She received her BS degree in Print Journalism from Syracuse University and her MA in Creative Writing/Fiction from Johns Hopkins University. Howard is also an award winning journalist who has worked for newspapers ranging from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (where she was that newspaper’s first black female sportswriter) and Long Island Newsday. A self-acknowledged “Potterhead,” Howard has presented papers on the Harry Potter series at various conferences in the United States and England. Her chapter on the Harry Potter series as a postcolonial slave narrative appears in Harry Potter’s World Wide Influence. Her current interests are related to the impact of race on rhetoric.