Journalist and author VERONCA CHAMBERS. Her new memoir, "Mama's Girl" (Riverhead Books), describes her ascent from childhood poverty into the middle class. Growing up in the 1970s in Brooklyn and Los Angeles, CHAMBERS struggled to ease the strain on her single mother and to help her brother stay out of trouble. She overcame racial stereotypes by excelling in the gifted and talented program in school and graduating from college at the age of 20. She is a former editor of the New York Times Magazine and a frequent contributor to Essence, Seventeen and the New York Times Book Review. (THIS INTERVIEW CONTINUES INTO THE SECOND HALF OF THE SHOW
Copyright 1996 Fresh Air