Iyanla Vanzant Biography and Story, Education, Net Worth, Husband, Age

Iyanla Vanzant is among the ladies whose life stories are enough to inspire the whole world. In fact, Vanzant’s story is more inspirational than others because of her troubling life.

She had crossed through a number of problems which can’t be described in short.

Many people have changed their life through her story. Now, it’s your turn. So, start reading this very inspirational biography of Iyanla Vanzant and change your life.

Who is Iyanla Vanzant?

Iyanla Vanzant is a renowned American Motivational Speaker, Spiritual Guider, TV Personality, Author, and lawyer.

She is immensely famous across the world because of her success after a very troubling life.

However, she succeeded to achieve such peaks in her life. She is the author of more than 10 self-helping books.

Apart from writing books, Vanzant has appeared in several TV shows. She has been also honored with Doctor of Humane Letters and Doctor of Divinity. Let you look below at how she did this all from being a simple girl.

Early Life of Iyanla Vanzant

Iyanla Vanzant was born on 13 September 1953 in New York City, the U.S. Her father, Horace Harris was a petty criminal, and her mother, Sarah Jefferson was a railroad car maid.

Vanzant’s mother died in 1955 due to breast cancer. She then started living with her paternal relatives. Her childhood passed in trouble and a very uncomfortable.

In search of a good living, she found a man with whom she fell in love.

Vanzant found herself pregnant at age of 16 and birthed 3 children by 21. She married her loving man at 18 but he was physically abusive and thus she left him in 1980.

She expressed the period in an article written for Essence, “I accumulated several black eyes, three fractured ribs, a broken jaw, a displaced uterus, and something far worse: the death of my personhood. In a fit of depression, I attempted suicide.”

Education of Iyanla Vanzant

Iyana Vanzant started her education at the City University of New York, Medgar Evers. Although her family members were against her education, she ignored everyone in the focus of her dream.

She later enrolled in Virginia Union University to pursue her graduation. From there, she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree.

Vanzant dreamed to become a lawyer and therefore she joined the City University of New York, Queens to pursue her law education. She later earned a law degree, Juris Doctor (JD).

Moreover, Vanzant completed her Master of Arts (MA) degree at the University of Santa Monica for Spiritual Psychology study.

Iyanla Vanzant Career

Iyanla Vanzant began her career as a Public Defender in 1988 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She continued her job for the next three years and later left it in 1992.

Her works in the legal field led her to write a book name Tapping the Power Within A Path to Self-Empowerment for Black Women which teaches pre-employment skills to marginalized women.

The book was originally published on 1 May 1992. Shortly, she released 15 titles of which four of them were listed on the New York Times Best Sellers list.

Vanzant’s efforts paid her more when she was nominated for NAACP Image Awards for her book.

Later, Oprah Winfrey, a renowned American TV Producer, Talk Show Host, and Author invited Vanzant on her show. She appeared 20 times on her show from 1998 to 1999.

She gained much more experience from the show and following her skills, she developed a TV program in 2001. Although, the program got closed after one season.

Vanzant later blamed Winfrey for the program’s failure and thereafter they both remained estranged for 10 years.

Problems continued in Vanzant’s life as book publishing contracts were canceled and her husband, Adeyemi filed for divorce.

In addition to this, her child, Gemmia expired away of colon cancer at age of 34 in 2003.

Things got overloaded at her and she fell into bankruptcy and attempted suicide.

Bounce Back in Iyana Vanzant Success

Vanzant experienced more in her life which further led her to write another best-selling book, Peace from Broken Pieces.

The book resulted very profitably for her as it revived her career and even it revives the relationship between Vanzant and Winfrey.

Now, Vanzant hosts the show Iyana: Fix my Life on the Orpha Winfrey Network.

Vansant achieved more success when she along with her late daughter, Gemmia started a seminar, Inner Visions: Institute for Spiritual Development. The seminar’s motive is to train spiritual leaders.

Looking at Vanzant’s great works, the Interdenominational Theological Seminary in Atlanta nominated given her an Honorary Doctor of Divinity in 2000.

The same year, she was included in the list of “100 most influential Black Americans” by Ebony magazine. In 2012, Vanzant was named the 7th spiritually living person in Watkin’s Mind Body Spirit magazine.

And in 2016, she was listed on Orpha Winfrey’s SuperSoul100 list of visionaries and influential leaders.

Iyanla Vanzant Personal Life

Iyanla married to Adeyemi Bandele in 1997. The couple welcomed three children into their life.

But unfortunately, Bandele filed for divorce from Vanzant’s in 2007.

It’s not the first time that she faced such a very bad moment. But her first spouse, Kirk also divorced her in a short time. Later, she married Charles Vanzant in 1973 but he also divorced her in 1979.

Vanzant’s life was always bounded with troubles and everyone left her. But now, she is showing the world where she is and what she can do.

Vanzant never backed her steps due to these problems but made herself stronger. She has two daughter’s Gemmia (who died in 2003) and Nisa.

And she has a son whose name is Damon Vanzant.

Iyanla Vanzant Net Worth

Iyanla Vanzant estimated net worth is $5 million. She has a number of sources from which she can create her wealth. Although, she mostly earns from books and TV shows.

She also earns via advertisement, teaching, seminars, events, and more.

However, she has no intention of money but she wants to help other people. Vanzant had a very troubling life and thus she understood other people’s needs.

And in last, she tries to fulfill their need as far as she can.

Iyanla Vanzant Social Media

Iyanla Vanzant is also a social media influencer as she has a huge number of followers on her social media accounts. And obviously, it will be as she posts very inspiring and motivating content.

Currently, she has more than 1.5 million followers on her Instagram profile and more than 3.3 million followers on her Facebook page.

She has also a public Facebook account which has been followed by over 184k people. Moreover, Vanzant’s has over 1.9 followers on her Twitter profile.

Physical Appearance

Iyanla Vanzant stands around 5 feet 6 inches taller, which is equal to 167 centimeters or 1.67 meters. Further, she weighs nearly 60 kg or 132 lbs.

Talking about her colors, she has common black eyes and decent brown hair. Overall, these things makes her different and more attractive in terms of her appearance.

Iyanla Vanzant Awards and Achievements

• Oni Awards – 1991
• Alumni of the Year – 1994
• BlackBoard Book of the Year – 1994, 1995, and 1996
• NAACP Image Award – 1999
• Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters – 1999
• Honorary Doctor of Divinity – 2000

The Bottom Line

Iyanla Vanzant is such an amazing lady whose life story overflows with inspiration. There was a time when she had almost nothing to live a good life.

But today, she is among the top luxurious people and now living her life very comfortably.

What it teaches is that never backed your steps from the problem. And face them and try for a great change in your life.

Next Read: Brian Tracy inspirational and life-changing biography

Always remember, Bill gates say that if you are born poor then it’s not your mistake, but if you died poor, then sure it’s your mistake.

I hope you loved reading the biography of Iyanla Vanzant and learned something, Share your feedback below about her.