Niknesha Q. Hairston was born in Westbury, New York. She moved to Manhasset, New York at the age of thirteen. Niknesha attended Manhasset High School and graduated in 1999. She attended Hofstra University and graduated in 2005 with a BA in English and Creative Writing. She made the Dean's List in Fall 2004, and Spring 2005. Niknesha returned to Hofstra for the Masters program. She graduated with a Masters in English and Creative Writing with a focus in poetry. During her time at Hofstra she received the Graduate Scholarship Award for Excellence in 2011.
For the past fourteen years she has worked at Adventures in Learning; an after-school educational and enrichment program dedicated to improving the lives of Long Island children in need of after-school care and instruction.
Her first book, "The Journey" is a collection of poems published on November 2, 2013. Niknesha believes no dream is too big to achieve.
