How The Light Gets In

In the bosom of Happy Utah Valley, Keira Shae and her family weren't like everybody else. Their home was filthy, their mother was absent, and their cupboards were bare. What began as a disadvantaged existence quickly crumbled as Keira and her siblings grew up under the terror, abuse, and drug culture that their mother brought into the home. The only thing more incredible than their story of survival are the powers that transformed Keira's fears into love, kindness, and resilience. How The Light Gets In is the true story of a girl who went from an impoverished prostitute's daughter to an educated, loved, and empowered woman, wife, and mother.

Keira Shae was raised by an uneducated, single parent in poverty, and was placed in foster care at age fifteen after her mother had embraced methamphetamine addiction and prostitution. Her foster parents encouraged her to obtain higher education, and provided her with structure and skills for life. She was the first in her family to graduate high school, let alone college.

During her undergraduate degree at UVU in 2012, she composed the "Dear American Taxpayers" Letter and the letter saw national success as its contents inspired journalists to interview her and wire the story to various newspapers.

Later, Keira published her best-selling memoir, "How The Light Gets In" with BCC Press in 2018, available on Amazon in book and audiobook format.

She has also published local news articles, critical essays with BCC (2018), short fiction with University of Illinois Press (2019), and contributed her poetry to a collection entitled, "shades of becoming", available on Amazon.com (2020).

In addition to attending graduate school, Shae now tours the country as a professional public speaker on topics such as resilience, foster care, women and education, dysfunctional families, and youth at risk.