It’s the story of a local girl made good and hitting the glossy pages. She’s one of our own, realizing a dream born out of love. I share with you here because it’s the closest I can get to shouting it from a rooftop without being arrested for disturbing the peace.

Atlanta’s very own Dejie Johnson will be in People magazine on September 19th

Authors note: This is a gratuitous regurgitation of a post from my own personal site today. Saying so should make a blatant statement that eliminates the need for a disclaimer. Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Dej shot me an email yesterday morning with the *official* word, so I can finally spill it: she’ll be in People Magazine on September 19th. (This isn’t actually all the news, but hey, I’m a tease.)

We’ll be arranging for a public celebration somewhere in the ‘hood should you want to show up, stand in line for her autograph, have your picture taken with the star…aw who am I kidding. That’s not how she rolls. Come have a glass of wine, some laughs and celebrate good fortunate and life long dreams come true. Hell, it could be even better than the CD release party, who knows? I’ll let you know where to find us on September 9th soon enough, for now she’s splitting and hitting Cannes for two weeks so we’ve got some logistical crunching to do.

She’s worked for years to create her own destiny and in doing so serves as an inspiration to not only me, but countless others on days we want to give up the ghost. At 50 (hard to believe, I know), she’s released her first CD and is truly embarking on her well deserved path to a diva-dom she helped define.

The back cover of her CD tells the story:

Uncle Warren was a professional pianist. He started his career playing with big bands and was featured on West Virginia radio. During the WWII, he played on ships and was Jane Fromanís musical director.

He was wearing a white dinner jacket and playing at The Money Tree in Hollywood when he died.

I was in the 6th grade. Being the only member of the family who played piano, I inherited a suitcase full of music…

This CD is for him”

We now also know that Uncle Warren was Dinah Shore’s musical director and headlined the opening of The Aladdin with Buddy Hackett, more exciting details continue to be revealed daily.

Listen to samples on her site then suck it up and buy her cd on www.cdbaby.com.

I think we have plenty to learn from daring women (men folk too) like Dejie – chase those dreams, no matter how big….because anything is possible.