Random musings about lifestyle from an American island girl living in Anguilla, BWI.

Follow me: @theonlyvanessa

If you want to read about me formally, here you go.
About the Writer:

Vanessa Croft holds a Bachelor’s in Education in English Literature and a Master of Arts in English Language from the University of the West Indies. No stranger to performing arts, Vanessa has been involved with the stage since she was five years old amassing years of experience with acting and singing. Growing up in the Los Angeles, California entertainment industry afforded Vanessa the opportunity to work with many big names during her early career as a child actress and model.

Locally, Vanessa is well-known as a singer having standing gigs at many of Anguilla’s five-star hotels and restaurants. An avid writer, her poetry has been published in Where I See The Sun: an Anthology of Anguillian poetry. She is a long-time winner in the Malliouhana Poetry Competition with numerous first prize placings for Spoken Word from 2007 to 2018. Vanessa performed spoken word poetry at the 2017 Anguilla National Arts & Culture Awards as well as the Lit Fest fundraising event, “An Evening with Dan Brown” where she opened for the acclaimed author. Vanessa has been a featured presenter at the Anguilla Literary Arts Festival in 2013, 2016 and 2017. She most recently spoke as a panelist at the 2018 Anguilla Lit Fest where she presented her experience running a blog. In 2017, she represented the literary arts in Anguilla as a Spoken Word poet at CARIFESTA in Barbados. In 2018, Vanessa received the National Youth Award for Outstanding Performance in the Literary Arts. She was nominated at the same ceremony for Recognition in Volunteerism for her work teaching Literature to inmates at Her Majesty’s Prison, as well as her pioneer efforts in promoting reading for pleasure amongst adolescents. She once again represented Anguilla at the 2019 CARIFESTA in Trinidad. In 2020, Vanessa was honoured at Women’s Week for her contributions to activism in Anguilla. Vanessa also won 2nd Place in the National Non-Fiction Writing Competition for her piece “The Dogs of Anguilla”.

Vanessa previously headed the English Department at the Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School where she taught English Language, Literature and Communication Studies. She also lectured at the Anguilla Community College and frequently teaches a course in Creative Writing at the University of the West Indies, Open Campus. Currently, Vanessa teaches Middle School students at the Omololu International School.

About the Blog:

“Vanessa Explains It All” was created in January 2016 as a creative outlet for Vanessa to showcase her musings. The mixture of lifestyle posts appeals to a general audience with a love for reading. Vanessa fuses her writing with photographs of her own life in Anguilla, British West Indies. She often discusses topics dealing with race or parenting, however light-hearted “top 10” lists are also common on the blog.