Darylynn Mumphord laid unconscious in a hospital bed for two weeks at Providence Hospital in 2006, not knowing if she would survive a blow to the head she had received from a wooden baseball bat. Not yet 15, she suffered the assault by the hands of a childhood friend named Monea who refused to return the Al Wissam coat Mumphord loaned out to her. Mumphord survived, but was diagnosed with epilepsy from the trauma to her head.
That is just one of the many short stories in Mumphord’s new book, “Inspiration of a D-Girl”, which chronicles her life growing up on Detroit’s west side near Joy Road, from her mother Jeanne taking in nine of her cousins, being diagnosed with Thyroid Cancer and being in a violent relationship, to her oldest brother Ace being murdered, and starting her own clothing line.
The subtitle for the book is “I was willing to risk it all, now I have too much to lose.”
“All through the book, you’ll see that I dealt with loss early,” said Mumphord. “I lost a stepbrother, my older brother, and I was losing all of my favorite people to the streets. But I feel when people read my book, they’ll learn a lot more about me and they’ll feel inspired. I really want younger girls from the hood to be inspired by this and change their situations.”
Toward the end of the book, Mumphord talks about how she started Dream Rich clothing in 2014. She needed a way to make more money and was riding in a car with two of her friends when the idea for a clothing line struck her. They each began to brainstorm names, until Dream Rich stuck. She began to do research on clothing design and actually was not able to get much help at home in Detroit. It is now one of the more recognizable brands in the city.
“I had to move out of town,” Mumphord said. “I was in Miami walking on the beach and I saw this guy. I asked him where he got his shirt from and he said he made them. I did my first release and it sold out. I used my last $200 to start my business.”
Mumphord co-wrote the book with friend Derek Nesbitt. Mumphord is very transparent in Inspirations of a D-Girl, revealing stories that are family secret worthy. But it allows others to look inside the real life of someone who is well-known around the city, having 75,200 followers on Instagram.
Not to give too much of the book away, Inspirations of a D-Girl comes out March 3, 2019, which also happens to be her mother’s birthday. Mumphord is having a book signing and release party at 25250 Greenfield Road in Oak Park, Michigan. And if you are not available to attend, it will also be available on Amazon and at GotDreamsGetRich.com for $19.99.
“This is my first book, so I want honest feedback from the city,” said Mumphord. “I’m more nervous than anything about this release and I’m usually never nervous about anything. But this is a big step for me, because I’m about to tell the world about my life and more questions are going to come behind it.”
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