back from. Nonetheless, growing consists of escaping comfort zones, making mistakes, and learning to water my own grass instead of dreaming of greener grass. I spent a great deal of time holding onto anger, grudges, pride, and doubt. Only to then realize that my best friends are humility, strength, and resilience. 2017 may have been the year of questions for me, but the years to come will be the years of answers. I look forward to sharing my journey with you all through my writings."
