BOOKS
I Am Debra Lee (Legacy Lit 2023) tackles lessons that women CEOs rarely dare to. As the former CEO of BET Debra addresses her personal struggles with motherhood and “having it all,” navigating reproductive choice, fertility, and #MeToo as she helped build the leading entertainment company for Black audiences globally.
As Debra has done her whole career, in this book, she opens the door for others to come after her, by sharing the truth behind her own inspiring story of power, perseverance, and success. I Am Debra Lee is filled with electrifying behind-the-scenes stories that reveal how she went from a girl raised in the segregated South to leading the first Black company traded on the New York Stock Exchange and how she juggled social responsibility while managing a company targeted toward the Black community.
“Debra Lee is a force! I love her candor and vulnerability within these pages. I Am Debra Lee is designed to make an impact.” — Alicia Keys
“I was glued to Debra’s every word in this memoir.” — Taraji P. Henson
In The Mamas (Crown 2022), Helena Andrews-Dyer chronicles the particular challenges she faces in a group where systemic racism can be solved with an Excel spreadsheet and where she, a Black, professional, Ivy League–educated mom, is overcompensating with every move.
Andrews-Dyer grapples with her own inner tensions, like “Why do I never leave the house with the baby and without my wedding ring?” and “Why did every name we considered for our kids have to pass the résumé test?” Throw in a global pandemic and a nationwide movement for social justice, and Andrews-Dyer ultimately tries to find out if moms from different backgrounds can truly understand one another.
With sharp wit and refreshing honesty, The Mamas explores the contradictions and community of motherhood—white and Black and everything—against the backdrop of the rapidly changing world.
An engaging mix of inspiring advice and real-life stories of self-discovery, O's Little Guide to Finding Your True Purpose (Flatiron Press 2015) will captivate anyone who's ever been beckoned by a dream.
Featuring some of the best work to have appeared in O, The Oprah Magazine, this rousing collection is all about helping readers to hear and heed their calling. From the beginning, O has been a catalyst for women seeking to become who they're meant to be.
O's Little Guide to Finding Your True Purpose continues this tradition by combining practical wisdom and relatable tales of trial, error, and triumph. Contributors include Helena Andrews on seeking the healing power of crystals; Edwidge Danticat on getting past the need to please; Martha Beck on charting your own course; and Elizabeth Gilbert on getting unstuck.
From her anti-apartheid work and support of affirmative action to her passionate opposition to the Iraq War and calls to hold Trump to account, you can count on Auntie Maxine to speak truth to power and do it with grace and, sometimes, sass. As ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee and one of the most powerful black women in America, she is the strong, ethical voice the country has always needed, especially right now.
Reclaiming Her Time (Dey Street Books 2020) pays tribute to all things Maxine Waters, from growing up in St. Louis “too skinny” and “too black,” to taking on Wall Street during the financial crisis and coming out on top in her legendary showdowns with Trump and his cronies. Featuring inspiring highlights from her personal life and political career, beloved memes, and testimonies from her many friends and fans, Reclaiming Her Time is a funny, warm, and admiring portrait of a champion who refuses to stay silent in the face of corruption and injustice; a powerful woman who is an inspiration to us all.
“Bitch Is the New Black” (Harper 2010) follows Andrews—sexy, single, and a self-described smart-ass—on her trip from kidnapped daughter of a lesbian to Washington, D.C., political reporter who can't remember a single senator's name. Told in Andrews's singular voice, this addictive memoir explores the roller coaster of being educated and single while trying to become an "actual adult" and find love. In these unafraid and often brutally frank essays, she comes to realize that being a bitch is sometimes the best way to be...except, of course, when it's not.
Strong, sassy, always surprising—and titled after a Saturday Night Live “Weekend Update” monologue by Tina Fey—Bitch Is the New Black is a deliciously addictive memoir-in-essays in which Helena Andrews goes from being the daughter of the town lesbian to a hot-shot political reporter… all while trying to answer the question, “can a strong, single, and successful black woman ever find love?”
“When I read through the book, I locked into an essay by Helena Andrews. It’s called ‘Reserve,’ Andrews’s piece, and it’s about the mask that black women learn to wear as girls. She imagines a black woman moving through a city, negotiating the looks of others on the subway.” — Quest Love
This collection of illuminating essays exploring the ineffable and protean aesthetics of Black Cool (Soft Skull Press 2012) has been widely cited for its contribution to much of the contemporary discussion of the influence of Black Cool on culture, politics, and power around the world.
Curated by Rebecca Walker, and drawing on her lifelong study of the African roots of Black Cool and its expression within the African diaspora, this collection identifies ancestral elements often excluded from colloquial understandings of Black Cool: cultivated reserve, coded resistance, intentional audacity, transcendent intellectual and spiritual rigor, intentionally disruptive eccentricity, and more.