Claire Beaudreault a.k.a. Clara Bizna$$, is a rapper (from the group Hand Job Academy), writer, nail artist and multi-hyphenate living on the Brooklyn/Queens border. New Orleans-born, Los Angeles-, Manila- and West Virginia-bred, she moved to NYC a decade ago with two suitcases and $1,000. Bylines include BarkPost, Bust, Salon, Brokelyn and xoJane. She has got a Chihuahua, a Captain Beefheart tattoo and once played a hooker on SVU. Her religion is karaoke. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram. (photo credit: Hayleigh Hatcher)
Picture it: Charleston, West Virginia, June 20, 1995. I’ve just turned fourteen, and in an eerily prescient diary entry, I express my ambitions to be a mentally ill person. Spoiler alert: I eventually get my diagnosis, and it’s not nearly as easy or glamorous as I’d hoped.
In January of 1997, I am sixteen and my world is getting a little gnarlier. Themes include: teen pregnancy, suicide, drugs and um…Broadway musicals?
