WASHINGTON (DC News Now) — DC News Now’s 2023 “Remarkable Woman of the Year” is Kinyatta Gray. She juggles being an entrepreneur, mom to two adult children, grandmother and author.

DC News Now asked how she manages it all.

“I’m organized. You know, I live by my iPhone calendar, and I just take it day by day… prioritize what needs to come first, what’s important, and just take it from there,” she responded.

Gray now has at least six books with life lessons for domestic violence survivors, parents, members of the LGBTQ community, aspiring entrepreneurs and those coping with grief.

She published her first book in 2019.

“It is a memoir that talks about what I was doing the 30 days prior to my mom’s passing,” she said.

Soon, she will expand her mission. She wants to reach more people who may be looking for healing through words.

“I am on the verge of launching… a not for profit… organization, and so the purpose of the organization is to provide education, awareness and outreach about the importance of using journals to process and cope with grief — and I’m going to make access to journals for free, you’ll be able to get them for free,” she said.

“In my community… I think that there’s more work to be done to give education and awareness about how grief journaling can help,” Gray added.

She also uses social media as a creative outlet, using the handle @flightsinstilettos, representing women who are sometimes underrepresented in the travel industry.

“Essentially, I design luxury inclusive beach towels, luxury microfiber beach towels that have captivating illustrations of Black and brown women on the beach towels and bold colored swimsuits,” she said.

Gray’s passion for giving back comes from her mom, Beverly Carroll, who died in 2018.

“My mom was such a pillar of the community. She herself was a giver. She was very loved by many, and so I didn’t want her to just die, and no one remember her,” she said. “And so that’s what really propelled me to just do a lot of things like becoming an author.”

The Arc is a place where residents east of the Anacostia River can access social service program and a place where Carroll worked for more than 17 years.

Gray hopes her work in the community will be an everlasting reminder of Carroll.

 “I want to be known, or remembered rather, as someone who was compassionate, giving someone that gave opportunities to others, someone that was an extra, extraordinary leader,” she said.