Vanessa Smithers is a Toronto-based African Nova Scotian writer, Narrative Consultant, Legacy Archivist, and Speaker whose work lives at the intersection of story, identity, and generational memory. Rooted in ancestral ties to The Hill, a historic Black community in Truro, Nova Scotia, Canada, her writing explores Black life, tenderness, inheritance, survival, truth-telling, and the language people carry before they have words for it. Across essays, poetry, workshops, and public storytelling, Vanessa treats language as a form of preservation and generational wealth, helping people name what matters, protect what might otherwise be forgotten, and leave their stories standing in their own words. To date, she has supported more than 3,200 people internationally. In January 2026, Vanessa self-published her debut book, oh, to be tender: a compilation of reflections on feelings, experiences, & all the heart things, selling more than 1,000 copies within its first two weeks.