I AM TIFFANY, by Tiffany Deshea, is a gripping tale of a biracial, adopted woman haunted by the question, "What are you?" Her relentless search for her identity

LOS ANGELES, CA, USA, July 25, 2023

I AM TIFFANY is a based on a true story of a biracial baby girl given up for adoption at birth. Tiffany’s life began in 1973 with unanswered questions and uncertainty. At 2 months old she was adopted by a Caucasian family and lived in a community where she resembled nobody. It was known that her birth mother was white but there was absolutely no information about her birth father. However, with her golden-brown skin and dark curly hair, she was told by society her birth father was black. Without any confirmation this was immediately believed to be true. During her youth she felt different than her peers. Taller, fatter, uglier with hair that did not blow in the wind she looked in the mirror and hated what she saw. This began a lifelong battle with an eating disorder. In her early teens she switched schools and for the first time in her life was introduced to racism. This preconception and unacceptance came from the black kids causing Tiffany to hate them and half of herself. It seemed everyone in her life except for her family wanted her to choose a side. Was she white? Was she black? It was the 80’s and just saying she was mixed was not good enough.

She spent the next 30 years searching for the truth. Who was she? Where did she belong? This journey was joined by many years of abusing drugs and alcohol. Joined by a string of abusive and destructive relationships; one of them making her a witness to a murder. An eating disorder that grew strength through out the years that was accompanied by a voice in her head constantly telling her if she could just be skinny, she could be happy. She learned at 5’ 11 weighing 111 pounds this was not true. Tiffany did not stop her self-harming behaviors. One inpatient treatment center after another she was unable to remain clean & sober for very long. Then the death of her grandmother in 2015 sent her spiraling out. Locking herself away in her condo for a year high strung out on drugs she began suffering from a somatic disorder that to her felt 100% real. It brought her to the point she was rarely speaking and fell into a psychosis. Her days began every morning full of rage that she had made it through another night. An idea from a friend and wanting to run as far away as possible in 2016 she packed 2 suitcases, put her 2 cats in a pet carrier, shipped her car and moved to Southern California to start over.

Now residing in California, she was living the same life she had been living in Miami except her suicidal ideation and disconnection from reality had only worsened. After a failed attempt to take her own life, she voluntarily admitted herself in another treatment center. However, this one finally got her attention. Through time and professional help, she was able to surrender entering a life of sobriety and a whole new world. She eventually learned to love, forgive, and heal. No longer allowing herself to be labeled or placed in a box. She was no longer what she thought everyone wanted her to be, if you asked her what she was she would tell you, “I Am Tiffany.”