Nikki Mammano has lived many lives with highs and lows. Now, as a recovering addict and mother of two (young adults) in her 50s, Mammano tells her tale at last in Breaking Good: A Memoir (Regalo Press; Trade Paperback Original; $19.99) out next month. .
At 20, Nikki Mammano arrived on the island of Oahu to start classes at the University of Hawaii. By 22, she was a full-blown meth addict. Living on the streets of Oahu, she did whatever it took—begging, borrowing, stealing—to feed her habit. Within weeks of meeting a hardcore meth dealer, Mammano became the new “it girl” on the drug scene — and a college dropout.
Mammano recounts her rise to the crystal meth queen of Waikiki, her painful downfall, and her life-changing awakening.
Designer clothes, complimentary dinners at upscale restaurants and lavish parties followed as she was going deeper into Waikiki’s underworld. She also opened her heart to homeless youth, hung out with club kids and drag queens, and became a trusted supplier to prison guards and military men who scored for their bases.
She found love—or something close to it—with her first girlfriend. Then, it abruptly all came crashing down, and Nikki landed in prison. While sitting alone in a cell, Nikki wanted to blame it all on her arrival in Oahu, but she knew better. Finally, she forced herself to confront the the demons she had been trying to escape.
Mammano grew up in the greater New York metro area and spent her early twenties in Hawaii before moving back to the Northeast, earning her BA in Communications from Ramapo College and settling in Montclair, New Jersey, to raise her two daughters.
–From staff reports