Who is the comedienne?
Chonda Pierce has appeared more than a dozen times on the famous stage of The Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, TN, following in the footsteps of much beloved comedienne, Minnie Pearl. “I may have replaced the gingham dress and price-tag hat with irreverent leather pants, but I have held onto what Ms. Minnie taught me—that comedy can be clean and still be funny!” And it’s Pierce’s own use of personal narrative and everyday stories in her comedy sets that have branded her “The Queen of Clean.” Two of Chonda’s eight books chronicle the journey from dysfunction to dishing out fun: Second Row, Piano Side (Beacon Hill Press) and It’s Always Darkest Before the Fun Comes Up (Zondervan). Chonda lost both of her sisters at a young age. “My older sister, Charlotta, was killed in a car accident (she was 20),” Chonda says. “Several months later my little sister became seriously ill and died in 21 days after being diagnosed with leukemia (she was 15). My father struggled with manic depression (bipolar
