Don’t Make Me Who I Am and Then Not Want Me: Don’t make me who I am… and then expect me to be something else.

Don’t Make Me Who I Am and Then Not Want Me is a raw and powerful memoir about survival, resilience, and breaking generational cycles.

Naquana takes readers deep into a childhood, where love and instability existed side by side. Growing up with a mother battling addiction, navigating unsafe environments, and learning to silence herself just to survive, she was forced to mature far too early.

Through moments of pain, confusion, and quiet strength, she shares what it felt like to be unseen, unheard, and misunderstood, and how those experiences shaped the woman she would become.

But this is not just a story about trauma.

It is a story about awareness.
About growth.
About choosing something different.

From becoming a young mother to facing loss, navigating relationships, and learning to unlearn survival behaviors, her journey is one of transformation.

This book is for anyone who has ever asked themselves:

How do I heal from what made me?
How do I become better without becoming bitter?
How do I give my children what I never had?

Honest, reflective, and deeply human, this memoir is a reminder that while we may come from pain, we are not required to carry it forward.