Stephanie Janét, a Tulsa Community College alumna, mother, and entrepreneur, has just self-published her first book, a 12-chapter, 564-page memoir titled “The Journey of a Mighty Warrior: Trying My Hardest – A Timeline Testimony of Pain, Perseverance, and Purpose.” It is a book all about the late passing of her daughter, Makayla, and her journey through a lifelong battle with heart disease.
Janét published the book on March 6, 2026, on what would have been Makayla’s 18th birthday.
Prior to her journey of publishing, she began her education at Tulsa Community College in Fall 2018 and graduated Spring 2020 with her degrees in business marketing, and business management during the infamous COVID 19 pandemic. Due to COVID restrictions and social distancing, she received her diplomas in the mail June 23, 2020, the same morning as her daughter’s untimely passing from heart disease.
Despite facing many challenges in motherhood, her personal health struggles with battling Lupus, and challenges that come with pursuing her education as a nontraditional student, Janét remained fearless, unstoppable, and resilient. She also found the time to be active in her community. The extracurricular activities included modeling in fashion shows, getting on stage, or being a judge with “OK, So Tulsa”, or being a part of organizations such as the National Association of Black Journalists – Tulsa Chapter.
In an interview with the TCC Connection, Janét shared everything from her journey from being a mother to becoming an author to offering any advice she has for TCC students who want to write a book.
TCC Connection: When did you know you wanted to be an author?
Stephanie Janét: I have been encouraged for years to share my story because others saw the power in it. From my 10-year battle with lupus and kidney failure to my daughter’s 12-year battle with heart disease, we had a uniquely powerful journey we were on. The night Makayla passed, I promised her that her memory would never fade, and her magic would continue to live on impacting this world for the better. This was when I knew writing a book was no longer a “one day goal.” I know my time in this world is a gift, and if I can leave something behind that will bring light to people’s darkness, I will have fulfilled my purpose.
TCC Connection: What did you go you TCC for?
Stephanie Janét: I went for both my business marketing and business management degrees. Initially, I only went for marketing but noticed it would only take a handful of classes to get both, so that’s what I did.
TCC Connection: Tell me about your medical condition and how it affected your daughter’s story in the book?
Stephanie Janét: I was diagnosed with the autoimmune disease, lupus, when I was 21, a year and a half after giving birth to my first born, Michael. I then had Malachi and Makayla back-to-back giving me a 3-year-old, an 11-month-old and a premature newborn that was diagnosed with Third Degree Heart Block due to my lupus attacking her, while I was pregnant.
TCC Connection: For people that are interested in becoming an author, what is your advice?
Stephanie Janét: Brain dump. Use the idea webbing or mind mapping process to organize your thoughts. Go to a coffee shop, a library, a place where you feel comfortable, and write. Start with your Why; Why am I writing this? Why is this important to me? And let the ideas flow. Have snacks and hydration, and for me classical music, without lyrics to distract, was a must. It was the way for me to allow my mind to zone out the world and focus on what I was trying to create.
TCC Connection: What’s a good summary of what your book is about?
Stephanie Janét: The book is about resilience and finding your inner strength. It touches on dealing with my battle with lupus for a decade, my daughter Makayla being born with heart disease, and the challenges – physical, mental, emotional, and familial that came with that. The book is written in a very journal-like style. The subtitle is ‘A ”Timeline Testimony” because I literally pulled big chunks of my story from my Facebook timeline. As my daughter and I were facing these various challenges, I had begun posting Facebook updates to family and friends. As I was writing the book, I found myself repeatedly turning to Facebook to verify the chronological order of certain events and realized so much of my story was contained within that platform. This book also shows the power in being vulnerable and finding connection and healing through sharing your story. The reviews I have gotten so far from people are that I take them to a deeper level and that I take them on an emotional journey into these moments of great trials, tribulations, and triumphs.
TCC Connection: What inspired the story, or the message behind the book?
Stephanie Janét: My daughter Makayla was the greatest driving factor to putting pen to paper. On the night she passed away, I had been going through her room seeking answers but instead found her autobiography that she had started:
My Autobiography
“Hi there. This is the story of my life. Now I know some of it might seem unbelievable, so now it is time to tell the story of me. My mom and dad were very happy to find out they were going to have a baby girl. My dad wanted my name to be Jocelyn and my mom wanting the name Makayla.”
That was it. That was as far as she got, and now her life was over. But I knew her purpose was still here and powerful, able to do great things. As her mom, it was my job to help. This inspired me to write the book. I still faced many obstacles in that process, including continuing health issues and divorce. And all the things that came with dealing with such a spectacular loss. But I knew I needed to get it done. It was a promise I made to my baby girl that night that I would fulfill it. Everything I went through after that was motivation to get it done; simply fodder for the fire burning inside me already. This year would have been Makayla’s senior year of high school. Both of my boys went off to college. Go Pokes! I felt that the timing now made sense. I needed something great to help me get through such a heavy year. Makayla’s 18th birthday would have been March 6. Instead, it became the day the book ended up being published. Divine Timing is what I keep being told.
TCC Connection: Is there a specific person, or chapter in the book you feel the most connected to?
Stephanie Janét: My daughter is a big focus in this book, which is why I wrote it. It is why she is on the cover. She has older brothers, Michael and Malachi, who are strong, healthy, and self-sufficient, and able to keep pushing year after year when I was sick in the hospital or gone with my daughter getting help and treatment for weeks, or months at a time out of state. My favorite chapter is my daughter getting her heart transplant. It is a heavy chapter but such a beautiful and incredible journey.
TCC Connection: What do you hope people take away from the book?
Stephanie Janét: I hope they are able to gain a new perspective of life, and what it is to keep going, keep fighting, keep trying their hardest. I hope they realize that there are people who have been in not so good moments, whether that is being alone, scared, and in uncertain positions in life, but have survived and found light, direction, and purpose. As I wrote this book and shared with people the various things I was writing about, they would open up to me and share their stories and their own personal challenges and would thank me for being vulnerable as it allowed them to share memories they had never spoken of because they found connection with me. Many people would also express how they realized that the problems they had that appear to be so big in their life, are truly manageable and not as “life and death” as they were once thinking. I hope it gives them a moment to exhale the stress in their life they have been carrying, and step back, and learn to show more appreciation for the battles they are not facing.
TCC Connection: Many students are balancing invisible struggles, while trying to succeed academically. What would you want current students at TCC to hear from your experience?
Stephanie Janét: I believe it was my second semester at TCC when my daughter’s transplanted heart began to fail. There were moments when we were airlifted to St. Louis Children’s Hospital, or moments where in the middle of the night she is connected to machines, and I am sitting behind her, submitting my schoolwork because I did not want to fall behind. I was doing it not only for me to prove that I could get that degree. Not just because I wanted the skills and knowledge that it comes with, but because I knew what I wanted to do with my life. There were 10 years of time before enrolling back that I was too sick to do anything. I was struggling badly and on top of that my daughter was sick. So now I had the physical and mental ability to get it done. My focus was on doing it for my kids and showing them what it was to fight to build a better future. Especially for my daughter, I wanted to show her that yes, we may have faced some crazy obstacles in our lives that we should not have to deal with, but we must still focus on what’s next. Even though we were facing these battles, and unsure what our futures would look like. My girl listened and she was designing, and planning for a restaurant that she wanted to open, up until a few days before her passing. It was unexpected when we lost her, but she never stopped dreaming. All the obstacles she went through, she still was building towards her future and preparing herself for when it got here. So, I hope that students who are facing invisible challenges, whether inner, outer, or family, keep focused on who, and what they are getting their education for.
TCC Connection: Please tell us more about your nonprofit, the “Mighty Heart Warrior Project,” what its mission is, and how our readers can learn more.
Stephanie Janét: Our mission for “The Mighty Heart Warrior Project” is to help provide CPR certification, recertification, and defibrillators to families with children at an elevated risk for a major cardiac event. The website is www.themightyheartwarriorproject.com. There, anyone can learn more about it, donate, and help support it. The nonprofit was formed from the regret I had from losing my daughter, so I turned my pain into purpose. Because of her life, and her death, my goal with the project is to honor Makayla’s legacy and her light and to reach as many families as I can to provide them with these lifesaving services. “The Mighty Heart Warrior Project” offers CPR certification, support and resources, and defibrillators and supports blood donation efforts. Defibrillators, we help provide, are external devices that are utilized in emergency situations that give the heart patient’s heart an electrical shock to return it to its normal rhythm. These devices are extremely helpful when heart patients are having a cardiac episode as every minute a person is in cardiac arrest their survival rate drops by 10%. It ia possible my daughter’s life could have been saved by a defibrillator if we had one on hand or were trained more consistently in CPR. This led to creating my nonprofit 501(c)(3). In times of darkness is when light has the opportunity to shine the brightest. Losing Makayla was an unimaginable loss that put me in some scary places for a while; seeking purpose, leading with love and finding a way to honor her memory and make my sons proud has been my driving force to keep fighting, keep living and never stop trying my hardest to live in gratitude, and build a life worthy of the grace I have been given thus far.
“The Journey of a Mighty Warrior” is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble.com, and all major book sellers.
