Unrig the game What women of color can teach everyone about winning

Daniel--founder of the Groundswell Fund, which provides resources to social justice community organizers--debuts with a sharp examination of the challenges women of color face in leadership roles. Distilling advice from her experiences at Groundswell, Daniel cautions against pushing oneself beyond one's limits and recounts how the "enormous pressure I felt as a woman of color to be four times as good as my white counterparts" spurred her to keep a demanding schedule that resulted in a herniated disk, which forced her to slow down. Daniel also includes the perspectives of other women of color pushing for social change. For instance, she suggests a "mothering and mammying expectation" can lead white coworkers to feel entitled to women of color's emotional labor and describes how Silvia Henriquez left her position as executive director at an abortion rights organization after colleagues criticized her for being insufficiently "vulnerable." To navigate such challenges, Daniel encourages women of color to lift up others, demand meaningful change from people in power, and bring an intersectional lens to uprooting oppression. The dispiriting anecdotes highlight the quotidian harms exacted upon female leaders of color, but Daniel brings some hard-earned hope to the proceedings, finding solidarity and resilience in women of color's "wellspring of knowledge and wisdom." This outrages even as it inspires. Agent: Tanya McKinnon, McKinnon Literary. (Mar.)

Women of color leading the way. Women of color have historically been the "most progressive and civically engaged" citizens in the United States. So argues Daniel, a former grassroots activist and nonprofit executive director who writes, "No other demographic group in the nation stands up more strongly against hate and more clearly for freedom, climate action, and human rights." In a book that draws on interviews with "beloved elders" like labor activist Dolores Huerta and civil rights leader Bernice Johnson Reagon, as well as Daniel's own career experience, the author explores what it means to be a woman in such a role. Because women of color live at the intersection of multiple forces of oppression, they have, she writes, "360-degree vision…that begins in families and spreads to communities," allowing them to tackle several problems at once. Women of color also have the courage to take--and encourage--bold leaps forward to help those in need and the generosity of spirit to understand that it is only by lifting their communities that they rise. Yet these abilities, combined with their visibility, put them at risk for difficulties that their white counterparts might not face. One of the most pernicious is the expectation to caretake organizations and staff members as mother or "mammy" figures. When a woman of color in leadership says no, she can be vilified by others--including her peers--and left feeling exhausted and demoralized. Speaking from experience and observation, Daniel emphasizes the need for women of color to build a "squad" of trustworthy colleagues and draw "strong boundaries" to keep overwork and self-sacrifice at bay. Impassioned and insightful, this book illuminates the true condition of women of color as it highlights strategies to help ensure their success. Necessary reading for leaders and anyone committed to creating positive social change. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.