COLUMBIA (WACH) -- The talk was called "Dealing with the Aftermath" of youth violence and how it effects schools and the community.
A panel of community members with careers ranging from Law Enforcement to media and education weighed in on the topic Wednesday evening.
However, it was one member of that panel with far less life experience who offered a much more unique perspective.
"I came here today to speak about bullying,and to hopefully to save a life of someone who has been bullied or to help them speak up and be heard," said 17-year-old Tianna Walker.
Walker said she faced years of bullying and it was the words that hurt the most.
"When you think about it, when you get punched it will heal up and go away, but with words it makes you think about it for a very long time and it eats away at you until you just cant take it anymore," said Walker.
The 17-year-old recently spent a year writing a book about her experience titled "Tears of a Teen."
"It talks about the struggles I've been though in my life and how God helped me to get through. I almost committed suicide, so in the book I talk about how I got through it," said the teen.
She said she was inspired by another teen named Jonah Mowery, who made a YouTube video about being bullied.