I absolutely loved this book. I read it in a single Sunday because I could not stop reading. If you are not familiar with Danielle Prescod, she has held some amazing jobs in fashion media and now runs her own consulting practice 2BG alongside Chrissy Rutherford. This is her memoir: of growing up Black in an all white environment, working in fashion (you know I gobble up a fashion girl memoir), tokenism, disordered eating, being too Black, not being Black enough, racism, sexism, and size-ism. It is heartbreaking and difficult to read at times, bitingly funny at others… and ultimately: extremely honest and vulnerable. She takes us all the way through her childhood (where so much of her identity is whitewashed as she tries to fit in with her white peers), through school where she felt that she had to make herself “perfect” by starving herself and getting painful chemical hair treatments every two months, through college (and finding herself turning into a mean girl), through her career in beauty and fashion. I really think that every person in fashion and media should read this book. Or any white person, really. I loved that besides being personal, it was also educational. I am not the best at keeping up with pop culture and there was some really racist shit I definitely missed. I loved this book. I will add that there is one trigger warning for eating disorders: Danielle is very honest about her eating disorder and the recovery process and know that can be triggering for some. (On a personal note, years and years ago I went to the same nutritionist that she did and I am still impacted by my experience: although rather than triggering I found a lot of comfort knowing that it wasn’t just me.)
Author: Danielle Prescod
