Hailing from the Washington, DC metropolitan area (“the DMV”), Clarence & Yalonda Lewis were college sweethearts that married in 1996.  Early in their marriage, they moved for work and school, living in Durham, NC, and Zurich, Switzerland. In 2000, they returned to Maryland as they welcomed the birth of their first child, Symone, and 4 years later they put out a sequel named Nathan. Clarence worked as a software engineer for multiple companies and Yalonda as a public health researcher and communications consultant. Yalonda would later transition to become a stay-at-home mom and caregiver for their daughter with special needs. Together, they owned and operated a family party business for 6 years.

One of the cornerstones of their marriage has always been their love of music. First, that love led Clarence to start DJ’ing part-time under the moniker DJ C Sharp. Then, in 2020, their love of music led them to start a weekly live stream broadcast centered on R&B music and conversations about life and relationships called HeartBeats (twitch.tv/djcsharp). Based on their stories and obvious on-stream chemistry, their family and online community encouraged them to write about their marital adventures and insights. The product of that encouragement is aptly titled, The Rhythm of Love: 25 Things that 25 Years of Marriage Taught Us.

In their book, Yalonda and Clarence simply share their experiences - what they got wrong and what they eventually get right as they attempt to strengthen their relationship and each other in the face of life’s ups, downs, and surprises. They don’t consider themselves marriage experts. However, the response to their transparency on their broadcast demonstrated the value of couples having conversations where they share their experiences with other couples and with single people. Knowing what married couples are going through and, more importantly, that they are getting through and growing through similar circumstances and challenges as you can be a great motivator. And you can only learn about other couples’ experiences when couples are willing to share. Clarence and Yalonda hope to inspire more of these conversations.

Yalonda and Clarence are both graduates of the University of Maryland Baltimore County and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Clarence has a Master’s degree in Information Technology and is a brother in Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. Yalonda’s Master’s degree is in Health Behavior and Health Education and she is a sister in Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. They continue to reside in Maryland.