About the Author Maria Antoinett Howell was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri. Her life had many twist and turns. Throughout her childhood, Maria had always wanted to become a flight stewardess for an airline even when there were many challenges for black Americans during that period. Through Maria's faith and her belief and the help of her parents, she was able to beat the odds and all the bigotry. As faith would have it, in 1969, Maria became the first black woman to fly for Ozark Airlines in the Midwest. During her flying career, Maria traveled many places and made lifetime friends along the way. Maria has received many awards and accolades when she was flying, such as the Award of Excellence, Grooming and Safety awards, and numerous letters of excellence. After airline mergers and before she retired from American Airlines, she was one of the flight attendants that the airline selected to be on the safety demonstration card in Silhouette. She retired after thirty-three years of flying. She is married to Kenneth M. Jenkins who is a native of Cocoa, Florida, and moved to Rockledge, Florida, to become a stepmother of two. Maria is a graduate of Maryville University in St. Louis, Missouri, with a degree in interior design and holds a copyright to a self-designed candy cane alphabets logo. Maria was a freelance interior designer in St. Louis for local builders setting up display homes, residential, and commercial. While residing in Florida, she used her design skills when her church had a fire. She took on the project of redesigning the narthex and other parts of the church. She is now a member of the Women's Missionary Society and Young People's Division. Maria is also a new member of the Professional Woman Network. Maria volunteers at her church once a week to do missionary work, feeding the homeless and helping with the children when called upon. Maria continues praising the Lord for all of her blessing as she has always been able to find that inner peace. She was once misdiagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and later she found out she was partially blind in one eye. It was also determined she had a Jewish disease called Tay-Sachs and enzyme deficiency of the brain. But no matter what, Maria has always kept a positive attitude about life itself. She tells her story about where she came from and how her love for the Lord has made her who she is today and has penned her personal autobiography Wings of Color: Black or White?, which was released in 2015.
