From the Crack to the Ceiling

She came from a place where water had to be carried in a bucket. She grew into a woman who discovered there was never a ceiling on how far she could go.

In From the Crack to the Ceiling, Dr. Lawanda Michelle Johnson tells the deeply personal story of growing up in Elloree, South Carolina, in a single-wide mobile home without running water, and the remarkable journey that followed.

With honesty, humor, faith, and the unmistakable voice of “Mama J,” she shares the experiences that shaped her: family, poverty, education, the heartbreaking loss of her infant son, career triumphs and disappointments, marriage and divorce, financial rebuilding, earning her doctorate, becoming a six-figure woman, traveling the world alone, and finally learning that peace is an accomplishment too.

This is not a story about being ashamed of where you started. It is about honoring every version of yourself that refused to quit.

The little girl carried the bucket because she had to. The woman boards the plane because she wants to.