"I love to write and I write what I like"

Jennifer began writing and illustrating educational children's books at the age of nine years old. In 2003 she published her first conscious children's book under the pen name of 

Empress Ivory 

about the legendary story of King Solomon & Queen of Sheba, and the transfer of holy power from Israel to Ethiopia 3000 years ago.

• Makeda and Solomon, The Greatest Love Story Ever Told, was published and launched in Barbados, West Indies by honor of collaboration with Barbados' Commission for Pan-African Affairs. 

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Since publishing her first book, 

Empress Ivory has written, illustrated and self-published over a dozen books, some of which include; 

• You Are My Survival, 'A Journey Through The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade'
• A B C, 'Alzheimer's Book For Children'
• King Lalibela and the Rock Hewn Churches of Ethiopia
• Once a Man, Twice a Child 'Dementia Education for Teenagers'
• Re-Discover Me, 'The Silent Cries of Mother Earth'
• #HOPE, Heal Our Planet Earth
• The Reggae Tribute to Conscious Musicians
• How Dementia Affects the Brain
• Made in the U.S.A. in Black and White
• Rootical Crosswords and Word Games
• NyahBinghi Chants (written by the Greater Rasta Community and simply formatted & published by Empress Ivory)

Although born in the Virgin Islands and raised in Oakland, California, Jennifer's Gross' grandparents, as with several generations before them, were born and raised on the Laura slave plantation in Vacherie, Louisiana. It just so happened that Jennifer's parents lived and worked in St. Croix when and where she came to be. The rest is an even more captivating history.