Becca
Anderson comes from a long line of preachers and teachers from Ohio
and Kentucky. The teacher's side of her family led her to become a women's
studies scholar and the author of The Book of Awesome
Women. An avid collector of meditations, prayers and blessings, she
helps run a "Gratitude and Grace Circle"' which meets at homes, churches and
bookstores monthly in the San Francisco-Bay Area where she currently resides.
Becca Anderson credits her spiritual practice with helping her recover from
cancer and wants to share this with anyone who is facing difficulty in their
life.

Author of Think Happy to Stay
Happy and Every Day Thankful, Becca Anderson
shares her inspirational writings and suggested acts of kindness at
https: //thedailyinspoblog.wordpress.com/

She also blogs about
Awesome Women, like those in her book Badass
Affirmations, at https: //theblogofawesomewomen.wordpress.com/

Born in Port-au-Prince, M.J. Fievre, B.S. Ed, earned a bachelor's degree in education from Barry University. A seasoned K-12 teacher, a creator of safe spaces, and an initiator of difficult conversations, she spent much time building up her students, helping them feel comfortable in their own skin, and affirming their identities. Her close relationships with parents and students led her to look more closely at how we can balance protecting a child's innocence with preparing them for the realities of life. She has taught creative writing workshops to children and teens at the O Miami Poetry Festival and the Miami Art Museum, as well as in various schools in Santa Cruz de la Sierra (Bolivia), Port-au-Prince (Haiti), and South Florida. She's also been a keynote speaker at Tufts University (Massachusetts), Howard University (Washington, DC), the University of Miami (Florida), and Michael College (Vermont) and has served as a panelist at the Association of Writers & Writing Programs Conference (AWP).

M.J.'s publishing career began as a teenager in her native Haiti. At nineteen years old, she signed her first book contract with Hachette-Deschamps for the publication of a YA book titled La Statuette Maléfique. Since then, M.J. has released nine YA books in French that are widely read in Europe and the French Antilles, and she is the author of the award-winning Badass Black Girl book series for tweens and teens (in English). One Moore Book published M.J.'s first children's book, I Am Riding, as part of a special limited series edited by Edwidge Danticat. A middle-grade book, Young Trailblazers, and picture book, Sam Is Afraid of Christmas, are both set to be released by DragonFruit in the fall of 2021.

As the ReadCaribbean program coordinator for the prestigious Miami Book Fair, M.J. directs and produces the children's cultural show Taptap Krik? Krak! For her podcast, MJ has interviewed many literary legends, including Edwidge Danticat, Alice Randall, and Nikki Giovanni.

From the Preface

Black women are systematically sidelined, neglected, and discriminated against, and they carry the stigma of being both Black and female, which means they stand at the crossroad of racism and sexism, facing misogynoir. Be it in the boardroom, the classroom, the athletic arena, or anywhere in between, Black women end up with the short end of the proverbial stick, relegated to the back hallways and waiting rooms, or offered a voiceless seat at the table so that the powers that be may fulfill efforts of feigned inclusion. In the field of healthcare alone, Black women’s pain is consistently overlooked and undermanaged. Black mothers are the most at risk, and Black babies face a higher mortality rate. When young Black men die or are incarcerated at disproportionate numbers, their Black female counterparts are left alone to deal with the fallout, and yet Black women are still expected to pull through and hold their communities and families together.

In the last couple of years, we have opened our eyes to how Black women consistently and competently show up, excel, and exceed more than standard expectations. This “leveling up,” of course, is not a new phenomenon. This is what we do and have done throughout history. From Harriet Tubman, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Shirley Chisolm to Oprah Winfrey, Michelle Obama, Misty Copeland, and Simone Biles, we have always written our names in the stars the way our ancestors dreamed. Black women’s accomplishments are noteworthy and deserving of praise. Unlike women of other races, Black women have had to work and fight harder for their achievements, and even when they do reach success, they fail to be recognized as anything but “less than.” And there is a generation of Black girls growing up right now who need role models in their lives who look like them because these girls will face—or already face—the same kind of discrimination their foremothers did.

In this book, we have documented a treasure trove of brilliant and stellar Black women who have paved the way for the modern generation of Black girls and continue to do so with impenetrable tenacity, valiant willpower, and unrelentless ambition.