Because You Were Chosen is Ivory Bennett's first published memoir. Ivory spent seventeen years in the foster care system due to her mother's extreme mental illnesses - each movement in this choreopoem is dedicated to the sacred lessons her mother was able to teach her, both directly and indirectly. This brief work is the first of many that Ivory plans to publish. Ivory Bennett graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 2014 with a dual degree in Africana Studies and English Literature with a minor in Theatre Arts (Performance).