ADIBA NELSON

Badass: /ˈbadˌas/ noun

1. a formidably impressive person.

2. One who jumps and prays for wings on the way down

3. Adiba Nelson

Adiba Nelson is an award-winning, best-selling author, speaker, burlesque performer, star of the Emmy Award-winning documentary, “The Full Nelson”, disability rights activist, and mother to her sassy, hilarious, disabled teen daughter, Emory.

Essence magazine had this to say about Adiba’s debut memoir, Ain’t That A Mother:

“You'll immediately be welcomed into Nelson's life as she shares the truth of her parenting journey--from the highs of loving a child with complex medical needs to the lows of experiencing postpartum depression and the messy state in-between. You'll laugh, cry, and gain a new appreciation for motherhood.”

Filled with depth, hilarity, heartwrenching, and heartwarming vulnerability, Adiba lays her soul bare for readers to judge (while she judges herself). Often quoted as saying “Vulnerability can save your life if you let it”, Ain’t That A Mother is proof of that. However, Adiba is not just a memoirist. She is also a prolific children’s book author, having published her debut children’s book, Meet ClaraBelle Blue, in 2013. Selling over 7,000 copies WORLDWIDE, Adiba recently inked two book deals with MacMillan Kids, her next book, Oshun & Me: A Story of Love and Braids will be released in 2025, and Hazel’s Best Day will hit shelves in 2026.

Adiba Nelson is also a gold-star storyteller.

Adiba has shared her TEDx Talk, “Skating Downhill: The Art of Claiming Your Life” to a packed house, delivered a hilarious Christmas story at the request of USA Today Storytellers Project to a sold out crowd of over 600 people, was the post-COVID inaugural speaker at the Smithsonian African American Museum of History and Culture, and was a guest on the Emmy winning Tamron Hall Show.

In addition to all of this, Adiba is also a longtime NPR/AZPM contributor, freelance journalist and essayist, having bylines with Parents (and each of their verticals), The Washington Post, MadameNoire, HuffPost, and Ravishly. Because of her writing accomplishments, in 2023 Adiba was chosen as the first Black Writer-In-Residence for Pima County Public Library in Tucson, AZ.

Oh, and did we forget to mention that she’s also a semi-retired burlesque performer?

What you see is not what you get with Adiba Nelson. There are layers to this formidable woman - and she’s just barely beginning to pull them back!

Next up: developing her memoir into a multi-season television series. Stay tuned!