A Letter for My Mother by Nina Foxx
Whether they’re from the US, Caribbean, India, or the UK, all of the contributors to A Letter for My Mother share one thing in common: thoughts that have been left unsaid to their mothers and mother figures—until now. In this moving book, thirty-three women reveal the stories, reflections, confessions, and revelations they’ve kept to themselves for years and have finally put into words. Written through tears and pain, as well as joy and laughter, each offering presents the mother-daughter bond in a different light.
Heartfelt and deeply meaningful, A Letter for My Mother will inspire you to admire and cherish that special relationship that shapes every woman.
Purchase A Letter for My Mother by Nina Foxx
Link: http://amzn.com/B00DPM7TYK
Being Somebody and Black Besides by George B. Nesbitt
An immersive multigenerational memoir that recounts the hopes, injustices, and triumphs of a Black family fighting for access to the American dream in the twentieth century.
The late Chicagoan George Nesbitt could perhaps best be described as an ordinary man with an extraordinary gift for storytelling. In his newly uncovered memoir—written fifty years ago, yet never published—he chronicles in vivid and captivating detail the story of how his upwardly mobile Midwestern Black family lived through the tumultuous twentieth century.
Spanning three generations, Nesbitt’s tale starts in 1906 with the Great Migration and ends with the Freedom Struggle in the 1960s. He describes his parents’ journey out of the South, his struggle against racist military authorities in World War II, the promise and peril of Cold War America, the educational and professional accomplishments he strove for and achieved, the lost faith in integration, and, despite every hardship, the unwavering commitment by three generations of Black Americans to fight for a better world.
Through all of it—with his sharp insights, nuance, and often humor—we see a family striving to lift themselves up in a country that is working to hold them down.
Nesbitt’s memoir includes two insightful forewords: one by John Gibbs St. Clair Drake (1911–90), a pioneer in the study of African American life, the other a contemporary rumination by noted Black studies scholar Imani Perry. A rare first-person, long-form narrative about Black life in the twentieth century, Being Somebody and Black Besides is a remarkable literary-historical time capsule that will delight modern readers.
Black Joy by Tracey Michae’l Lewis-Giggetts
Black Joy: Stories of Resistance, Resilience, and Restoration by Tracey Michae’l Lewis-Giggetts
With deeply personal and uplifting essays in the vein of Black Girls Rock, You Are Your Best Thing, and I Really Needed This Today, this is “a necessary testimony on the magic and beauty of our capacity to live and love fully and out loud” (Kerry Washington).
When Tracey M. Lewis-Giggetts wrote an essay on Black joy for The Washington Post, she had no idea just how deeply it would resonate. But the outpouring of positive responses affirmed her own lived experience: that Black joy is not just a weapon of resistance, it is a tool for resilience.
With this book, Tracey aims to gift her community with a collection of lyrical essays about the way joy has evolved, even in the midst of trauma, in her own life. Detailing these instances of joy in the context of Black culture allows us to recognize the power of Black joy as a resource to draw upon, and to challenge the one-note narratives of Black life as solely comprised of trauma and hardship.
“Lewis-Giggetts etches a stunning personal map that follows in her ancestors’ footsteps and highlights their ability to take control of situational heartbreak and tragedy and make something better out of it….A simultaneously gorgeous and heartbreaking read” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review).
Black Women Will Save the World: An Anthem by April Ryan
In this long-overdue celebration of Black women’s resilience and unheralded strength, the revered, trailblazing White House correspondent reflects on “The Year That Changed Everything”—2020—and African-American women’s unprecedented role in upholding democracy.
“I am keenly aware that everyone and everything has a story,” April D. Ryan acknowledges. “Also, I have always marveled at Black women and how we work to move mountains and are never really thanked or recognized.” In Black Women Will Save the World, she melds these two truths, creating an inspiring and heart-tugging portrait of one of the momentous years in America, 2020—when America elected its first Black woman Vice President—and celebrates the tenacity, power, and impact of Black women across America.
From the beginning of the nation to today, Black women have transformed their pain into progress and have been at the frontlines of the nation’s political, social, and economic struggles. These “Sheroes” as Ryan calls them, include current political leaders such as Maxine Waters, Valerie Jarrett, and Kamala Harris; LaTosha Brown, and other activists. Combining profiles and in-depth interviews with these influential movers and shakers and many more, Ryan explores the challenges Black women endure, and how the lessons they’ve learned can help us shape our own stories.
Ryan also chronicles her personal journey from working-class Baltimore to the elite echelons of journalism and speaks out about the hurdles she faced in becoming one of the most well-connected members of the Washington press corps—while raising two daughters as a single mother in the aftermath of a messy divorce.
It is time for everyone to acknowledge Black women’s unrivaled contributions to America. Yet our democracy remains in peril, and their work is far from done. Black Women Will Save the World presents a vital kaleidoscopic look at women of different ages and from diverse backgrounds who devote their lives to making the world a better place—even if that means stepping out of their “place.”
Call Me a Woman: On Our Way to Equality and Peace by Laurie Levin
It’s time to raise the bar. There are more months in the year than countries in the world where women and men have equal rights. This imbalance is the cause of the most pressing challenges we face today.
Angry about sexism and misogyny and what you personally have endured? Afraid the world won’t get its act together in time to save itself?
Call Me A Woman combines Laurie Levin’s personal story, including multiple sexual assaults, years of research, personal interviews, global studies, and activism to ramp up awareness and change perceptions of how we view what happens to girls and women world-wide.
Equality can become our reality when each of us comes to terms with how we uphold inequality. The long-standing domination of men over women is reflected in our language, traditions, choices, votes, and what we do and don’t pay attention to.
Call Me A Woman is a call to action and roadmap that will speed our way to gender equality and a more peaceful world.
After all, women are half of every race, religion, ethnic group, economic class, and nation.
Become part of the solution and create a safer and more just world for girls and women. When women rise, we take the world with us.
Call Us What We Carry: Poems by Amanda Gorman
Call Us What We Carry: Poems by Amanda Gorman
#1 New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestseller
The breakout poetry collection by #1 New York Times bestselling author and presidential inaugural poet Amanda Gorman
Formerly titled The Hill We Climb and Other Poems, the luminous poetry collection by #1 New York Times bestselling author and presidential inaugural poet Amanda Gorman captures a shipwrecked moment in time and transforms it into a lyric of hope and healing. In Call Us What We Carry, Gorman explores history, language, identity, and erasure through an imaginative and intimate collage.
Harnessing the collective grief of a global pandemic, this beautifully designed volume features poems in many inventive styles and structures and shines a light on a moment of reckoning. Call Us What We Carry reveals that Gorman has become our messenger from the past, our voice for the future.
Community Workers & COVID-19 by LoLo Smith
Community Workers & COVID-19 by LoLo Smith
(A Children’s Book About Coronavirus)
Looking for an engaging book to teach children about the coronavirus and explain what community workers do? This is it! In Community Workers & COVID-19, kids are introduced to a special town called Share-A-Lot where a doctor, nurse, teacher, construction worker, grocer, chef, emergency medical technician (EMT), police officer, and a mayor all work together to save lives during the coronavirus pandemic.
Throughout this engaging story, children will learn about the role each community worker plays in the town while learning the virtue of sharing. From the teacher who reminds students to wash their hands, to the research doctor working on a vaccine for COVID-19, to the grocer and chef providing nutritious fresh food and vegetables to keep the body healthy, each worker plays an essential role in the town and they are all happy to do their jobs to help the community get through a difficult time.
But what happens when the mayor decides to offer a special prize to the most essential worker in town? How will they ever decide who plays the most essential role? You’ll have to read to find out.
By the end of the book, children will have a greater understanding of how each community worker helps combat coronavirus pandemic and a newfound appreciation for the community workers keeping them safe in their own community.
Community Workers & COVID-19
Genre: Children’s Book; Community Workers; COVID-19; Value of Sharing; Coronavirus
Purchase Community Workers & COVID-19 (A Children’s Book About Coronavirus)
Courage to Pursue by Lisa Blackmon
Courage to Pursue is a guide in which readers will experience how they can conquer the spirit of fear to turn their dreams into a reality. Each part of this book encourages readers to move out of their comfort zone to find the courage they need to succeed.
Blackmon takes the readers through a series of points to get them to understand their purpose. She gives tips to the readers about what they should do to be all they can be. This book is full of positive affirmations that will allow readers to believe in themselves over and over again.
Blackmon uses her life moments to share with readers how she had to use courage to get where she is right now. She transparently shares with the readers how she refused to allow fear to stop her and encourages them not to allow it to stop them. Readers are prompted to tap into their Five W’s and one H (Who, What, When, Why and How) to understand and develop their own purpose on earth.
This amazing book not only inspires, but also helps the reader to develop into the person they have always dreamed of becoming. Blackmon writer’s voice is similar to that of a life coach. It is inspiring, rather than condescending. This touch allows the reader to understand that no matter what they’ve experienced in life, they can still move forward into all God has for them. Lisa has created a unique and classic guide to develop courage in every individual who has lost hope in completing their dreams.
Purchase: http://lisabthelifechanger.com/product/courge-to-pursue/
About the Author
Lisa Blackmon fondly known as LisaB, is a motivation speaker, coach, mentor, author and business woman. She is passionate about seeing lives changed and when necessary resurrected.
After 20 years in the legal field as an attorney, she felt a prompting to do more and serve on another level in order to reach the masses that she has been divinely destined to impact. From this revelation, LisaBtheLifechanger was birthed, motivational videos hit social media and inspiring information flooded her page calling an audience of ordinary people like herself to become their own rescue.
Those that engaged have become known as a tribe of Lifechangers. This tribe is not only changing their own lives but creating a culture of change in the lives of others.
“Courage to Pursue” encapsulates LisaB’s coaching helps other to discover their God given purpose, create a action plan to make it happen and get in action to manifest their dreams.
LisaB is a Southern girl that loves good music, a good book and sharing her world with family and friends. Most of all she, is an advocate for change and growth even if it means doing what is necessary with “knees knocking.” Her mantra is “Provoking You to Think, Promoting You to Change.”
Connect with LisaB, The Life Changer – Life Changer
Purchase book on Lisa’s Website: http://lisabthelifechanger.com
Family Is Not Everything by Anita Washington
Family Is Not Everything: How To Minimize Their Mess, Maximize Your Happiness and Enjoy Emotional Baggage Breakthroughs by Anita Washington. Listen to a reading from the book: https://www.audioacrobat.com/note/CCz2njWX
Family Is Not Everything: How To Minimize Their Mess, Maximize Your Happiness and Enjoy Emotional Baggage Breakthroughs by Anita Washington
7 Simple Steps to Create A Life You’ll Absolutely Love Living!
Are people constantly dumping their negative energy on you? Do you find yourself bombarded with negative thoughts? What if with seven simple steps you could minimize their mess and maximize your happiness? Interested? Read on…
Author Anita Washington survived a homicidal alcoholic father, a neglectful mother, and an emotionally and physically abusive brother to create a life of purpose and joy.
In Family is Not Everything she shares stories you can relate to and the steps to help you finally breakthrough what is keep you stuck, so you can revise, reinvent and thrive!
This book is for you if you:
- Are bombarded with negative thoughts
- Talk yourself out of trying new things
- Have low self-esteem and low self-confidence
- Are an overachiever in one area of your life but struggle in other areas
- Are tired of people constantly dumping their negative energy on you
- Feel like your life lacks purpose and meaning
Let’s face it. Carrying around emotional baggage for decades is hard work. It sucks! Anita knows this all too well. Her dysfunctional upbringing morphed into a broken and debilitated young woman who, as you’ll find out, made plenty of life-altering mistakes.
You’ll be moved by the vivid and transparent personal stories of violent abuse and realize that you are not alone. The author shares how she learned how to lose her emotional baggage and break the cycle of despair. Anita believes that your past doesn’t define your destiny and shouldn’t stop you from living your best life now!
Family is Not Everything offers a proven simple 7-Step Method to minimize the mess of your past and maximize your happiness – starting today. The process involves seven sequential steps that have helped countless women rise above the glass ceiling to reach higher levels of success and happiness in life. And it can work for you too!
The 7 steps are:
1. Life Mapping
2. Track and Trace Your Life
3. Dispose of Distractions
4. Celebrating Self
5. Inner peace and quiet
6. Emotional Equation
7. Letters of Gratitude
As you do the affirmations, results-driven techniques, and actionable activities of the 7-Step Methodyou’ll begin to release your emotional baggage and create a life you will absolutely love living. After reading this book you will:
- Be equipped to boldly go beyond your comfort zone
- Have the tools to refresh, reinvent, and revise your life for the better
- Know how to transform negative thinking into positive thinking
- Learn how to release fear and get out of survival mode
- Be empowered to do more for yourself and demand even more from others
- Experience success in every area of your life
Isn’t it time to change your self-sabotaging behavior, defy your limiting beliefs, and create a life of abundant joy? Click on Amazon’s “Look Inside” feature to begin reading and access the six free downloadable resources to help with your journey of transformation and empowerment.
Four Seasons of Love by Patricia A. Saunders
From Award Winning Author of There Is Sunshine After The Rain, the author has written her latest book of poetry that is organized into four chapters that compare to the four seasons. The poetry spans all the emotions that both men and women go through from being smitten, falling in and out of love, and grief of losing the love.
Read an excerpt from Four Seasons of Love – http://a.co/iLyvu9u
About the Author
Patricia A. Saunders was born and raised in Connecticut before relocating to the San Francisco Bay Area nearly 27 years ago. She received her Master’s in Management from the University of Phoenix in 2011.
Patricia’s work has been featured on a Coast to Coast Book Tour at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, Toronto Word On The Street, Sacramento Black Book Fair, Tucson Book Festival, Miami International Festival of Books and AARP Life@50+ Spring Convention.
Recently she was chosen among 100 authors from around the United States to participate in the Author’s Pavilion at the 2018 Congressional Black Caucus Convention in Washington, DC.
Her latest book, Four Seasons of Love, covers all aspect of love broken into four chapters relate to the four seasons.
Patricia A. Saunders Seducing the Pen Tour page: https://www.smore.com/8x7ry
I Know My Community Workers by LoLo Smith
I Know My Community Workers by LoLo Smith
This picture book exposes young children to 17 different occupations, some of which they may not have considered for themselves such as being a chef, astronaut, or politician. Many are playing important roles during the COVID-19 pandemic such as the doctor, nurse, teacher, grocer, chef, construction worker, fire fighter, police officer, train engineers and the mayor.
The 4 pages of JUST FOR FUN facts are a very creative way for parents to determine if their child understands the information in the book. Beautifully produced books like this will get the children off the internet.
VIDEO: I Know My Community Workers by LoLo Smith
For children age 4-7. Teaches young children the titles, tools and workplaces of community workers and encourages them to set career goals. Four pages of activity sheets are available to delight and excite the children. Watch the Living Storybook Program: https://youtu.be/nLb1u6gGTMM
I Know My Community Workers by LoLo Smith
Genre: Children’s Picture Book; Community Workers
Purchase I Know My Community Workers by LoLo Smith
https://www.amazon.com/I-Know-My-Community-Workers-ebook/dp/B01CZC6OM8
Island Mindfulness: How to Use the Transformational Power of Mindfulness to Live an Abundant Life by Janet Autherine
“DON’T WORRY, EVERYTHING IS IRIE.”
Island Mindfulness: How to Use the Transformational Power of Mindfulness to Live an Abundant Life by Janet Autherine
Island Mindfulness creates a path for transformation through self-empowerment, meaningful relationships, spiritual fulfillment and the creation of a purposeful life. Who you become and how you experience the world is a result of how you see everything that exists around you. When mindfulness is practiced, the mind has the ability to ride the waves of life and find calm in the midst of all the sun, wind, and rain that we encounter on our unpredictable journey.
Janet invites you to slow your pace, and in the spirit of the islands, mindfully and intentionally embark on a journey to nourish your mind, body and soul. Her “island mindfulness” journey is filled with heartfelt stories of navigating love, marriage and divorce, adjusting your sail in the face of financial and career challenges, and having an Irie time raising children.
Island Mindfulness is a gift of peace and a treasure box of life lessons. Take a mindful moment to embrace joy — say no to negative news, negative body image and everything that keeps you from living your best life. Island Mindfulness is the peace needed to love and embrace the person that you are today.
Purchase Island Mindfulness: How to Use the Transformational Power of Mindfulness to Live an Abundant Life by Janet Autherine, go here: https://www.amazon.com/Janet-Autherine/e/B00KXINZJM
Justice on the Jersey Shore by Dr. Geneva Jones Williams
Justice on the Jersey Shore: How Ermon K. Jones Ignited Change and Won by Dr. Geneva Jones Williams. Listen to the BAN Radio Interview with Ella D. Curry and Dr. Geneva Williams
Justice on the Jersey Shore: How Ermon K. Jones Ignited Change and Won demonstrates the power of inspired leadership—how an ordinary person can use his or her personal influence to transform reality. In this riveting, true story of how a spiritual, soft-spoken basketball star became a fearless advocate for the oppressed and powerless in his community, a decades-old battle for social change gains new relevance. Ermon K. Jones’ two college degrees, sports fame, charisma and good looks meant nothing when he was denied the right to apply for a job and buy a new house in his own hometown. How he fought back against a segregated society, outdated thinking and even hate crimes made a lasting difference for his family and for the lives of countless others. Dr. Geneva Jones Williams, an expert on influential leadership, uses interviews with her heroic father, her own recollections and the historic record to share lessons from the past that can help resolve the worst conflicts and divisions of our time.
About the Author
Award-winning executive Geneva Jones Williams, EdD, CEO of Dr. Geneva Speaks, coaches business executives, entrepreneurs and nonprofit leaders. Dr. Geneva led the United Way in metropolitan Detroit, founded City Connect Detroit—an innovative national model of public-private cooperation—and launched Figure Skating in Detroit, a leadership development program for girls. She raised millions for community change initiatives, and served as a university professor and as superintendent of a public school system.
Today, Dr. Geneva hosts a weekly podcast, Ignite2Impact, on iTunes and iHeart Radio— featuring insightful conversations with innovative leaders in business, nonprofits, government and the arts. She’s a native of Neptune Township, N.J., and an alumna of Morgan State University who also earned a doctorate in education from Wayne State University. Recently, she was honored as a Golden Soror of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. To learn more, visit drgenevaspeaks.com
Max & Bo: Two Dogs On The Go by LoLo Smith
Meet Max and Bo, two fun-loving dogs that like to celebrate the holidays including New Year’s Eve, Valentine’s Day, July 4th, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Young children will enjoy seeing the illustrations of the dogs in their different hats, ties and costumes. This is a delightful book with rhymes on every page to engage young kids. JUST FOR FUN facts help parents determine if their child remembers the information in the book.
But it is not all fun and games for Max and Bo. At the end of the book, they are shown in face masks. This illustration can be used as a springboard for parents to discuss COVID-19 with young children. Max and Bo are in face masks since it’s not too much to ask, to help prevent COVID-19, and avoid being in quarantine!
Max & Bo: Two Dogs On The Go
Genre: Children’s Book, Animals/dogs, holidays; COVID-19
Purchase Max & Bo: Two Dogs On The Go by LoLo Smith
My Last Baggage Call Aboard Air Force One: A Journey of Sacrifice, Service, Family, and Friendship by Glenn W. Powell
Sergeant Glenn W. Powell’s MY LAST BAGGAGE CALL is the story of a most unlikely young man who leaves his working-class environment of Toledo, Ohio, to become a soldier. Seeking excitement and a way to “make something of himself,” Glenn Powell’s journey exceeds his wildest dreams—a journey that began in basic training in Fort Hood, Texas ends at 1600 Pennsylvania avenue—the most important address in the world.
MY LAST BAGGAGE CALL is about so much more than Glenn Powell’s military journey, but about poignant memories of family, friendships, sacrifices, and love—central to his story is Ronda Holloway, the beautiful young woman he falls in love with in Manheim, Germany, and, who joins him on his life journey as wife, soulmate and mother to their two sons.
MY LAST BAGGAGE CALL offers readers a glimpse into Sergeant Glenn Powell’s 30-year transformation from the much-beloved boy who seeks more in life…to the man, who discovers it—in adventure, in friendships, and in service to three American presidents. a service he delivered with pride, unquestioned loyalty, distinction and in the end, great admiration.
About the Author
Self-Love in Action: Practical Ways to Bring Self-Compassion Into Work, Relationships & Everyday Life by Zo Crook
A practical approach to self-love with evidence-based therapy skills to trust your inner voice, make confident decisions, and live with greater personal empowerment in your relationships, career, and everyday life.
Many studies show that self-love is central to good mental health. Self-Love in Action helps you cultivate compassion, accountability, and self-respect in all areas of your life. In this practical, everyday guide, self-love becomes a verb–a moving declaration towards personal empowerment. This psychology-driven book offers proactive strategies to redirect you back to your authentic self by learning to listen to the voice within. Guided by a therapist, you’ll confront the past, examine the present, and prepare for the future by setting boundaries, taking accountability, and practicing the ultimate act of self-love.
Boost confidence with small rituals that shift the focus from “them” to “me”–reminding you that true love flows from the inside out.
Implement “Time to Practice” exercises to pause, set boundaries, say no, and invest in yourself.
Take self-love quizzes to reflect on the ways current habits might impede self-love action.
Explore real examples of clients who have overcome common hardships through their commitment to self-love.
Shift into a Higher Gear by Delatorro McNeal
Shift into a Higher Gear: Better Your Best and Live Life to the Fullest by Delatorro McNeal
Kick fear-based living to the curb and discover exactly how to manifest the life of your dreams!
Is there another level of life that you want to live? Are there goals you’ve been struggling to achieve? Are there areas of your life where you’ve settled for excuses instead of excellence?
With close to two decades of experience working with high achievers globally, peak performance expert Delatorro McNeal II is passionate about teaching people how to live life full throttle. A motorcycle enthusiast, McNeal uses biking metaphors to vividly illustrate how to reject the monotony of living on cruise control. Packed with exercises, journaling activities, compelling questions, and thought-provoking stories, analogies, and examples, this book teaches you the psychology and methodology of shifting into a higher gear. Each of the twelve chapters starts with the word Shift and invites you to make a simple but profound change that will accelerate your results and expand the horizons of your possibilities. You’ll discover how to
• Lean into the curves of life and business
• Sever your dependency on the “kickstands of life”
• Put your weight into the changes you desire most
• Steer the flow of your emotional states
• Shift your core relationships to invite the right posse to your biker club
• Drive defensively to avoid the potholes that stop most people from succeeding
From the introduction all the way through to the conclusion, this book is a transformational seminar on paper. Join Delatorro McNeal as he takes you on the personal development journey of a lifetime.
Somebody’s Daughter: A Memoir by Ashley C. Ford
“This is a book people will be talking about forever.” ―Glennon Doyle, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Untamed
“Ford’s wrenchingly brilliant memoir is truly a classic in the making. The writing is so richly observed and so suffused with love and yearning that I kept forgetting to breathe while reading it.” ―John Green, #1 New York Times bestselling author
One of the most prominent voices of her generation debuts with an extraordinarily powerful memoir: the story of a childhood defined by the looming absence of her incarcerated father.
Through poverty, adolescence, and a fraught relationship with her mother, Ashley C. Ford wishes she could turn to her father for hope and encouragement. There are just a few problems: he’s in prison, and she doesn’t know what he did to end up there. She doesn’t know how to deal with the incessant worries that keep her up at night, or how to handle the changes in her body that draw unwanted attention from men. In her search for unconditional love, Ashley begins dating a boy her mother hates. When the relationship turns sour, he assaults her. Still reeling from the rape, which she keeps secret from her family, Ashley desperately searches for meaning in the chaos. Then, her grandmother reveals the truth about her father’s incarceration . . . and Ashley’s entire world is turned upside down.
Somebody’s Daughter steps into the world of growing up a poor Black girl in Indiana with a family fragmented by incarceration, exploring how isolating and complex such a childhood can be. As Ashley battles her body and her environment, she embarks on a powerful journey to find the threads between who she is and what she was born into, and the complicated familial love that often binds them.
Stripped For Greater: Walk By Faith by Michele Nicole
I had $0.06 in my bank account and $5 in coins in my purse. As I sat in the car, the reality of this season of my life just hit me……homeless.
I am homeless.
I looked at myself in the mirror and the conversation in my mind began. “It’s all your fault. You did this to me. You. YOU failed us. You are 46 years old and you have nothing. You are stuck. You are yet again in “starting over” mode. You are not all here, you are functioning broken.
How do you go from having a job with benefits, having your own business as a travel agent, having almost paid off all your debt and making plans for the next season of your life, to sitting in the front seat of a car with $0.06 in the bank and $5 in your purse, your items in a borrowed storage unit, your clothes in a travel garment bag, a job paying $8.50 per hour working 15-25 hours per week and you have two college degrees?
How the hell did this happen to us Michele….please tell me….I would like to know”.
Read an excerpt at Black Pearls Magazine
AMAZON BOOK REVIEW
Stripped for Greater is a non-fiction thematic autobiography that chronicles the tough experiences of Michele Nicole in her homeless experience on the streets of Atlanta, GA. Michele depicts her experience as a religious rite of passage that was designed to elevate her on a higher spiritual level. Michele brings a personal, introspective lens on the challenging and sometimes mundane day to day activities of living out her car, bathing in public restrooms and having breakfast at various continental servings at local hotels. In her time surviving as a homeless woman, Michele journeys through various self-revelatory lessons that she would learn about herself and her relationship with God.
The theme that Michele announces through various points of her journey is that being homeless was God stripping her of her dependence on everything so that He could teach her how to depend on him. In additional, the greater represents the place that God would take her into after her time being homeless. Although the theme is present in the story, I’d like to see the story lead to “greater works” as depicted by scripture for the Christian walk. Though we share with Christ in his sufferings, we also shall reign with Him as well, according to Christian doctrine. I think Stripped for Greater would deliver a much stronger purpose if the “Greater” was tied to a much more powerful destination. Perhaps to achieve this, more recounts of Michele’s life after being homeless should be added to the story.
Michele delivers Stripped for Greater in a causal and sometimes comedic voice that allows the reader to understand her persona. You feel as if the story is being told to you over a casual lunch with a friend. The story does well with offering descriptive wording to assist with the experiences Michele faced from day to day while being homeless.
Purchase Stripped For Greater: Walk By Faith by Michele Nicole
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1130360365?ean=9780578413082
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Stripped-Greater-Faith-Michele-Nicole/dp/0578413086
Non-fiction > Transformation Self-Help > Christian Growth > Biography & Autobiography > Personal Memoir
The Girls in the Wild Fig Tree by Nice Leng’ete
An “elegant and inspiring memoir” by the human rights activist who changed the minds of her elders, reformed traditions from the inside, and is creating a better future for girls and women throughout Africa (Sonia Faleiro, New York Times).
Nice Leng`ete was raised in a Maasai village in Kenya. In 1998, when Nice was six, her parents fell sick and died, and Nice and her sister Soila were taken in by their father’s brother, who had little interest in the girls beyond what their dowries might fetch. Fearing “the cut” (female genital mutilation, a painful and sometimes deadly ritualistic surgery), which was the fate of all Maasai women, Nice and Soila climbed a tree to hide.
Nice hoped to find a way to avoid the cut forever, but Soila understood it would be impossible. But maybe if one of the sisters submitted, the other would be spared. After Soila chose to undergo the surgery, sacrificing herself to save Nice, their lives diverged. Soila married, dropped out of school, and had children–all in her teenage years–while Nice postponed receiving the cut, continued her education, and became the first in her family to attend college.
Supported by Amref, Nice used visits home to set an example for what an uncut Maasai woman can achieve. Other women listened, and the elders finally saw the value of intact, educated girls as the way of the future. The village has since ended FGM entirely, and Nice continues the fight to end FGM throughout Africa, and the world.
Nice’s journey from “heartbroken child and community outcast, to leader of the Maasai” is an inspiration and a reminder that one person can change the world–and every girl is worth saving.
The Light We Carry by Michelle Obama
The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times by Michelle Obama
In an inspiring follow-up to her critically acclaimed, #1 bestselling memoir Becoming, former First Lady Michelle Obama shares practical wisdom and powerful strategies for staying hopeful and balanced in today’s highly uncertain world.
There may be no tidy solutions or pithy answers to life’s big challenges, but Michelle Obama believes that we can all locate and lean on a set of tools to help us better navigate change and remain steady within flux. In The Light We Carry, she opens a frank and honest dialogue with readers, considering the questions many of us wrestle with: How do we build enduring and honest relationships? How can we discover strength and community inside our differences? What tools do we use to address feelings of self-doubt or helplessness? What do we do when it all starts to feel like too much?
Michelle Obama offers readers a series of fresh stories and insightful reflections on change, challenge, and power, including her belief that when we light up for others, we can illuminate the richness and potential of the world around us, discovering deeper truths and new pathways for progress. Drawing from her experiences as a mother, daughter, spouse, friend, and First Lady, she shares the habits and principles she has developed to successfully adapt to change and overcome various obstacles—the earned wisdom that helps her continue to “become.” She details her most valuable practices, like “starting kind,” “going high,” and assembling a “kitchen table” of trusted friends and mentors. With trademark humor, candor, and compassion, she also explores issues connected to race, gender, and visibility, encouraging readers to work through fear, find strength in community, and live with boldness.
“When we are able to recognize our own light, we become empowered to use it,” writes Michelle Obama. A rewarding blend of powerful stories and profound advice that will ignite conversation, The Light We Carry inspires readers to examine their own lives, identify their sources of gladness, and connect meaningfully in a turbulent world.
The Mountain We Climb by Wayne Swan
This Book is the Road Map to the Kind of Life You Deserve
Most people want to accomplish great things—improve their own lives and make the world better in some way. You might be thinking, But why does it have to be so hard?
Life can seem like a constant battle—helping a loved one who just won’t listen, paying the light bill when there’s not enough money to go around, finding happiness when everyone around you says it’s impossible.
Yet some people make “impossible” things happen: someone becomes a millionaire; somebody breaks a world record; someone else reaches the summit of a mountain; one person inspires millions while many struggle to even influence a single person.
What Draws Out the Greatness We Have Inside?
Contrary to popular belief, we all have the potential to do great things, to create the kind of life and happiness we desire. If you felt even the slightest doubt as you read that, you need to read this book!
You don’t have to be told that there is a lot of negativity and opposition in life; if not from the people and things around us, then from our own insecurities from within.
Seeing the accomplishments of others gives us hope . . .it inspires and motivates us. We are able to see that “doing the impossible” is in fact possible. But this isn’t enough. We need to know how!
The Secret
There is one thing that every person who achieves something great has, and it is how to tap into the mother lode of power and unstoppable greatness that lies mostly dormant within us all! The answer is having a GUIDE.
Many things seem impossible to us; especially when trying to solve them with no real guidance, no know-how to doing it right. The smart way to proceed is by learning from those who can show you the road map. The Mountain We Climb is your secret road map to the life you deserve.
“I can only compare the experience of reading The Mountain We Climb to being guided through life’s challenges by a wise mentor, a loving father, and a caring best friend. Dr. Swan has achieved that rare feat of successfully combining inspirational and practical guidance with a moving personal story.” — Liana Hall, Esq., Writer and Mental Health Activist
View an excerpt from The Mountain We Climb on Amazon – http://a.co/gFwA4Or
The Mountain We Climb by Wayne Swan tour page: https://www.smore.com/yr1pt
About the Author
Dr. Wayne Swan is a Motivational Speaker, Mentor, Life Coach, Entrepreneur & Certified Divorce Coach. He regularly speaks to and works with clients in Bermuda as well as internationally in places such as: Africa, Europe, UK and the USA.
Wayne has accomplished the feat of reaching the summit of the world’s tallest free-standing mountain, Mount Kilimanjaro. Returning to the base of the mountain a different man, he shares his revelations and learnings for overcoming “impossible” odds in life, as they apply to mountain climbing or life’s daily struggles.
Visit his website today: http://drwayneswan.com
The Woman God Created You to Be: Finding Success Through Faith—Spiritually, Personally, and Professionally by Kimberla Lawson Roby
ARE YOU THE REAL WOMAN GOD CREATED YOU TO BE?
HAVE YOU WANTED TO BECOME HER—SPIRITUALLY, PERSONALLY, and PROFESSIONALLY?
Kimberla Lawson Roby admits that for years, she wasn’t being the real woman God created her to be. Yes, she has always loved God and tried her best to honor Him, but what she eventually discovered was that building and maintaining her own personal relationship with God—and making Him her top priority—was the key to finding joy in all areas of her life.
Now, in The Woman God Created You to Be, Kimberla has bravely—and transparently—written about her flaws, fears, and failures, as well as her faith, courage, and successes.
From experiencing divorce to marrying her soulmate of twenty-nine years…from hopelessly searching for the perfect job to becoming a New York Times bestselling author…from suffering in silence with anxiety to concentrating on self-care…from struggling with the loss of her mom to finding strength, comfort, peace. and understanding—Kimberla takes you on a journey that will help you do the following:
– Become the Best Spiritual You (Seven Days Per Week)
– Become the Best Personal You (Mentally, Emotionally, and Physically)
– Become the Best Professional You (Without Jeopardizing Your Faith)
Kimberla reminds us that when we trust and depend on God—heart, mind, and soul—He will empower us to do more than we ever thought imaginable. He will help us see that we are more than enough, and that He has already given us everything we need to become the women He created us to be—spiritually, personally, professionally…and beyond.
Kimberla’s books have frequented numerous bestseller lists, including The New York Times, USA Today, The Washington Post, ESSENCE, and Publishers Weekly magazines, Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Walmart and many others.
Purchase books from Amazon today:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0848M48TY
Follow her online Seducing the Pen tour: https://www.smore.com/zhqzd
There Is Sunshine After the Rain Making It Through Life’s Struggles by Patricia A. Saunders
There Is Sunshine After the Rain: Making It Through Life’s Struggles will take you on the journey of a young girl growing up in Connecticut, who had to take some stumbles along the way to come into her own and realize instead of tearing herself down for the decisions she made, there is a lesson. Love is greater than anyone can imagine and can warm you like the sunshine after the rain. You went from the beginning, the journey, the test, and the testimony to say, “There Is Sunshine after the Rain.”
https://www.smore.com/8x7ry-there-is-sunshine-after-the-rain
There Is Sunshine After The Rain by Patricia A. Saunders
Listen to a reading from the book: https://www.audioacrobat.com/note/CpHlwJlX
This Too Shall Pass by Patricia A. Saunders
Listen to a reading from the book: https://www.audioacrobat.com/note/C2csrcxk
Two ‘Til Midnight: A Novel by Bernard L. Dillard
At the center of a fierce, fiery, and invisible battle is Dr. Garnet Gibbs, a history professor, who is considered to be both a guidepost for and a mystery to many on the job. After hours, she often finds herself caught in a vortex of drama surrounding her family, associates, and friends.
Although she tries to offer support as best she can, the shenanigans of all involved may prove to be too much for her, especially given the potpourri of players in her world, including: Jamay, her adopted daughter; R.J., her grandson, whose father is facing challenges as he serves overseas; Kemal and Manuela, a kinky church couple; Tario, a Que Dog, whose frivolity and wry wit lead to his nail-biting confrontation with death, igniting a spirited rally in the city.
Then there’s Nieko, a gay gentleman, who is rethinking his sexuality but whose ex-boyfriend is making it tough; Rusty, an avowed redneck, who makes a shocking decision since he believes President Trump is taking too long to do something about the current state of affairs; and Celeste, her what-comes-up-comes-out co-worker, who has a knack for catching people off guard with her uncanny sense of humor. Critical interactions reveal key life lessons, but not all interchanges end on an upswing.
Set in modern times, Two ’Til Midnight is a soap-operatic dramedy that presents two distinct and separate worlds that thrive together, both influencing the other in their own unique way. Ultimately, their coexistence produces a jaw-dropping ending that no one sees coming.
Something’s brewing. Someone’s watching. And time is running out! Midnight is fast approaching. What will go down when the clock strikes twelve?!
(Recommended reading for ages 18+ and includes discussion questions at the end for reading groups and book clubs)
About Bernard L. Dillard
Undefeated Woman by Desange Kuenihira
Undefeated Woman by Desange Kuenihira (Memoirs of Women)
Sometimes, it takes a journey to find your voice.
As a young girl, Desange Kuenihira was told repeatedly that she was meaningless. An arranged marriage and motherhood before twenty—guaranteeing a life in poverty—were all she was told to expect. But Desange knew she had more inside her, and that education was the key to unlocking her potential.
In Undefeated Woman, Desange Kuenihira takes us on the challenging journey of her childhood. She recalls fleeing with her siblings from the civil war raging in Congo and the daily struggle of life in a refugee camp in Uganda, where she suffered many forms of abuse. She relates her journey to America, the culture clash of living with American foster families, and her quest for her education and the ability to control her own life. Now a college graduate and determined to pay forward the kindness of those that helped her through, Desange has launched the nonprofit UnDEfeated to empower women and girls in Uganda.
Desange’s inspirational story shows us all how we can overcome any odds through education, determined perseverance, and the kindness of caring people.
Uphill: A Memoir by Jemele Hill
One of Oprah Daily’s Best Fall Nonfiction Books of 2022
An empowering, unabashedly bold memoir by the Atlantic journalist and former ESPN SportsCenter coanchor about overcoming a legacy of pain and forging a new path, no matter how uphill life’s battles might be.
Jemele Hill’s world came crashing down when she called President Trump a “white supremacist”; the White House wanted her fired from ESPN, and she was deluged with death threats. But Hill had faced tougher adversaries growing up in Detroit than a tweeting president. Beneath the exterior of one of the most recognizable journalists in America was a need―a calling―to break her family’s cycle of intergenerational trauma.
Born in the middle of a lively routine Friday night Monopoly game to a teen mother and a heroin-addicted father, Hill constantly adjusted to the harsh realities of not only her own childhood but the inherited generational pain of her mother and grandmother. Her escape was writing.
Hill’s mother was less than impressed with the brassy and bold free expression of her diary, but Hill never stopped discovering and amplifying her voice. Through hard work and a constant willingness to learn, Hill rose from newspaper reporter to columnist to new heights as the coanchor for ESPN’s revered SportsCenter. Soon, she earned respect and support for her fearless opinions and unshakable confidence, as well as a reputation as a trusted journalist who speaks her mind with truth and conviction.
In Jemele Hill’s journey Uphill, she shares the whole story of her work, the women of her family, and her complicated relationship with God in an unapologetic, character-rich, and eloquent memoir.
Walk in Your Authority (Unleashing the Divine Power from Within) by Allison Gregory Daniels
Listen to the BAN Radio Show interview with Ella D. Curry and Allison Gregory Daniels: http://tobtr.com/s/11240813
In Walk in Your Authority: Unleashing the Divine Power From Within author Rev. Allison Gregory Daniels instills how acceptance of a loving and protective God allows anyone to achieve a prosperous life. Part memoir of Daniels’s own journey through the tests of the Wilderness to the glory of salvation, this book is also a guide that offers powerful tips, strategies, and tools to reach one’s divine potential.
Furthermore, Daniels records specific Bible verses that may support us through a variety of difficult situations, whether you are a woman feeling insecure in motherhood, a person walking in your calling, or a child trying to survive the trauma of bullying.
No matter your age or circumstances, your past or mistakes, the words in this book are here for you now to walk in confidence and faith, always under the grace of God, towards the only direction that matters: the future.
Where You Are Is Not Who You Are: A Memoir by Ursula Burns
The first Black female CEO of a Fortune 500 company looks back at her life and her career at Xerox, sharing unique insights on American business and corporate life, the workers she has always valued, racial and economic justice, how greed is threatening democracy, and the obstacles she’s conquered being Black and a woman.
“I am a black woman, I do not play golf, I do not belong to or go to country clubs, I do not like NASCAR, I do not listen to country music, and I have a masters degree in engineering. I, like a typical New Yorker, speak very fast, with an accent and vernacular that is definitely New York City, definitely Black. So when someone says I’m going to introduce you to the next CEO of Xerox, and the options are lined up against a wall, I would be the first one voted off the island.”
In 2009, when she was appointed the Chief Executive Officer of the Xerox Corporation, Ursula Burns shattered the glass ceiling and made headlines. But the media missed the real story, she insists. “It should have been ‘how did this happen? How did Xerox Corporation produce the first African American woman CEO?’ Not this spectacular story titled, “Oh, my God, a Black woman making it.”
In this smart, no-nonsense book, part memoir and part cultural critique, Burns writes movingly about her journey from tenement housing on Manhattan’s Lower East Side to the highest echelons of the corporate world. She credits her success to her poor single Panamanian mother, Olga Racquel Burns—a licensed child-care provider whose highest annual income was $4,400—who set no limits on what her children could achieve.
Ursula recounts her own dedication to education and hard work, and how she took advantage of the opportunities and social programs created by the Civil Rights and Women’s movements to pursue engineering at Polytechnic Institute of New York.
Burns writes about overcoming the barriers she faced, as well as the challenges and realities of the corporate world. Her classmates and colleagues—almost all white males—“couldn’t comprehend how a Black girl could be as smart, and in some cases, smarter than they were. They made a developed category for me. Unique. Amazing. Spectacular. That way they could accept me.” Her thirty-five-year career at Xerox was all about fixing things, from cutting millions to save the company from bankruptcy to a daring $6 billion acquisition to secure its future. Ursula also worked closely with President Barack Obama as a lead on his STEM initiative and Chair of his Export council, where she traveled with him on an official trade mission to Cuba, and became one of his greatest admirers.
Candid and outspoken, Ursula offers a remarkable look inside the c-suites of corporate America through the eyes of a Black woman—someone who puts humanity over greed and justice over power. She compares the impact of the pandemic to the financial crisis of 2007, condemns how corporate culture is destroying the spirit of democracy, and worries about the workers whose lives are being upended by technology. Empathetic and dedicated, idealistic and pragmatic, Ursula demonstrates that, no matter your circumstances, hard work, grit and a bit of help along the way can change your life—and the world.
Why Am I Like This by Kobe Campbell
Why Am I Like This?: How to Break Cycles, Heal from Trauma, and Restore Your Faith by Kobe Campbell
Why does our past pain have a way of terrorizing us and keeping us in fear, while baiting us with the lie that we will never experience healing, freedom, or love?
Though many of us can point to patterns of brokenness in our lives, we don’t know why they’re there. No matter how hard we work, we can’t seem to outrun the very things that break our hearts. That’s because our everyday setbacks are rooted in our unaddressed wounds.
Guided by seminary-trained licensed trauma therapist Kobe Campbell, Why Am I Like This? will help you develop courage as you dare to turn your heart toward your brokenness, uncover uncomfortable truths, and learn how to invite God into your past and present pain as you move from the terror of trauma into the tender embrace of the Father.
In the book Why Am I Like This?, you will:
gain an understanding of what trauma and healing really are,
explore the roots of your dysfunctional patterns,
learn how your trauma shows up in your everyday life, and
find trauma-informed, faith-based coping mechanisms to heal your mind and deepen your intimacy with God.
You already know that God is good. Here, you’ll discover that He’s good to you. You already know that God responds to the cry of His children. Here, you’ll see just how he responds to your cries of desperation, hopelessness, and despair. Healing won’t look like what you thought it will be, but it will come, and it will be beautiful.
Wild Hearts, Peaceful Soul: Poems & Inspiration to Live and Love Harmoniously
Wild Hearts, Peaceful Soul: Poems & Inspiration to Live and Love Harmoniously by J. Autherine
J. Autherine’s inaugural collection of poems and inspiration is a love offering to strong, vulnerable, badass women who lead with their hearts, love deeply and sometimes fall hard. Wild Heart, Peaceful Soul is a deep, gritty, raw look at the thrill of loving unconditionally, as well as the mental and physical toll that it takes when peace and harmony are lost in the process.
The author draws inspirations from her own journey spanning 30 years, and also dives deeply into the vulnerable hearts of women globally, including her experience growing up in Jamaica. She captures the pain and struggle of women who love deeply and pour into others without first filling their own jars.
A reoccurring theme is reclaiming your heart in order to live and love harmoniously. Chapter 1, Wild Heart, takes the reader on a journey of self discovery — being an empath in a sometimes harsh world, feeling broken after losing love, not feeling good enough to be loved, facing rejection and abandonment, and navigating life with a heart that just wants to love unconditionally.
The second chapter, Peaceful Soul, is an empowering meditation on the peace that comes with reclaiming your heart — finding strength in the love and support of sister friends, practicing self-love while responsibly loving others, and finding joy in loving those that are worthy of our love.
Wild Heart, Peaceful Soul is a patchwork of vulnerability, truth and empowerment for everyone who loves deeply.
Wild Hearts, Peaceful Soul: Poems & Inspiration to Live and Love Harmoniously is a 170-page book that reminds us that moments of despair and heartache are a normal part of life’s journey but are also only temporary.
About the Author:
Janet Autherine is the founder of Autherine Publishing and author of Wild Heart, Peaceful Soul: Poems & Inspiration to Live and Love Harmoniously. Born in St. Thomas, Jamaica, she moved to the United States at age 12, settling in Philadelphia.
Janet is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University, Boston College Law School, and the Georgetown University School of Law. Her poetry is inspired by her own journey of the past 30 years, and also explores the hearts of women from around the world. She hopes that her poetry collection resonates with women globally, and becomes a catalyst for healing and empowerment. For more details, visit her official web site at www.JanetAutherine.com