Zeni Workman was born and raised in the small town of Caney, Oklahoma, the ninth and youngest of nine siblings. Growing up on a farm, she spent her days feeding animals, riding horses, and soaking in the rhythms of rural life. She attended the same school from kindergarten through twelfth grade, a journey that grounded her in community, resilience, and storytelling.

A lifelong lover of books, Zeni sharpened her writing skills by reading everything she could get her hands on. She studied the styles of great authors, wrote poems and stories of her own, and shared her words with anyone willing to listen. Writing became her way of understanding the world, and imagining new ones.