Outskirts Press, INC.

DIANA HICKS-SHERER BIOGRAPHY Born in Chicago, Illinois, writer Diana Hicks Sherer started her career in sports promotions working for a top Sports agency in Los Angeles, California. At the time Sports Services of America represented many of the number one NFL draft picks in the country and Diana worked closely with the recruiting staff building solid relationships with numerous college athletes. Once they turned professional, she then assisted with the management of their careers. When the agency was sold in early 1989, Diana decided to pursue a career in Broadcasting and enrolled in the Columbia School of Broadcasting. She finally landed a position with the L.A. Watts Times in their sports and entertainment department covering award shows and writing feature articles on Los Angeles elite athletes and entertainers. In 1989-1990, she hosted a weekly entertainment talk show on cable called Communique. The show covered sports, entertainment and the political scene in Los Angeles. After taping her last segment of Communique in late 1990 Diana started her own sports column, “Let’s Talk Sports” that ran until 1997. As a freelance sportswriter her column and interviews were regularly featured in the L.A. Watts Times, the Los Angeles Dodgers Blue publication, the Los Angeles Raiders publications and many others. During her years as a sportswriter she also covered the Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers basketball teams. “I enjoyed working behind the scenes in sports. I believe this comes through in my writing,” said Diana. “Gone are my earlier fears when I first walked into the Dodgers locker room. Back then women were starting to open doors and often raised eyebrows whenever they stepped foot in the press box or sat ringside to cover a championship fight.” From 1990-1997 Diana covered numerous championship fights in Las Vegas. She became an avid student of the sport reading everything she could find, while interviewing many of the sport’s premier athletes. In 1994 she married boxing trainer, Alex Sherer, who is most known for guiding Thomas Hearns to his sixth championship title. Initially she collaborated with her husband on writing a sports series. It would be after his death in 1997 that she moved to Las Vegas and began writing “World Champions Only” the first in a four book fiction series. The book sat on her shelf for several years while she worked a demanding position with Forum Boxing in Las Vegas as the Director of Marketing and Public Relations. There she helped guide the career of fighter Marco Antonio Barrera, the number one featherweight in the world at the time. The experience of promoting championship fights and working in conjunction with HBO, Pay-Per-View, major hotels, and top boxing writers around the country prepared her for the next phase of her writing career. Today Diana has made a name for herself in the world of sports working behind the scenes with some of the best in the business. Now her goal is to utilize her technical knowledge and personal experiences to write a sports series about boxing, football and baseball. Her characters though fictional are born out of all her experiences and personal relationships. “I am certain that a lot of people I have known, worked with and observed over the years will definitely recognize themselves in my work. I am sure I’ll get a few laughs and a couple of tears.”