Chyna

Chyna was born in south London in 1989. After years spent moving between deprived homes and safehouses, her family settled in an estate in the middle of gangland. She was enrolled at the local secondary school, where she immediately made a close-knit group of friends. After an attack left one of the girls badly beaten, they resolved to form the Nothing 2 Lose gang. Several years of brutal gang warfare followed. 
       At the age of 16, Chyna fell into a life of drugs and crime, operating on the city streets and out of crackhouses across the country. Affiliated with boys from several notorious South London gangs, Chyna finally managed to escape the gang lifestyle after a tragic incident involving a friend served as a wake-up call. 
       She now works as a youth worker with a charitable organisation that works with young offenders, drawing on her own experiences to help other young people trying to break out of the gang cycle. FAM is her story.

FAM: ROLLING IN A LONDON GIRL GANG by Chyna will be published on 28 April 2011. Pre-order here.